"Priority Housing Supply for Newborn Households, 50% KTX Discount for Families with 3 Children" ... Starting March Next Year [Changes in the New Year]

A special housing supply system providing approximately 70,000 units annually will be established to support housing for households with newborns. Regulations on reconstruction and redevelopment to expand housing supply in urban areas will be significantly eased starting January next year. As a follow-up measure to reduce communication costs, a 5G plan priced in the 30,000 KRW range will be introduced, expanding options for mid-to-low priced plans and device choices.

2024 Land, Infrastructure, and Transport: Special Housing Supply for Pregnant and Childbearing Households

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that from March 25 next year, a 'Newborn Special Supply (Special Allocation)' system will be introduced, offering more benefits to households with children when applying for public and private housing. Households with children aged 2 or younger as of the announcement date of the resident recruitment will be eligible to apply for special supply regardless of marital status.

For public sale housing, 35% will be allocated to sharing-type, 30% to selective-type, and 20% to general-type special supply. For private sale housing, 20% will be allocated to first-time homebuyers and newlywed special supply. In public rental housing, a newborn priority supply type (10%) will be newly established within integrated public rental housing, and some of the existing public rental re-supply units will be prioritized. Additionally, a newborn special loan with relaxed income restrictions will be introduced to provide low-interest housing funds to childbearing households.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Individual applications for newlywed special supply will also be allowed. In cases where special supply winners are announced on the same date, if both spouses apply separately and both win, the winning effect will be recognized for the earlier application.

Previously, if both spouses applied separately and both won in special supply announced on the same date, they were disqualified. However, due to the serious low birthrate issue, the application system has been revised to concentrate more benefits on married and childbearing households. The revised provisions will apply to cases where the project entity applies for resident recruitment approval on or after March 25 next year.

Rail fare discounts for multi-child families will also be strengthened. From March next year, the discount on high-speed trains (KTX, SRT) for families with three or more children will increase from 30% to 50%. From the second half of next year, the limit on the number of family members eligible for railway use discounts will be relaxed from three to two, broadening the scope of benefits.

Regulations on reconstruction and redevelopment to expand housing supply in urban areas will also be eased. Floor area ratio (FAR) in maintenance zones located near station areas can be relaxed up to 1.2 times, and some of the housing built with the relaxed FAR can be supplied as New Home units. The revised provisions will take effect from January 19 next year.

A new registration plate system distinct from general license plates will be implemented for business-use passenger cars. This system is designed to prevent cases where high-priced vehicles are purchased under corporate names and used privately. It will apply to passenger cars with an acquisition price of 80 million KRW or more owned by corporations, leased or rented vehicles, and official cars newly registered or with changed registration from January 1 next year.

2024 Environment and Meteorology: Introduction of AI-based Flood Forecasting System

An AI-based flood forecasting system will be introduced in May next year. Using AI to identify flood risk points, warnings will be issued after verification through physical models. Until now, 75 flood warning points nationwide, mainly along major rivers, have been managed to strengthen flood response, but the number of managed points will be significantly expanded to 223 nationwide.

The urban flooding map, which provides information on inland flooding caused by concentrated heavy rain exceeding drainage capacity, will be expanded from the existing 607 towns, townships, and neighborhoods to 1,135 locations including the Han River basin. From February next year, users will be able to access the flood risk map system to view expected inundation maps applying rainfall scenarios with 30-, 50-, and 100-year frequencies for the Han River basin, obtaining information for disaster preparedness.

From next year, the environmental information disclosure system for domestic companies will be gradually reformed. This is to enhance alignment with global disclosure standards as the international community accelerates the adoption of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) disclosures.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

K-Drone delivery services will be fully launched on islands, parks, and ports. Customers can order general parcels or chicken in inhabited islands, park resorts, and mountain villages nationwide and receive them by drone. The cost will be about 5,000 KRW for islands and 3,000 KRW for parks, payable via the ordering app.

If local governments meet the requirements and apply for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's drone demonstration city project and are selected, the project will commence. In selected local government drone delivery areas, drone flight paths, drone safety management systems, drone control rooms, and drone delivery hubs and delivery points will be established.

2024 Industry, SMEs, and Energy: Implementation of Data Dispute Mediation System

As a follow-up to the 'Communication Cost Burden Reduction Plan,' a 5G plan priced in the 30,000 KRW range will be introduced, expanding options for mid-to-low priced plans and device choices. To reduce the fee burden for small data users, the current lowest 5G fee tier, which is in the mid-40,000 KRW range, will be lowered to the 30,000 KRW range. The limited selection of small data plans (30GB or less), currently only two to three types, will be further subdivided by data provision volume. Additionally, to reduce device cost burdens, three to four mid-to-low priced devices in the 300,000 to 800,000 KRW range will be released in the first half of next year.

The Data Dispute Mediation Committee, which supports dispute mediation procedures related to data production, trading, and utilization, will be fully operational from next year. Established last October under the 'Data Industry Act,' the committee handles damage relief and dispute mediation related to data production, trading, and utilization, and its mediation decisions have the same effect as court settlements.

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