21st National Assembly Bill Passage Rate Lowest at 11.4%... K-Chips and AI Act Also Rejected (Comprehensive)

25,857 Bills Proposed Over 4 Years
2,963 Bills Passed
Industrial Technology Protection Act with Few Controversies
Processing Failed as Legislation Committee Did Not Convene

The 21st National Assembly, which ends on the 29th, will receive the worst legislative report card in history. Due to extreme partisan confrontations between the ruling and opposition parties, the legislative approval rate recorded the lowest level among all past National Assemblies. Economic and industrial promotion bills lost their fate amid contentious issues such as the special prosecution law for Chae Sang-byeong. Since the 22nd National Assembly, starting on the 30th, will have to restart from the bill proposal stage, the speed of bill processing is expected to slow down.

According to the National Assembly's legislative information system on that day, a total of 25,857 bills were proposed during the 21st National Assembly over the past four years. This is the highest ever, exceeding the 20th National Assembly's 24,141 bills by 1,716. However, only 2,963 bills were passed in their original or amended form, resulting in a bill approval rate of just 11.4%. This is the lowest in constitutional history. The approval rate of bills has continuously declined since it recorded 25.5% in the 17th National Assembly.

The reason the 21st National Assembly received the worst legislative report card in history is analyzed to be due to the extreme partisan confrontations between the ruling and opposition parties that lasted for four years. As the standoff prolonged, the number of proposed bills increased, but the number of processed bills actually decreased. Among all bills proposed in the 21st National Assembly, including those rejected or discarded, the total number of processed bills was 9,479. The bill processing rate was 36.6%, which is 1.3 percentage points lower than the 20th National Assembly's 37.9%. Repeated sequences of 'proposal → forced passage → presidential veto → discard' occurred over various contentious bills such as the special prosecution law for Chae Sang-byeong and the special prosecution for Kim Geon-hee's stock manipulation allegations, resulting in an average of 599 days from bill submission to plenary session approval.

Major industrial promotion bills of the 21st National Assembly, such as the extension of the K-Chips Act (amendment to the Restriction of Special Taxation Act), the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Basic Act, and the Industrial Technology Protection Act, which attracted attention until the end, ended up being discarded in bulk.

The K-Chips Act extension bill was proposed by Kim Hak-yong of the People Power Party in January but remained pending in the Planning and Finance Committee. This bill aimed to refund 15-25% of taxes for facility investments in national strategic technologies such as semiconductors, displays, secondary batteries, electric vehicles, biopharmaceuticals, and hydrogen, and planned to extend the sunset clause, which expires this year, until 2030. The Ministry of Economy and Finance is considering including semiconductor industry support in the tax law amendment to be announced in July, but considering the regular National Assembly schedule, the passage is expected to be decided around the end of this year.

The AI Basic Act includes provisions to establish and implement a basic AI plan every three years and to create related organizations such as the AI Committee. It was recognized as a law leading the AI industry's future, like the 'Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Basic Act' passed during the Moon Jae-in administration and the 'Hydrogen Economy Promotion and Hydrogen Safety Management Act' that passed the plenary session threshold early in the Yoon Seok-youl administration, but it ultimately faced the fate of being discarded in the 21st National Assembly.

Even the Industrial Technology Protection Act, which had fewer disputes between the ruling and opposition parties, disappeared. It could have been effectively passed if it had been placed on the agenda for the full meeting of the Judiciary Committee, but it failed because the committee did not convene. The act included measures such as increasing fines for technology leakage from the current maximum of 1.5 billion KRW to up to 6.5 billion KRW and imposing aggravated penalties on criminals who intentionally leak technology overseas.

Other bills that were not processed include the 'Special Act on Expanding the National Power Grid,' which shortens the construction and permit process for power grids, the amendment to reduce individual consumption tax when replacing vehicles older than 10 years, and the 'Maternity Protection Three Acts' (amendments to the Gender Equality Employment Act, Labor Standards Act, and Employment Insurance Act) that extend parental leave up to three years.

Kim Jeong-hoe, Vice Chairman of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, said, "The Industrial Technology Protection Act is likely to pass smoothly through the relevant standing committee in the 22nd National Assembly, and the amendment to the Restriction of Special Taxation Act (K-Chips Act) also seems to have little disagreement between the ruling and opposition parties," adding, "It is necessary for the related bills to pass as soon as possible in the 22nd National Assembly to enhance domestic industrial competitiveness and reduce uncertainties regarding technology leakage."