Final Stage of Serious Accident Punishment Act, CEO Prison Sentence Confirmed... 'Or' Director

Last-Minute Discussions on Legal Application Deferral Based on Business Size

Baek Hye-ryun, Chairperson of the Legislative and Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Bill Examination 1, is passing in front of Justice Party lawmakers who are condemning the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party for agreeing to dilute the Serious Accidents Punishment Act at the National Assembly on the 7th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party have been discussing the contents of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act over three days and are now in the final stages of reaching a final agreement. Most of the agreement has been made, and the only remaining issue under discussion is whether to postpone the application of the law depending on the size of the workplace.

The subcommittee of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee will hold a meeting on the morning of the 7th to review the overall provisions and decide on the postponement clause for approval. Afterwards, the bill will go through the full committee meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the same afternoon and is expected to pass the plenary session on the 8th.

In the meeting held the previous day, it was decided to exclude workplaces with fewer than five employees from the scope of the law entirely. The Serious Accidents Act is composed of industrial accidents and public accidents, and small business owners with fewer than 10 regular employees are also excluded from the punishment for public accidents. Multi-use facilities such as restaurants, karaoke rooms, PC rooms, and bathhouses with a floor area of less than 1000㎡ (approximately 302 pyeong) are not subject to the Serious Accidents Act. Considering the potential conflict with the School Safety Management Act, school facilities are also excluded from the public accident category.

Baek Hye-ryun, chairperson of the subcommittee and a Democratic Party lawmaker, told reporters the previous day, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said that workplaces with fewer than five employees face too many difficulties," adding, "After discussions among the committee members, we accepted the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' opinion and excluded them."

Regarding the controversial definition of the person responsible for management, it was defined as 'CEO or director in charge of safety and health.' Initially, Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ju-min's proposal and the government’s draft intended to define it as 'CEO and director in charge of safety and health,' but it was revised during the discussion process. Lawmaker Baek explained, "There was a point made that if there is a person responsible for safety, it is appropriate to stop at that level." This can be seen as reflecting the demands of the business community.

The level of punishment was somewhat relaxed compared to the original draft, but it does not meet the business community's demand to remove the minimum sentence for criminal penalties. In the case of fatal accidents, the management will be subject to 'imprisonment for one year or more or a fine of up to 1 billion KRW.' Only the minimum sentence for fines was removed. For injuries or occupational diseases, the government’s proposal of 'imprisonment for up to seven years or a fine of up to 100 million KRW' was accepted.

Regarding punitive damages, lawmaker Park Ju-min proposed five times the amount of damages or more, the government proposed up to five times, and the business community requested up to three times; the agreement was set at up to five times.

The clause for punishing public officials was removed. Lawmaker Baek explained, "There was a discussion that it is difficult, almost impossible, to prove the causal relationship between public officials' licensing and supervisory actions and serious accidents," adding, "Even if the clause is included legally, it was discussed that it would be practically impossible to punish, so it was removed."

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