Commercial Act Amendment Bill Rejected in National Assembly Re-vote... Automatically Discarded

Commercial Act Amendment on Directors' Duty of Loyalty to Shareholders
Rejected Due to Opposition from People Power Party

The amendment to the Commercial Act introducing directors' duty of loyalty to shareholders was rejected and discarded after a re-vote in the National Assembly plenary session on the 17th.

On that day, the National Assembly held a plenary session and put the amendment to a re-vote. The anonymous vote results were 196 in favor, 98 against, 1 abstention, and 4 invalid votes out of 299 members present, resulting in rejection.

On the 17th, the revised Commercial Act and the special investigation bill for the internal disturbance and Myung Taekyun are being submitted for reconsideration at the plenary session of the National Assembly. 2025.4.17 Photo by Kim Hyunmin

The amendment to the Commercial Act expands the duty of loyalty of directors from the 'company' to 'shareholders' and mandates the holding of electronic shareholder meetings. It was passed in the National Assembly plenary session on the 13th of last month, led by the Democratic Party of Korea, but was vetoed by Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on the 1st, returning it to the National Assembly.

For a bill vetoed by the president to pass, a majority of the total members must be present and at least two-thirds of those present must vote in favor. On that day, Kim Jae-seop and Kim Sang-wook, members of the People Power Party, publicly expressed support for the amendment. However, since there was no significant defection within the People Power Party, the bill was discarded.

Earlier, the People Power Party held a party meeting before the plenary session and decided on a party line rejection. Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, referred to the amendment and seven other bills that the Democratic Party attempted to re-pass as "populist bad laws forcibly passed to strengthen political bases without considering people's livelihoods," urging, "Let us block them with our united front."