[Changes Next Year] Mandatory Enrollment in Dangerous Dog Liability Insurance Starting February Next Year

Introduction of Public Service Aptitude Test (PAST) in National Civil Service Grade 7 Exam
Promotion of 'Jachi Gyeongchalje' for Public Safety Management

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Existing owners of dangerous dogs must subscribe to liability insurance by February 12 next year. The insurance must cover at least 80 million KRW in case another person dies or suffers permanent disability due to the dangerous dog, 15 million KRW for injuries, and 2 million KRW for damages caused to other animals.

According to the government’s “Changes Starting from 2021” announcement on the 28th, representative dangerous dogs include Dosa dogs, American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and Rottweilers. Additionally, animal sellers must apply for registration under the buyer’s name before selling registered animals.

The obligation to prohibit disadvantageous measures against victims of sexual violence in the workplace will also be strengthened. The types of disadvantageous measures now include not only unfair personnel actions but also performance evaluations and training. Violations of this prohibition will be punished more severely, with imprisonment of up to three years or fines up to 30 million KRW.

The Public Service Aptitude Test (PAST) will be introduced for the Grade 7 national civil service open competitive examination. With the introduction of PAST, the existing two-stage exam consisting of written and interview tests will change to a first-stage Public Service Aptitude Test, a second-stage specialized subject test, and a third-stage interview. Also, the Korean history subject previously tested in the written exam will be replaced by the Korean History Proficiency Test (administered by the National Institute of Korean History).

A local police system will be introduced to provide community-oriented policing services. Accordingly, local police will be under the command and supervision of the local government’s independent administrative agency, the City/Province Local Police Commission, while national police will be under the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, and investigative police under the Chief of the National Investigation Headquarters. Local police will be responsible for public safety, traffic, safety management of mass gatherings, and school violence within their jurisdiction. National police will handle security, foreign affairs, and guard duties, excluding local police affairs.

Furthermore, the government introduced measures including expanding the recognition period of substitute exam scores for national and local civil service open competitive exams to five years; promoting issuance and use of mobile civil servant IDs; strengthening preferential treatment for public bidding by social enterprises; abolishing prosecutors’ investigative supervision and establishing cooperation clauses between police and prosecutors; expanding the disclosure items in information disclosure statements provided to franchisees at the startup stage; and requiring accurate display of additional shipping costs for remote island areas before payment in mail-order sales.