"Study Cafes Allowed, But Mixed-Gender Seating Ban in Reading Rooms to Be Lifted"

128 Improvements Through Regulatory Reform Newspaper
Relaxation of Height Restrictions on Park Buildings
Permission for Concurrent Operation of Specialized Construction Businesses in Industrial Complexes

The regulation requiring gender-segregated seating, which was only applied to reading rooms, will be abolished. The building height restriction for large parks, previously limited to 4 floors and 16 meters, will also be lifted. Additionally, small and medium manufacturing companies within industrial complexes will be allowed to engage in specialized construction work, enabling them to install and construct products they directly manufacture.

The Office for Government Policy Coordination announced eight improved cases of regulatory reform on the 26th, based on these contents. From March to the end of May, the office received 797 public suggestions and improved a total of 128 cases. The government announced eight representative improvement cases among them on this day.

First, the regulation requiring gender-segregated seating in reading rooms of study halls will be abolished. Previously, reading rooms had to separate seating areas by gender according to the ordinances on the establishment, operation, and private tutoring of academies in nine local governments: Busan, Ulsan, Gwangju, Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam, Gangwon, and Jeju. Violations resulted in a 10-day business suspension.

However, this regulation does not apply to study cafes. In reading rooms, even if seats were vacant, users of the opposite gender were restricted from using them, causing business losses due to limited customer intake. This regulation was submitted as a complaint through the regulatory reform petition system, and after review, the government decided to allow business operators to manage seating autonomously.

Relaxation of Park Building Height Restrictions... Specialized Construction Work Dual Operation Also Allowed

The building height restriction for large parks (4 floors, 16 meters or less) will also be relaxed. This is in response to criticism that the restriction hindered the installation of landmarks and the development of local tourist attractions. Height restrictions will be lifted for convenience facilities such as greenhouses and observatories within neighborhood parks larger than 100,000 square meters. This will be done through amendments to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s “Enforcement Rules of the Act on Urban Parks and Green Areas.” The Office for Government Policy Coordination stated that this regulatory relaxation is expected to enable the installation of diverse buildings similar to New York’s High Line Park bezel.

Small and medium manufacturing companies within industrial complexes or knowledge industry centers will be allowed to engage in specialized construction work, enabling them to install and construct products they directly manufacture. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s “Enforcement Rules of the Industrial Cluster Act” previously did not allow dual operation of manufacturing and specialized construction businesses. To operate construction work, separate offices had to be established, incurring additional costs, and responding to construction license requirements from clients was difficult, causing bidding or contract failures. The Office for Government Policy Coordination received complaints about these inconveniences and decided to resolve manufacturers’ difficulties and enhance competitiveness.

Preventing Secondary Damage from Domestic Violence... Local Government Heads to Restrict Access to Resident Registration Certificates by Official Authority

The authority to restrict access to resident registration records or issuance of copies, which was previously only available to domestic violence victim children themselves, will also be granted to local government heads. Even if a child suffering from parental violence is admitted to a child welfare facility due to a neighbor’s report, there have been cases where the parent found out the child’s location by accessing the resident registration records again. Currently, restrictions on access and issuance require the victim to apply directly, which is difficult for young children. Therefore, the government plans to amend the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s “Resident Registration Act” to allow local government heads to restrict access to resident registration records and issuance of copies for domestic violence victim children by official authority.

For general restaurants and food service businesses, the regulation requiring detailed business types (general restaurant, snack bar, bakery, karaoke bar, entertainment bar) to be displayed on signs has been abolished. Since detailed business types can be confirmed through the business registration certificate displayed inside the establishment, the sign display was deemed ineffective. Additionally, the government plans to promote investment related to renewable energy by relaxing standards for electric storage device installation projects and environmental impact assessments. For mountain areas without disaster risk, submission of review opinion documents will be exempted to reduce cost burdens.

Kim Jong-moon, Director of the Regulatory Coordination Office, stated, “We will continue to boldly eliminate unreasonable regulations centered on demand under the principle that ‘the answer to regulatory reform lies in the field.’ We will also continuously monitor and manage the implementation to ensure that regulatory innovation tasks are truly felt by the public.”

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