Ministry of Legislation Work Report... 'Establishing Full Age System & One-Stop Legislative Support for 3 Major Reforms'

Yoon Administration's Labor, Education, and Pension Reform Bills... Prompt Submission to National Assembly
Support for Liquor and Tobacco Sellers to Prevent Harm Based on 'Full Age'

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] This year, the role of the Ministry of Government Legislation (MGL) is expected to expand significantly when the government creates laws. The MGL will take full responsibility for managing all processes from inter-ministerial consultations, legislative notices, legislative review, to promulgation through a dedicated department.

On the 26th, Lee Wan-gyu, the head of the MGL, reported this year's work plan to President Yoon Seok-yeol under the theme "Supporting Korea's New Leap Forward Actively through Legislation."

The MGL plans to shorten the legislative period by providing customized support such as bill consultation and preliminary review from the early stages of legislation. For three major reform bills in labor, education, and pensions, the MGL will submit them swiftly to the National Assembly through a 'one-stop legislative support' system. This system involves a dedicated MGL department managing the entire legislative process intensively from the drafting stage by ministries to promulgation, significantly reducing the time required for legislation.

Additionally, the MGL will operate a permanent legislative platform that oversees and manages the progress of member-proposed legislation, monitoring the legislative status of the National Assembly and proactively reviewing issues and alternatives of each bill in progress to support smooth deliberations in the National Assembly.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is speaking at a briefing on the Ministry of Justice, the Fair Trade Commission, and the Ministry of Government Legislation held at the Blue House's Yeongbingwan on the 26th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

In a prior press briefing, Director Lee stated, "We plan to actively support smooth legislation," adding, "Since legislation goes through several stages, if the MGL actively participates from the drafting stage through policy councils, it can provide assistance starting from the preliminary review."

The MGL has decided to establish a legal framework to secure local governments' autonomy and strengthen their legislative authority to realize a full-fledged local era. This means significantly expanding the delegation of ordinance matters in laws so that local governments can implement policies suited to regional circumstances, and improving the system so that when laws set certain standards, ordinances can be adjusted to reflect regional characteristics.

Furthermore, the MGL plans to launch a nationwide campaign to establish and enable the conversion of the ‘full age’ system in daily life. To settle the ‘Unified Full Age Act,’ which was promulgated at the end of last year and will be fully enforced on June 28 this year, a cross-ministerial campaign will be conducted and sector-specific application plans will be prepared.

When revising current laws based on the Korean age system to the full age system, measures will also be pursued to reduce the burden on business owners verifying age for selling alcohol or tobacco. This includes establishing grounds for requiring ID presentation and exempting business owners from sanctions in cases of ID forgery or alteration.

However, some laws such as the Military Service Act may retain the Korean age system. Currently, about 60 laws are defined by the Korean age system. The MGL plans to comprehensively review these laws to determine whether they need to be uniformly changed to the full age system.

Director Lee said, "There are cases where the Korean age system is policy-wise necessary," adding, "For example, in the Military Service Act, it is more efficient to manage the entire military service uniformly, so we plan to review it comprehensively."

In addition, to provide legislative services that communicate with the public, the MGL will promote a project to provide ‘easily understandable legislative information’ by offering visual content such as illustrations alongside legal texts. The MGL will also expand projects that provide overseas legal information to support Korean companies’ exports.