[Column] Yoon Administration Lacks a 'Decisive Blow'

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok]

"In the device industry, where industrial accidents are inevitably frequent, it is urgently necessary to provide groundbreaking institutional support, such as introducing a CEO exemption clause only for excellent companies that have established safety and health management systems under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. What is needed is a 'decisive blow.'"

The corporate response to the economic policies of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, launching on the 10th, can be summarized as "agreeing with the direction but seeing no decisive blow." Although the pro-business Yoon administration has introduced various supplementary and improvement measures, starting with deregulation, there is a consensus that the 'regulatory policies' that have an absolute impact on management remain ambiguous. In particular, the amendment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act is regarded by the industry as the most urgent regulation to reform and a key stumbling block.

The Moon Jae-in administration had stipulated that once a fatal industrial accident occurs in companies with 50 or more regular employees, a 'scientific investigation' would be conducted immediately and has been implementing this. Companies are pleading for at least a discussion on CEO exemption if it is difficult to change the high-intensity investigation system immediately.

Most opinions also say that 'promotion policies,' such as tax benefits, fall far short of expectations. In advanced industries like semiconductors, batteries, and artificial intelligence (AI), there is a strong voice that regulations on semiconductor fab (factory) sites must be lifted before the 'fourth year of the administration' (2025), when the national momentum is likely to decline. The year 2025 marks the time when memory semiconductor production bases will be reorganized from Korea and Taiwan to the United States and Japan, and when the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which grants tariff-free benefits only if more than 75% of finished car parts are procured locally in the U.S., comes into effect.

The new government has promised to 'activate private sector growth.' In the era of eco-friendly and digital industrial restructuring, corporate concerns are higher than ever that without securing the world's strongest 'economies of scale,' not just mid-to-upper ranks, they will be left behind. They appeal that to win the 'management war,' policy support must be far more groundbreaking than that of economic powers like the U.S. and China, regardless of whether companies are large or small and medium-sized. Although it is before the government’s inauguration, to be praised for fulfilling its promises, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration must not ignore the desperate cries of companies urgently seeking a 'decisive blow.'

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