logo
Local mobile content provider protection, secondary battery industry support

Local mobile content provider protection, secondary battery industry support

Korea Herald21 hours ago

The Korea Herald republishes a weekly legislative report by local law firm DR & AJU LLC to provide the latest information on bills approved, proposed, pending and set to be promulgated. — Ed.
Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act
Proposed by Rep. Choi Min-hee (Democratic Party of Korea)
● This bill would bar global app market operators such as Google and Apple from retaliating against mobile content providers who report violations, including the coercive use of specific in-app payment systems. Offenders could face punitive damages of up to three times the resulting losses.
Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Korea Development Act
Proposed by Rep. Min Hyung-bae (Democratic Party of Korea)
● This bill would explicitly establish the duty of policy financial institutions to promote balanced regional development in relevant laws, including the Export-Import Bank of Korea Act.
Pending Bill: Special Act on the Promotion and Support of the Secondary Battery Industry
Proposed by Rep. Lee Sang-hwi (People Power Party)
● This bill would establish national-level measures to foster and support the secondary battery industry, aiming to drive innovation, boost growth and strengthen industrial competitiveness.
Promulgated Bill: Safety Control and Business of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Act
Competent Authority: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy
● The amended law, effective November 28, will allow drivers to refuel their own vehicles at liquefied petroleum gas stations equipped with appropriate facilities.
Competent Authority: Financial Services Commission
● Under the draft amendment, the supervisory benchmark under the Korea Insurance Capital Standard would be lowered from 150 percent to 130 percent as early as mid-June.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Who is Lee Jae-myung's pick for prime minister, Kim Min-seok?
Who is Lee Jae-myung's pick for prime minister, Kim Min-seok?

Korea Herald

time19 hours ago

  • Korea Herald

Who is Lee Jae-myung's pick for prime minister, Kim Min-seok?

Rep. Kim Min-seok, who was considered President Lee Jae-myung's "wingman" when they were in the Democratic Party of Korea leadership, has been nominated as his prime minister. As prime minister, Kim would steer Lee's Cabinet and serve as a key adviser. The position requires the National Assembly's confirmation. From as early as August 2024, Kim began raising alarms about former President Yoon Suk Yeol preparing to impose martial law. Kim had argued with conviction that Yoon was not only thinking about martial law, but taking concrete steps to go through with it. Kim was met by skepticism even within the Democratic Party, where a sizeable majority felt that the party was "taking things too far" with the martial law claims. Democratic Party lawmakers were seen distancing themselves from Kim's claims. When Yoon declared martial law on the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Kim's early warnings were revisited. Face of 'new pro-Lee' group Rep. Kim Min-seok, a former star politician who made a stunning return to the spotlight under Lee's Democratic Party, has been at the center of the new pro-Lee Jae-myung group. When Kim ran for a seat on the Democratic Party's supreme council last August, it soon became apparent that he was Lee's preferred choice to serve in the party's top decision-making body, a coveted and prestigious spot. Youngest lawmaker of his time to be elected Kim, the youngest in the batch of lawmakers elected in the 1996 general election, stepped into the limelight as soon as he entered politics. As a young politician, Kim served as chief secretary to former President Kim Dae-jung, when he was the leader of the Democratic Party. Jailed for occupying US-owned building in Seoul Kim was one of some 70 university students to occupy the US Cultural Center near the US Embassy in Seoul in May 1985 in an unarmed protest. Recalling the protest, Kim said in an interview with a local broadcaster in Gwangju on Oct. 12, 2024, that he was one of the first to raise suspicions that the US might have been behind the "massacre in Gwangju." Kim was referring to the series of pro-democracy protests in May 1980 in Gwangju against the then-government under Chun Doo-hwan, a military dictator. In the interview, Kim said that when he was the president of the student council at Seoul National University, he called for "uncovering the truths about the possible US intervention in the Gwangju massacre." "I said something on that scale (in Gwangju) would not have been possible without acquiescence from the US. That's what the US Cultural Center incident is about," Kim said. "It marked the first instance of getting what happened in Gwangju a recognition outside Korea." Kim served two years and eight months in jail for violating the laws on public demonstrations at the time. arin@

Luxury for pets? Shallow pool at presidential residence raises questions
Luxury for pets? Shallow pool at presidential residence raises questions

