Final Plea from Business Community: "Regret Over Ruling Party and Opposition's Agreement on Serious Accident Act, Please Prevent Excessive Punishment" (Comprehensive)

Emergency Announcement by 10 Economic Organizations Including the Korea Federation of SMEs
Request for Improvements Such as Exemption from Liability When Employers Comply with Imprisonment Upper Limit and Mandatory Regulations

On the 6th, Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, is speaking at a press conference presenting the economic sector's position on the enactment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, held at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] "Efforts to reduce accidents must come before punishment, but demanding that companies take on the government's responsibilities for accident prevention is contradictory."

On the 6th, at an emergency press conference held at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business in Yeouido, Seoul, Sohn Kyung-shik, Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, made this appeal regarding the enactment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business and nine other economic organizations expressed "deep concern and regret over the ruling and opposition parties' agreement to enact the law despite repeated appeals from the business community to halt the legislation."

Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, said, "Last year, 63% of small and medium enterprises reported a decrease in sales compared to the previous year, showing that SMEs and small business owners are going through a long tunnel of crisis, worrying about immediate survival due to COVID-19." He added, "If this Serious Accidents Punishment Act is enacted, it will not only lower morale but also drain the strength to endure, leading many SMEs to close. Therefore, I earnestly appeal to change the lower limit of imprisonment in the current National Assembly discussions to an upper limit."

The content mentioned by Chairman Kim focuses on changing the lower limit imprisonment regulation for business owners in the current bill to an upper limit regulation. Considering that the law applies to negligence offenses, excessively punishing business owners, who are indirect managers, more than those directly involved is a legal contradiction, he added.

Kim Sang-soo, Chairman of the Korea Construction Association, said, "South Korea already enforces the Industrial Safety and Health Act, which imposes world-class penalties of up to 7 years imprisonment or fines up to 1 billion KRW for fatal accidents, since January last year. I believe it is not too late to review the law’s enforcement results before enacting a new law within less than a year." He emphasized, "It is practically impossible for headquarters to oversee safety at 120,000 construction sites domestically and internationally. To reduce safety accidents, we should refer to advanced countries’ cases such as the UK’s CDM (Construction Design and Management) regulations, which clarify responsibilities from the design stage to the principal contractor, designers, and workers, and shift our industrial safety policies to a prevention-oriented approach."

He further requested that the criteria for punishing business owners for serious accidents be limited at least to cases of ‘repeated fatal accidents.’ Even if the Industrial Safety and Health Act applies to general industrial accidents, the current punishment level is already higher than that of other advanced countries. Therefore, at minimum, the limitation of ‘repeated fatal accidents’ should be clearly defined for serious accidents.

Lastly, he requested that the obligations business owners must follow be specified concretely, and that exemption from liability be allowed when these obligations are fulfilled.

Kim Ki-moon of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business said, “In the reality where companies are reaching their limits overcoming management difficulties due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, 6.63 million small and medium business owners feel great fear about management due to the push for the enactment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.” He added, “Considering that 99% of SMEs are owner-represented, legislative supplementation is absolutely necessary so that companies can operate without fear of the future at the site.”

The statement was jointly made by the Korea Employers Federation, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Korea International Trade Association, Federation of Korean Industries, Korea Federation of Medium-sized Enterprises, Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, Korea Construction Association, Korea Specialty Contractors Association, Korea Women Entrepreneurs Association, and Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.