
Enhancing workplace safety, employment of older adults
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 Construction Technology Promotion Act
Proposed by Rep. Yoon Jong-kun (Democratic Party of Korea)
● To prevent fatal construction site accidents and enhance accountability among construction companies, this amendment establishes a legal basis for disclosing information related to fatal accidents, including the name of the construction company, the project name and the number of fatalities.
Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection
Proposed by Rep. Cho In-cheul (Democratic Party of Korea)
● This amendment increases the responsibilities of domestic agents of foreign online platforms, such as Google and YouTube, by requiring them to report their plans, status, and outcomes of compliance with Korean Communications Commission orders.
Pending Bill: Partial Amendment to the Act on Prohibition of Age Discrimination in Employment and Elderly Employment Promotion
Proposed by Rep. Kim Wi-sang (People Power Party)
● This amendment requires employers to provide continued employment in line with the national pension eligibility age, while leaving the choice of specific measures -- such as extending the retirement age or rehiring retired employees -- up to each company.
Promulgated Bill: Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Employment Improvement of Construction Workers
Competent Authority: Ministry of Employment and Labor
● This bill lowers the contract price threshold for requiring contractors in publicly ordered construction projects to pay subcontractor wages separately from other construction costs -- from 50 million won to 30 million won -- to prevent wage delays.
Administrative Announcement: Partial Amendment to the Commercial Act
Competent Authority: Ministry of Justice
● This amendment allows the statutory interest rate to be adjusted based on economic indicators such as interest and inflation rates, aiming to respond more flexibly to changing economic conditions and minimize unfair gains or losses for creditors and debtors.
—
Hashtags
- PoliticsBusiness#ConstructionTechnologyPromotionAct#ActonPromotionofInformationandCommunicationsNetworkUtilizationandInformationProtection#ActonProhibitionofAgeDiscriminationinEmploymentandElderlyEmploymentPromotion#ActontheEmploymentImprovementofConstructionWorkers#CommercialAct#DemocraticPartyofKorea#The#KoreaHerald#YoonJong-kun#ChoIn-cheul

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
Lee, Trump agree to meet soon, tee up golf for alliance: Seoul
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and US President Donald Trump agreed to meet as soon as possible — and play a round of golf — with Trump inviting Lee to visit the US, Seoul's presidential office said. The first phone call between Lee and Trump occurred around 10 p.m. Friday, two days after Lee was officially inaugurated as president on Wednesday, following his confirmed victory in Tuesday's early presidential election. The 20-minute phone conversation drew heightened attention in Seoul as the alliance faces a laundry list of pending issues on multiple fronts, from security to trade. 'The two presidents agreed to work toward reaching a tariff agreement between the US and South Korea that would be satisfactory to both countries,' said Kang Yu-jung, the presidential spokesperson, in a written statement. To that end, Lee and Trump agreed to 'encourage tangible results from the working-level negotiations.' Seoul and Washington have been engaged in working-level negotiations ahead of the expiration of a 90-day self-imposed moratorium on Trump's reciprocal tariffs, which are scheduled to take effect for each country on July 9. The deadline set by the Trump administration for all US trading partners to submit their best offers on a trade deal expired Wednesday. According to Lee's office, 'President Trump invited President Lee to visit the US, and President Lee responded that he hopes to meet and consult frequently with the US as part of their special alliance.' 'The two presidents agreed to meet at the earliest possible time — either on the sidelines of a multilateral meeting or on the occasion of a bilateral visit — to further discuss the development of the alliance," the statement added. Notably, the presidential office in Seoul disclosed that Lee and Trump 'introduced their respective golfing skills and agreed to play a round for the alliance whenever possible.' Trump and Lee could meet on the sidelines of two multilateral events in June. The first is the G7 Summit in Alberta, Canada, on June 16–17, 2025, if South Korea is invited as an observer state and decides to attend. The other opportunity is the upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague on June 24–25, which South Korea has been invited to as one of four Indo-Pacific partners alongside Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Lee's office highlighted that the call between Lee and Trump was conducted with a 'friendly and informal atmosphere.' 'The two presidents also shared various anecdotes and experiences from their presidential campaigns, particularly concerning the risks of assassination and the political challenges they faced,' the presidential office said. 'They agreed that strong leadership comes from overcoming such difficulties.' The Korea Herald has learned that South Korea's Foreign Ministry sought to arrange the first phone call between the two leaders on Lee's inauguration day. However, the call occurred later than his predecessors. President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol held his first phone call with then-US President Joe Biden about five hours after his election on March 10, 2022. Similarly, President Moon Jae-in spoke with his US counterpart on the day of his inauguration, May 10, 2017, despite the absence of a traditional transition period following the early presidential election. Then President-elect Park Geun-hye held a phone call with US President Barack Obama two days after her victory on December 19, 2012. The protracted phone call drew criticism in Seoul, mainly from the opposition People Power Party — especially after the White House issued an unusual response to the presidential election, expressing US concern and opposition to "Chinese interference and influence in democracies around the world."


Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
Mammoth probes to look into Yoon's alleged treason, insurrection
Special teams size of a district attorney's office to be formed to investigate ex-president Multiple probe teams together comprising some 120 prosecutors are set to look into allegations surrounding former President Yoon Suk Yeol, including one that he committed treason by trying to impose martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. The Democratic Party of Korea on Thursday passed a series of bills seeking to open three separate special counsel investigations. One will investigate whether Yoon's short-lived martial law declaration would constitute insurrection, for which a criminal trial is already underway, as well as treason. The Democratic Party claims that Yoon plotted to provoke a military action from North Korea to justify declaring martial law with his hawkish policies such as resumption of anti-Pyongyang broadcasts near inter-Korean borders in June 2024. The Democratic Party is also pushing an as-yet unsubstatiated claim that Yoon sent unmanned aerial vehicles into Pyongyang in October 2024. Yoon allegedly attempting to instigate an armed conflict with North Korea in the run-up to his martial law decree was "treason," the Democratic Party claimed, on top of it being a "rebellion against the Constitution, which is to say, insurrection." Another special counsel investigation would revisit the death of a Marine in July 2023. Cpl. Chae Su-geun, 20, died when he was swept away in moving water during a search and rescue operation to locate flood victims in a rain-swollen river in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province. The Democratic Party claims that the Yoon presidential office tried to hinder a preliminary investigation into if there had been negligence and other wrongdoing at the top in Chae's death. Yoon's wife Kim Keon Hee is also set to face a special counsel investigation into allegations that she interfered in the People Power Party's nomination of candidates for a National Assembly seat. The Democratic Party voted without the People Power Party to pass the special counsel bills Thursday. The Democratic Party has the majority in the Assembly, holding 167 out of 300 seats.
![[Lee Byung-jong] Danger of too much power?](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F06%2F05%2Fnews-p.v1.20250605.37ad2cf553ae443ab411a1db98568db6_T1.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
![[Lee Byung-jong] Danger of too much power?](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fall-logos-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fkoreaherald.com.png&w=48&q=75)
Korea Herald
2 days ago
- Korea Herald
[Lee Byung-jong] Danger of too much power?
After six months of excruciating political uncertainty and public anxiety, South Korea has ushered in a new era with the election of President Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday. The initial response has been broadly positive: The stock market surged, and allies such as Japan and the US offered swift messages of support and continued cooperation. Lee's decisive victory — garnering over 17 million votes, the most for any Korean president — gives him a strong and clear mandate to pursue his policy agenda. However, the scale of Lee's victory could also be cause for concern. With his Democratic Party of Korea holding an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly, the Lee administration may be tempted to overextend its executive power. The judiciary, increasingly seen as vulnerable to public pressure, may not be able to serve as an effective check. Lee's firm control over his party, filled with his loyalists, further eliminates internal constraints, heightening fears of a concentration of power. The first signs of potential executive overreach appeared on day one of Lee's presidency, when the ruling party put forward a bill to expand the number of Supreme Court justices from 14 to as many as 30. This proposal, floated even before the election following the Court's ruling against Lee for election law violations, is officially framed as a response to the judiciary's heavy caseload. Yet critics argue it is a thinly veiled attempt to stack the Court with pro-government justices. Other controversial bills are likely to follow now that executive and legislative powers are united under one party. These include measures to strengthen protections for unionized workers and rice farmers, and to impose tighter regulations on major corporate shareholders. Such bills were repeatedly vetoed by former President Yoon Suk Yeol on the grounds that they would stifle economic growth. Another previously blocked bill, which would expand civil society influence in public broadcasting oversight, is also expected to be revived despite concerns about ideological bias, as civil society groups in Korea often lean liberal and support the Democratic Party's agenda. These initiatives are likely to be pushed through in the early days of Lee's presidency. Concerns about the concentration of power are compounded by the current disarray of the opposition People Power Party, following the impeachment of President Yoon. While the ruling party, along with its allies, commands a near two-thirds majority in the Assembly, the opposition is fractured — torn by internal debates over the legitimacy of Yoon's impeachment, especially his imposition of martial law in December. The party was sharply divided between pro and anti-impeachment factions. With the next parliamentary elections still three years away, the opposition's ability to check President Lee's administration appears weak at best. This concentration of power threatens the foundations of Korean democracy, still fragile in the aftermath of the failed marshal law declaration. Similar patterns of democratic erosion have emerged globally — in Hungary, Poland, Turkey, and other nations that maintain the form of democracy through elections while systematically weakening checks and balances, silencing dissent and undermining independent institutions such as the press and civil society. These so-called 'elected autocracies' or 'illiberal democracies' consolidate power under the guise of democratic legitimacy. Even the United States — long regarded as a beacon of democracy — has shown signs of democratic backsliding. The newly returned Trump administration has increasingly relied on executive orders to bypass Congress on contentious issues such as immigration and tariffs. Like the aforementioned regimes, US President Donald Trump has targeted the media, demonized critics and used federal agencies to investigate political opponents. His fights against higher educational institutions like Harvard University and moves to reduce or close federal government agencies are accused of executive overreach. Yet the US system retains important guardrails. Many of Trump's executive actions have been blocked by the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, despite its conservative majority. Midterm elections, seen as a confidence vote on the presidency, serve as a vital democratic check, and the federal structure ensures that state governments can limit federal overreach. South Korea also operates a system of local autonomy, with major cities like Seoul and Busan still under opposition control. However, local governments remain weak in practice, as the central government controls budgeting and other key decisions. Given the ruling party's big win in the presidential election, next year's local elections are unlikely to yield many opposition victories. Unlike the US, Korea lacks midterm elections, meaning the opposition may remain marginalized for the next three years. Concerns over excessive presidential power are not new in Korea. Whenever presidents have faced their downfall — whether by impeachment or scandals of power abuse — calls for constitutional reform have resurfaced. Proposals have included shifting to a cabinet system or introducing power-sharing arrangements with a prime minister or vice president. In this latest election, all major candidates pledged to reduce the power of the presidency to prevent another 'imperial presidency.' Whether President Lee will follow through on such promises remains to be seen.