The United Future Party's First Bill is the 'Corona Escape Package'... University Tuition Refunds and Free Meal Support

Kim Jong-in, Emergency Committee Chairman of the United Future Party, and Joo Ho-young, Floor Leader, are sharing their opinions after paying respects at the National Seoul Memorial Cemetery in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, on the 1st. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The United Future Party announced on the 1st that it plans to propose the 'COVID-19 Crisis Escape Livelihood Support Package Act' as the first party bill of the 21st National Assembly to overcome the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). The main points include supporting medical institutions, small business owners, and small and medium-sized enterprises affected by COVID-19, as well as refunding university tuition fees.

This package law includes amendments to the 'Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act' to compensate losses for medical institutions, small business owners, and small and medium-sized enterprise operators who temporarily suspend business or voluntarily close for infectious disease prevention.

Additionally, in cases where normal educational activities are difficult during a national disaster, it seeks to amend the 'Higher Education Act' to provide grounds for refunding tuition fees to university (graduate) students, and to amend related laws to support agricultural and food products at the level of free school meals to vulnerable groups when free school meals are suspended due to infectious disease causes.

Currently, family care leave is only available for workers' children in cases of illness or accidents, but it will be amended under the 'Act on Gender Equality in Employment and Work-Family Balance Support' to allow such leave during closures or suspensions of daycare centers, kindergartens, and schools due to infectious diseases like COVID-19.

It also introduces provisions to invalidate contract terms that impose excessive compensation burdens when contracts are terminated due to reasons such as infectious diseases, guarantees the right to request reductions in rent and deposits for leased buildings, temporarily raises the VAT tax exemption threshold for small business owners and self-employed individuals to 100 million won, and promotes amendments to the Restriction of Special Taxation Act to reduce corporate taxes for small and medium-sized enterprises in special disaster areas.

In addition, the United Future Party will select key tasks in four major areas: economy, fairness, safety, and future, and legislate them in the 21st National Assembly. They will promote the 'Comfort Women Grandmothers Support Act' to strengthen transparency in the management of donations and subsidies for non-profit organizations and also push for the abolition of the semi-proportional representation system.

They will also promote economic revitalization bills such as the 'Basic Administrative Regulation Act' to introduce a total regulatory cost management system, the 'National Assembly Act' to prevent excessive member legislation, and the Energy Act to abolish nuclear phase-out. In the safety sector, they plan to establish a 'Disaster Control Tower,' and in the future sector, they will promote the 'Special Act to Promote the 4th Industrial Revolution for Future New Industries.'