"Disagreement Between Ruling and Opposition Parties on 'Serious Accident Punishment Postponement Act' Remains... Will It Be Discussed in the Plenary Session on the 1st?"

The Legislation Committee Meets This Afternoon but Omits Serious Accident Punishment Act from Agenda
Opposition Rejects One-Year Postponement of Serious Accident Punishment Act
Sale Price Ceiling System Likely to Be Eased as a Suspension of Actual Residence Obligation

The ruling and opposition parties plan to hold a plenary session on the 1st of next month, but there remain significant differences in views on key issues such as the postponement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act. Concerns have grown that these issues might be sidelined due to the veto exercised by President Yoon Seok-yeol on the "Special Act on Guaranteeing the Rights of Victims, Fact-Finding, and Prevention of Recurrence of the October 29 Itaewon Disaster (commonly known as the Itaewon Special Act)," which is tied to the issue of re-voting on the bill.

On the 31st, the National Assembly will hold a Legislation and Judiciary Committee meeting in the afternoon to conduct a systematic and textual review of bills to be processed at the plenary session on the 1st of next month. However, the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which has been under negotiation between the ruling and opposition parties, is currently excluded from the approximately 80 bills expected to be reviewed.

Political circles have been negotiating over the postponement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which began to apply to workplaces with 5 to fewer than 50 employees starting from the 27th. The People Power Party proposed shortening the postponement period to about one year as a kind of final plan, instead of the currently proposed two-year postponement bill, but the Democratic Party opposes this. Hong Ik-pyo, the Democratic Party floor leader, said in an MBC radio interview, "Reducing the postponement period from two years to one year or six months, like stretching a rubber band, shows a lack of principle," and added, "Postponing without content on preventing industrial accidents and supervising management is unacceptable." Jeon Ju-hye, the People Power Party floor spokesperson, said regarding the processing of the postponement bill for the Serious Accident Punishment Act, "The floor leaders of both parties will meet in the afternoon to discuss," but added, "There is no alternative other than shortening the postponement period."

Urgent bills such as the Export-Import Bank Act, which expands the credit limit of the Export-Import Bank to support financial assistance for arms exports to countries like Poland, and the High-Level Radioactive Waste Special Act, which secures storage facilities for high-level radioactive waste, are still under discussion between the ruling and opposition parties.

At least, there is progress toward finding common ground between the ruling and opposition parties on the issue of relaxing the mandatory residence requirement for apartments under the price ceiling system. Yoo Ui-dong, the People Power Party policy chief, said at the emergency committee meeting on the 29th, "The Democratic Party proposed a three-year postponement of the mandatory residence requirement for apartments under the price ceiling system," adding, "It is somewhat fortunate that there is now a possibility to reduce the anxiety of actual buyers and the confusion in the housing market." Regarding this, Floor Leader Hong explained, "I oppose abolishing the mandatory residence requirement itself," but added, "We want to exercise flexibility in its application." He explained, "Recently, due to the reverse jeonse crisis, some people cannot move in, and we want to prepare relief measures for them."

However, with the general election campaign phase underway and priority issues in the political sphere such as bills vetoed by President Yoon and the yet-to-be-finalized election law, there remains a possibility that these issues will be pushed to the background.

The Itaewon Special Act, vetoed by President Yoon, is expected to be processed at the plenary session on the 29th of next month. Floor Leader Hong said, "Nothing has been finalized yet," but added, "We are considering processing it within the February National Assembly." Regarding the handling of the twin special prosecution bills?the "Kim Gun-hee Special Prosecution Act" related to allegations of stock manipulation of Deutsche Motors by Kim Gun-hee, and the "Daejang-dong 5 Billion Club Special Prosecution Act" concerning bribery allegations in the Daejang-dong development project?he said, "If the Itaewon Special Act is re-voted, I think it should be done together."

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