'Idolbom·Hanbumo Support Act' Stalled in National Assembly's Leisure Committee... Pending for Months

Discussion on Welfare for the Vulnerable and Low Birthrate Laws Halted
Ministry of Gender Equality and Family: "Discussion Harder During General Election"
Execution Sites Awaiting Law Passage

The National Assembly's Women and Family Committee, which handles family welfare bills such as the Childcare Support Act and the Single-Parent Family Support Act, has been unable to hold a bill subcommittee meeting for several months. This is due to ongoing conflicts between the ruling and opposition parties over issues such as the Jamboree disruption and the confirmation hearing negotiations for Kim Haeng, the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family. Additionally, the paralysis of the National Assembly following the approval of the arrest consent motion for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, has compounded the situation, raising concerns that the processing of bills will be indefinitely delayed.

According to the National Assembly Legislative Information System on the 6th, the Women and Family Committee has not held a bill review subcommittee meeting for three months since the last one on June 28. A Democratic Party official from the committee explained, "At the end of last year, the chairperson and the ruling and opposition party secretaries agreed to rotate the subcommittee chairperson this year," adding, "Since the resolution for the chairperson change has not been made, the schedule for the subcommittee cannot be agreed upon."

On the other hand, a People Power Party official stated, "Since the ministerial confirmation hearings and the national audit are upcoming, we agreed to discuss the bills again afterward," and added, "We were trying to replace the subcommittee chairperson, but the Jamboree disruption incident made the situation difficult."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Currently, the Women and Family Committee has proposed bills related to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family’s core projects on ‘welfare for the vulnerable and low birthrate response,’ including the ‘Childcare Support Act Amendment,’ the ‘Single-Parent Family Support Act Amendment,’ and the ‘Act on Securing and Supporting Child Support Enforcement Amendment.’ The Childcare Support Act Amendment involves changing the institutions that deploy childcare providers and introducing a registration system to organize the public childcare management system. The Single-Parent Family Support Act includes provisions requiring single fathers or mothers to provide counseling services when registering their child's birth. Additionally, although an amendment related to securing child support enforcement has been proposed, it is currently not under discussion. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family attempted to revise the law in April to allow the inquiry of income and assets of child support debtors without their consent, but this effort failed. Since the 21st National Assembly, 25 bills related to securing child support enforcement have been pending.

An official from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said, "If the related bills are not processed, it will be impossible to implement family welfare and birth promotion policies such as expanding childcare support personnel in public institutions." Family welfare officials are also expressing difficulties due to the suspension of bill processing. Jeon Ju-won, head of the Child Support Enforcement Agency, said, "It takes more than two years from the start of the main lawsuit to the contempt lawsuit in child support enforcement cases," adding, "Although a bill has been proposed to lower the enforcement order stage for faster problem resolution, it has not been processed, so the child support enforcement rate cannot be increased."

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