Ruling Party and Government Accelerate 'Korean New Deal'... "Improving Laws and Systems, Easing Regulations"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The ruling party and government have selected legislative tasks to promote the ‘Korean New Deal’ policy and decided to speed up implementation with the goal of processing them within the regular National Assembly session.

Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Hong Nam-ki, Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun, Minister of Science and ICT Choi Ki-young, and other cabinet members, along with Lee Kwang-jae, Chairman of the Democratic Party's New Deal Promotion Committee, are attending the Korea New Deal Party-Government Promotion Headquarters meeting held at the National Assembly on the 23rd, taking a commemorative photo. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The Democratic Party of Korea and the government discussed this matter at the 2nd meeting of the ‘Korean New Deal Party-Government Promotion Headquarters’ held at the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 23rd.

Jeong Tae-ho, a Democratic Party lawmaker in charge of the Policy Planning Group, stated in a briefing that “Out of the 161 proposed institutional improvement tasks, 139 tasks were selected in the first round after discussions with related agencies and task forces (TF).” The party and government plan to classify and promote the tasks in three areas: digital, green new deal, and social safety net.

In the digital sector, legislative tasks selected include ▲amendments to the Civil Petition Processing Act and the Electronic Government Act to allow administrative agencies to transmit personal information they hold to civil petition processing agencies with the consent of the individual, reducing the need to visit each agency in person ▲amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to recognize remote classes in elementary and secondary education as regular classes.

The green new deal will promote ▲enactment of the Green New Deal Basic Act ▲strengthening local government authority for energy decentralization ▲amendments to the Electricity Business Act to allow power trading between renewable energy power producers and companies.

Additionally, efforts will be made to build a social safety net. The party and government decided to accelerate amendments to the Employment Insurance Act to expand coverage for special-type workers and artists, expand the scope of parental leave, and amend the Restriction of Special Taxation Act to revitalize New Deal funds.

Kim Yong-beom, 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, announced regulatory improvement tasks at the briefing, saying, “While implementing fiscal investments as planned, regulatory improvements are being pursued simultaneously.” Vice Minister Kim cited regulatory reform issues raised on-site, including ▲applying non-face-to-face transaction methods even when insurance is canceled ▲allowing support such as preferential loans before building smart logistics centers ▲expanding the use of drones for fire suppression to high-rise building fires.

Lee Kwang-jae, the head of the General Headquarters, emphasized in his opening remarks, “At least until this year and the National Assembly session in February next year, I hope the party and government will firmly push forward the digital, green, and social new deals through laws and systems that lay the foundation.”