[Opinion] Regulation of 'Psychological Counseling Services' Should Not Be Like Gyeonjimangwol (見指忘月)

Kuk Kyung-bok, Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Culture Technology, KAIST

As a pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, the United Kingdom was the first in the world to create a steam-powered automobile. This vehicle could travel at a speed of 30 km/h. However, this led to a flood of protests from carriage operators who found themselves threatened. Unable to endure the pressure, the government in 1865 limited the maximum speed of automobiles to 3 km/h within city limits and enacted the so-called "Red Flag Act," which required carriages to carry a red flag and automobiles to follow behind them. Due to this regulation, the British automobile industry fell significantly behind those of Germany, the United States, and France.

Perhaps because of the bitter experience of regulatory failure over 150 years ago, in 2016, the UK became the first country in the world to introduce a regulatory sandbox system in the fintech industry. A regulatory sandbox is a system that allows businesses to bring products or services to market with confidence by exempting them from all or part of existing regulations under certain conditions. When this system works properly, the emergence of new technologies or businesses becomes much easier.

Korea also creatively introduced this system between 2019 and 2020. The scope was greatly expanded beyond the innovative finance sector introduced by the UK to include six areas: information and communication technology (ICT), industrial convergence, regulatory free zones, smart cities, and research and development special zones. These government efforts are considered a significant endeavor to propel the Korean economy forward. Nevertheless, conflicts between professions already protected by law and new digital technologies continue to arise in various places. The lesson learned from the confrontation between existing businesses and new technology applications is that great caution must be exercised when creating or strengthening new regulations in the future.

One of the entry regulations recently proposed by an academic society is the so-called "Psychological Services Act Draft 1." In January 2021, the government announced the "Second Basic Plan for Mental Health Welfare." The primary goal of this plan regarding psychological counseling services is to institutionalize high-quality psychological counseling services that can be provided safely and sufficiently to promote the mental health of the people and build a happy society. As a means to this end, it suggests institutional support and qualification management to revitalize private psychological counseling services. The reason the Ministry of Health and Welfare commissioned the academic society last year to conduct a "Study on Psychological Service Legislation" is understood as part of the government's efforts to achieve these goals.

However, the academic society also proposed a bill that would grant eligibility to take the future national qualification exam only to psychology majors. This bill is similar to regulating that only those who majored in physical education at university or graduate school are eligible to be national soccer team players. Such qualification regulations would prevent talented players like Son Heung-min, who did not major in physical education, from emerging. The psychological counseling service industry already includes many professionals who majored in related fields such as counseling and education and are actively working in the field.

1,570 university professors in counseling-related fields have issued a statement opposing this bill, and other academic societies have also publicly protested. While the government is pointing at the moon, it is deeply concerning that the academic society may be focusing on the finger pointing at the moon, a case of "Gyeonjimangwol (見指忘月)." We hope the government and the National Assembly will show interest and wise judgment in institutionalizing the training of competent psychological counselors who are not limited to specific majors.

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