[Exclusive] Lawmakers from the Democratic Party on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee Say "Serious Accident Punishment Act, Effectiveness Highly Questionable"... The Balance Has Shifted

On the 9th, during the on-site verification of the prosecution and Ministry of Justice's special activity expenses by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Song Ki-heon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, entered the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
/Photo by the National Assembly Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] During the process of reaching an agreement on the contents of the Serious Accident Corporate Punishment Act between the ruling and opposition parties, it was revealed that a member of the Democratic Party of Korea expressed a view of "serious doubts about its effectiveness" and generally supported a direction toward easing the regulations.

According to the transcript (draft) of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee subcommittee meeting held on the 6th, Democratic Party lawmaker Song Ki-heon said, "This is my value judgment, so it may not be appropriate, but I will say it," and added, "People on the progressive side have thought that strengthening criminal punishment does not eliminate social evils; rather, social evils can be eradicated through correction, rehabilitation, and other complementary measures."

He continued, "However, regarding this law in particular, we need to reconsider the fact that strengthening criminal punishment has been focused on as the only way, especially within our progressive camp. I have serious doubts about how much accident prevention effect can actually be achieved through harsher punishments."

He added, "Although not based on precise statistics, there is no data showing that industrial accidents in the UK have significantly decreased through the UK's Corporate Punishment Act, which many people cite as an example."

This remark came during a discussion between Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ju-min and People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Sang-beom about the deferral of the law's application timing and legal principles.

The Legislation and Judiciary Committee subcommittee is chaired by Democratic Party lawmaker Baek Hye-ryun and consists of four members from the Democratic Party (Park Ju-min, Song Ki-heon, Kim Yong-min, Kim Nam-guk) and three from the People Power Party (Kim Do-eup, Yoo Sang-beom, Jeon Ju-hye). Although the Democratic Party holds a numerical majority, Song, who generally held a skeptical view, played a certain role in tipping the balance toward easing the regulations.

Regarding the exclusion of workplaces with fewer than five employees, one of the biggest contentious issues, Kang Sung-cheon, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, strongly advocated for exclusion, while Park Hwa-jin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, cited statistics that "20% of fatalities occur in workplaces with fewer than five employees," sparking a debate. Lawmakers from the People Power Party supported the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' position, while Park Ju-min, who proposed the bill, said, "If a program is operated to support employers in implementing safety and health measures, excluding workplaces with fewer than five employees entirely is somewhat problematic."

However, Song said, "I think applying this law to small-scale industries goes against its intent," adding, "These people (employers with fewer than five employees) are just our neighbors. They face the same risks as someone who gets into an accident while driving a car in the morning." Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Nam-guk also said, "There may be cases where people neglect safety due to difficult living conditions and accidents occur. Considering this, is it appropriate to apply the Serious Accident Corporate Punishment Act? Perhaps it would be more reasonable to handle such cases under the existing Industrial Safety and Health Act."

As the discussion prolonged, subcommittee chair Baek concluded, "The issue of workplaces with fewer than five employees is taking too much time. We will simply exclude workplaces with fewer than five employees from industrial accidents."

The agreed draft has been criticized for leaving room for the CEO not to be punished by defining the person responsible for management as the 'representative director or safety management director.' Park Ju-min's original draft stated 'representative director and director.' Regarding this, Song said, "Regardless of whether a country has a presidential or parliamentary system, just as they choose their system, any company’s leadership structure is a management choice. Whether it is the CEO, CFO, or safety management officer, it is up to the company to decide, and ultimately, the person who holds the highest responsibility for the company's safety should be punished."

Regarding punitive damages, the original draft stipulated 'five times or more' the amount of damages, but the agreement was made for 'five times or less.' Song said during the discussion on the 5th, "Basically, setting a minimum limit is unreasonable. If we want to have punitive damages without an upper limit, we need to redesign our country's damage compensation law entirely because of its relationship with other illegal acts."

Regarding the deleted provision on punishing public officials in the agreement, Song expressed understanding of the intent but stated that it would be practically difficult to punish by establishing causality.

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