SanJawi Subcommittee Passes Amendment to Expand KEPCO Bond Issuance Limit Up to 6 Times

Amendment to the Korea Electric Power Corporation Act Increases KEPCO Bond Issuance Limit Fivefold...Issuance Up to Sixfold Allowed with Ministerial Approval

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The amendment to the "Korea Electric Power Corporation Act," which increases the issuance limit of Korea Electric Power Corporation bonds (KEPCO bonds) up to six times, passed the relevant standing committee subcommittee on the 15th.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On that day, the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Business Committee held a plenary meeting in the morning and submitted the amendment to the KEPCO Act. The ruling and opposition party secretaries immediately convened the Industry, Trade, Energy, and Patent Subcommittee to review and process the amendment.

At the subcommittee meeting, the amendments proposed by Kim Seong-won and Koo Ja-geun of the People Power Party and the amendment proposed the previous day by Kim Hoe-jae of the Democratic Party were reviewed jointly.

Representative Kim proposed an amendment to expand the KEPCO bond issuance limit from the current twice the sum of capital and reserves to four times, and in cases of urgent necessity to resolve management crises, to allow issuance within a limit of up to six times. Representative Koo's amendment proposed expanding the KEPCO bond issuance limit to seven times. The Democratic Party also submitted an amendment the previous day to expand the KEPCO bond issuance limit to five times. Representative Kim Hoe-jae proposed temporarily expanding the KEPCO bond issuance limit to five times until 2025, and in cases of urgent necessity to resolve management crises, allowing issuance within a limit of up to six times with approval from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The ruling and opposition parties agreed to merge these amendments and raise the KEPCO bond issuance limit from the current twice to five times. However, in emergencies, issuance within a limit of six times is permitted.

Regarding the sunset clause, it was adjusted to a five-year sunset plan to be maintained until December 31, 2027.

This amendment was once rejected at the plenary session of the regular National Assembly on the 8th. At that time, the amendment to the KEPCO Act, which increased the KEPCO bond issuance limit from twice to five times the sum of capital and reserves to cover deficits, was submitted but rejected with 89 votes in favor, 61 against, and 53 abstentions out of 203 members present.

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