Rep. Shin Jeong-hoon's Proposed Amendment to the Special Act on Waste Passed in the Plenary Session

Extension of Mining Area Support Fund for 20 Years, Significant Revision of Fund Calculation Criteria

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The amendment to the "Special Act on Support for Development of Closed Mine Areas," proposed by Representative Shin Jeong-hoon (The Democratic Party, Jeonnam Naju·Hwasun), passed the National Assembly plenary session held on the 26th.

The amendment extends the current expiration date from 2025 to 2045 and stipulates that the continuation after the deadline will be newly decided. The payment standard for the closed mine fund by Kangwon Land was also changed from 25% of profits to 13% of sales.

Accordingly, the support fund for closed mine areas is expected to increase by 37.5%, from an average of KRW 150.675 billion (25% of net profit) before the amendment to KRW 207.125 billion (13% of sales) after the amendment, based on Kangwon Land's mid- to long-term financial management plan from 2021 to 2024. Approximately KRW 56.45 billion more funds will be collected on average during this period and returned to closed mine areas including Hwasun.

The amended regulation applies to total sales occurring from January 1 of this year.

As a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee, Representative Shin Jeong-hoon proposed the amendment to the "Special Act on Support for Development of Closed Mine Areas" in July, focusing on abolishing the expiration of the closed mine fund and expanding the support standards.

In particular, while serving as a member of the bill subcommittee, he focused on the problem that the payment standards for the closed mine fund and the tourism fund were different, resulting in the tourism fund paying more during the subcommittee review process.

For example, he continuously pointed out the unreasonable situation where the closed mine fund would be zero if Kangwon Land did not generate profits last year due to COVID-19.

Representative Shin Jeong-hoon said, "I expect this amendment to serve as a stepping stone to alleviate the anxiety of Hwasun residents that arose every time the sunset clause approached and to establish a foundation for revitalizing the economy of closed mine areas suffering from population decline and other difficulties." He added, "I hope it becomes an opportunity to embrace the pain of closed mine areas damaged by the inevitable era change of coal industry decline and to create new hope."

He continued, "I will do my best to solve the difficulties of closed mine areas caused by energy transition and to create new jobs and revive the local economy."

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