Hong Nam-ki "Allowing Hydrogen Charging Stations in Greenbelt Areas... Urgent Need for Regulatory Reform" (Update)

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, announced on the 25th that "installation of hydrogen charging stations within urban parks and green belts will be permitted."

At the '5th Innovation Growth Big 3 (System Semiconductor, Future Cars, Biohealth) Promotion Meeting' held at the Export-Import Bank of Korea in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "To achieve the goal of the '300,000 eco-friendly vehicles era,' it is urgent to reform regulations for 'user convenience support' along with purchase and charging support for eco-friendly vehicles." He also added that the area restriction for installing electric vehicle charging facilities, which was limited to "within 20% of off-street parking lots," will be abolished, and public chargers will be required to be open to the public. Since charging issues have been cited as a major reason for the lack of demand activation for electric and hydrogen vehicles, the government plans to boldly remove related regulations.

The government also decided to relax the current automobile maintenance business registration standards, which are based solely on internal combustion engine vehicles, to accommodate electric vehicles. For electric vehicle specialized maintenance shops, unnecessary facilities and equipment used for internal combustion engine vehicle maintenance will no longer be required for registration.

Dedicated parking spaces for eco-friendly vehicles will also be expanded to at least 5% of off-street and public building parking areas. The usage time for slow charging zones will be limited to 12 hours to alleviate parking inconveniences caused by long-term occupancy.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong stated, "To support this, we will expedite the revision of related laws, enforcement decrees, and enforcement rules as quickly as possible."