Democratic Party Proposes Disaster Prevention Package Law Considering Inflation

Kim Min-seok, the Policy Committee Chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, is holding a press briefing at the National Assembly on the 23rd. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The Democratic Party of Korea announced on the 23rd that it will prepare and propose a disaster prevention package bill in response to the heavy rain damage occurring across the country.

Kim Min-seok, the chairman of the Policy Committee, stated at a press briefing held at the National Assembly on the same day, "We plan to handle the flood damage-related bills during this plenary session (on the 27th) and the next plenary session."

Chairman Kim said, "Currently, several bills from our party members are pending in the National Assembly, including the Agricultural Disaster Countermeasures Act, Agricultural Disaster Protection Act, River Act, Urban Flood Prevention Act, and Building Act." However, he emphasized, "After observing the recent flood damage, it is necessary to supplement the gaps in the existing proposed bills." He explained that the disaster prevention package bill will include contents such as regular updates to disaster crisis management manuals considering the climate crisis, reflecting inflation rates in flood damage recovery damage assessments, utilizing public information from CCTV (closed-circuit television) for disaster prevention, and local tax reductions without separate ordinance amendments.

Regarding the extreme choice made by a teacher at Seoi Elementary School, Chairman Kim expressed his intention to focus on passing bills proposed to the Education Committee. These include the amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (proposed by Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Deuk-gu), which states that teachers' guidance of student life according to laws and school regulations is not considered child abuse, and the amendment to the Teacher Status Improvement Act (proposed by People Power Party lawmaker Lee Tae-gyu), which records measures taken against students who interfere with educational activities in the student life record.

However, Chairman Kim pointed out concerns about Lee Tae-gyu's bill, saying, "There are criticisms that it could lead to the judicialization of education or a litigation war, so it is necessary to keep this part open for discussion in a way that preserves the original purpose of protecting teachers' rights." He added, "Regarding the Seoi Elementary teacher's death case, based on the circumstances and the broad sympathy and anger among teachers that we have listened to, it appears that excessive complaints from parents are the primary core cause."

He mentioned measures such as direct blocking of face-to-face contact between teachers and parents regarding complaint issues, introduction of dedicated teachers for life guidance, expansion of counseling teacher placement, and prior notice when guardians visit schools, emphasizing, "We will comprehensively listen and strive to appropriately reflect these in laws or policies." Chairman Kim also stated, "I believe this issue should not be approached from a confrontational frame of progressives versus conservatives, ruling party versus opposition, or student rights versus teachers' rights."

He continued, "Some argue that all difficulties in protecting teachers' rights stem from student rights ordinances, but I think such a simplistic approach is difficult," adding, "This is because they cannot accurately explain cases of teachers' rights violations in conservative superintendent regions."

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