Jung Junho Leads Abolition of Hydrogen Car 'Retest Fee'

Exemption Derived Through This Year's Audit Criticism
Democratic Party Selects Outstanding Lawmakers for National Audit

Junho Jung, Member of the National Assembly.

Jung Junho, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Gwangju Buk-gu Gap, has successfully led the abolition of hydrogen vehicle re-inspection fees through this year's National Assembly audit.

During the National Assembly audit of the Korea Transportation Safety Authority under the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee in October, Representative Jung pointed out, "While re-inspection fees are waived for regular vehicles after a failed inspection, hydrogen vehicles are charged 22,000 KRW per high-pressure container for re-inspection after failing the periodic inspection. This contradicts the government's policy to promote hydrogen vehicles."

In response, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority stated, "The inspection of hydrogen vehicle high-pressure containers requires advanced technology and equipment, making it inevitable to charge re-inspection fees."

However, Representative Jung strongly criticized this, saying, "The failure rate of hydrogen high-pressure containers, which are the core of hydrogen vehicles, reaches 15%. Owners are already incurring significant expenses as they must repair the containers at the factory before re-inspection, so charging additional re-inspection fees is discrimination against hydrogen vehicles."

Following this issue raised during the audit, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, after internal review, announced on the 19th in the 'Report on Support for Hydrogen Electric Vehicle Activation in Line with Government Hydrogen Policy' that, "We will enhance safety by providing free inspections for all 37,000 hydrogen vehicles and relieve the public's burden by exempting re-inspection fees for failed inspections."

The exemption of hydrogen vehicle re-inspection fees will be fully implemented from February 1 next year, once the computer system improvements are completed. Until then, from January 1 to the implementation date, hydrogen vehicle manufacturers will cover the costs, effectively making the exemption immediate.

Representative Jung stated, "As someone who has been involved in consumer advocacy even before becoming a member of the National Assembly, I am pleased to have improved consumer inconvenience, even if only slightly. Going forward, I will continue to address even the smallest inconveniences for consumers. This issue with hydrogen vehicle fees also began with a citizen's report, so I encourage the public to continue submitting information to my office."

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Korea has recognized Representative Jung's efforts during the National Assembly audit by selecting him as an 'Outstanding Member' for this year's audit.

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