Korea Herald

time19 hours ago

  • Korea Herald

Luxury for pets? Shallow pool at presidential residence raises questions

A liberal lawmaker's revelation of a shallow pool inside the presidential residence in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, has raised speculation that disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol may have built a swimming pool for the first couple's pets when he moved in. This aligns with ongoing suspicion by the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, which became the country's ruling party with President Lee Jae-myung's election win, about the excessive use of water inside the official residence. Rep. Kim Byoung-joo said in the party's supreme council meeting Monday that the speculation that the pool was used for pets, not humans, is gaining ground. "I've looked around the space inside the official residence of the president, and a pool grabbed my attention," said Kim, who was one of the ruling party lawmakers invited to visit the official residence on Saturday. "We should closely examine whether the Yoons installed facilities for personal use with taxpayers' money after moving into the official residence, where no one can monitor how the money is being spent," the two-term lawmaker Kim also said, adding that Yoon and his wife are suspected of having installed a cat tower worth 5 million won ($3,680). Before President Lee and his wife, Kim Hye-kyung, took over the space as their official residence, Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, were the first South Korean presidential couple to have chosen to use a building in the Seoul neighborhood of Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, formerly a residence for the foreign minister, as the presidential residence. The Yoon couple kept six dogs and five cats there until a week after Yoon was removed from office by the Constitutional Court in April amid the political crisis caused by his attempted self-coup. The pool -- estimated to be 5 meters long and 2 meters wide, with a shallow end about 50 centimeters deep -- recently grabbed media attention as four-term Democratic Party lawmaker Rep. Park Hong-keun revealed a photo of the shallow pool inside the residence. Citing water bills it had obtained, local newspaper Hankyoreh revealed in late May that water usage at the residence began to skyrocket from the summer of 2023, rising from 972 tons during the April-May period to 1,622 tons during the June-July period. Water consumption peaked at 2,051 tons during the August-September period in 2024. A representative of former president Yoon was quoted by Yonhap on Monday as saying that the speculation is not true and that the pool was built for use in landscaping a few months before United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Seoul in October 2023. According to Rep. Kim Young-hwan of the liberal party, the Yoon couple's use of water amounted to 228 tons in the week between Yoon's removal from office and his departure from the home.

More than half of Koreans expect Lee to perform well: poll
More than half of Koreans expect Lee to perform well: poll

Korea Herald

time20 hours ago

  • Korea Herald

More than half of Koreans expect Lee to perform well: poll

But early approval trails that of his predecessors, regional gap remains sharp Nearly six out of 10 South Koreans believe President Lee Jae-myung will perform well in office, according to a poll released Monday. The survey, conducted by local pollster Realmeter on Wednesday and Thursday last week — shortly after the June 3 presidential election — found that 58.2 percent of respondents expect Lee to perform well. In contrast, 35.5 percent said they do not expect him to do well, while 6.3 percent said they were unsure. The poll was conducted among 1,012 adults aged 18 and older nationwide. While optimism outweighed concern, Lee's early approval is somewhat lower than that of his predecessors. In Realmeter's previous post-election surveys, 79.3 percent expressed a positive outlook for Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013), 74.8 percent for Moon Jae-in (2017-2022), 64.4 percent for Park Geun-hye (2013-2017) and 52.7 percent for Yoon Suk Yeol (2022-2024). Regional differences were also pronounced. Support for Lee was highest in Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces, traditional liberal strongholds, where 85.3 percent responded positively. In contrast, only 39.6 percent expressed optimism in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the conservative bloc's strongholds. In the capital region, 57.6 percent of respondents in Seoul had a positive outlook, along with 59.9 percent in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon. By age group, support was highest among those in their 40s at 76.6 percent, followed by those in their 50s at 70 percent, 30s at 57.1 percent, 60s at 50.9 percent, and those 70 and older at 48.9 percent. The lowest support came from respondents in their 20s, at 41.3 percent. When asked what the new administration's top priority should be, 41.5 percent of respondents cited economic recovery and stabilizing livelihoods. Prosecution and judicial reform followed at 20.4 percent, then national unity and conflict resolution at 12.8 percent, political reform and bipartisan cooperation at 8.3 percent, and addressing low birth rates and aging population issues at 4.6 percent. In terms of party support, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea garnered 48 percent, up 1.2 percentage points from the previous poll. The conservative People Power Party recorded 34.8 percent, down 0.3 percentage points. Support for the New Reform Party stood at 5.8 percent, the Rebuilding Korea Party at 3.7 percent and the Progressive Party at 1.4 percent.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store