Business Community: "Economic Criminal Penalty Rationalization Should Include Review of Penalty Levels for Business Owners"

Business Community Welcomes Government and Ruling Party's Reform Plans
But Calls for Further Improvements on Penalty Levels for Business Owners and Joint Penal Provisions

The business community has welcomed the government's and ruling party's announcement of economic criminal penalty rationalization measures, which are based on the principle of abolishing the crime of breach of trust. Economic organizations urged that, in addition to the announced improvement tasks, substantial reforms should accompany the measures, such as rationalizing the joint penal provisions under the Fair Trade Act and reconsidering the level of punishment for business owners.

Kang Seokgu, Head of the Research Division at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated on the 30th, "The first phase of economic criminal penalty rationalization measures announced by the government and the ruling party will serve as an opportunity to reduce uncertainty and increase predictability in corporate decision-making processes."

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yooncheol is speaking at the Economic Crime Civil Liability Rationalization Task Force party-government meeting held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 30th. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

The business sector positively evaluated the fact that opinions from the field were reflected, but also called for additional tasks for continued rationalization of economic criminal penalties. Kang added, "We positively assess the abolition of aggravated punishment for breach of trust, prioritizing administrative measures and using criminal penalties only as a last resort, and shifting the focus from criminal punishment to economic penalties, all of which the business community has long requested." However, he pointed out, "There is also a need to improve the joint penal provision under the Fair Trade Act, which allows for simultaneous punishment of individuals and corporations as a single entity, as well as the imposition of criminal penalties for violations such as failing to submit required information for designation as the same person."

The Korea Economic Association also expressed hope that these measures would invigorate business activities, but requested that excessive criminal regulations, such as duplicate punishments, which still exist in various forms, be proactively improved.

Lee Sangho, Head of the Economic and Industrial Division at the Korea Economic Association, stated, "Setting the abolition of the breach of trust crime as the basic direction, which has increased uncertainty in business management, and improving the joint penal provisions related to minimum wage to protect well-intentioned business owners are timely measures." He continued, "However, considering that excessive criminal regulations, such as the criminalization of simple administrative violations and duplicate punishments, are scattered across numerous laws, we hope that proactive improvement measures for economic criminal penalties will be implemented."

Representatives from six economic organizations and the Council of Economic Organizations held a resolution rally opposing the amendment of the Labor Union Act on the steps in front of the National Assembly main building last month. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

The Korea Employers Federation called for a review of the level of punishment for business owners. The Federation emphasized, "While achieving the quantitative goal of 'revising 30% of economic criminal penalty regulations within one year' is significant, the substance of regulatory improvement is also important. In particular, the level of punishment under labor-related laws, which has been strengthened for business owners, should be reviewed to ensure that business owners at industrial sites who actually create jobs are not discouraged by excessive punishment."

Jung Heechul, Head of the Trade Promotion Division at the Korea International Trade Association, stated, "In a situation where overall business activities are shrinking, these measures, which reduce the risk of criminal punishment and ease excessive penalties under individual laws, will provide breathing room for normal business activities such as investment and employment." He added, "We hope that the voices of the industry will be sufficiently reflected in future follow-up legislation and the identification of additional tasks, leading to balanced institutional improvements."

Meanwhile, the government and the Democratic Party of Korea held a party-government meeting at the National Assembly on this day and announced the first phase of 'economic criminal penalty rationalization,' revising 110 economic criminal penalty regulations. The main content is to abolish criminal penalties and switch to administrative sanctions such as fines for 68 relatively minor violations among all economic criminal penalty regulations. The government and ruling party plan to push for a comprehensive amendment of relevant laws during the regular session of the National Assembly and revise 30% of economic criminal penalty regulations within the next year.

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