Recently Passed Bills
- Bill
- Plenary passes 93 bills during 14th meeting of 400th regular session
- PROPOSITION DATE
- 2022-12-08
- RESOLUTION DATE OF PLENARY SESSION
- 2022-12-08
- Bill
- Plenary passes 93 bills during 14th meeting of 400th regular session
- PROPOSITION DATE
- 2022-12-08
- RESOLUTION DATE OF PLENARY SESSION
- 2022-12-08
Plenary meeting passes 93 bills including amendments to the Civil Act and the General Act on Public Administration
- Amendments to the Civil Act and the General Act on Public Administration to unify age system by adopting international method of calculating age
- Amendment to the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, which imposes severe punishment to construction equipment operators who cause injury or death to a child in a Child Protection Area
The National Assembly passed 107 agenda items, including 93 bills, at the 14th plenary meeting of the 400th regular session, held on Dec. 8. The following are major bills tabled for consideration:
<1> Amendment to the Civil Act and the General Act on Public Administration
Currently in Korea there are three ways of calculating age, namely ‘international age,’ ‘Korean age’ and ‘calendar age.’ With the most popular one, Korean age, a baby is considered one year old at birth and grows one year older on their first January 1. With calendar age, a baby’s age begins at zero at birth and one year is added every New Year’s Day.
The different ways of counting age have caused constant confusion and legal conflicts, producing unnecessary social and economic costs that have propelled the need to standardize Korea’s age counting system in accordance with the international method.
The amendment will clearly specify that age is calculated using the international method and is expressed using calendar age. This will help minimize unnecessary conflicts about age and establish social practices in accordance with the international age standard.
<2> Amendment to the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes
The need for this amendment was recognized after a hit-and-run incident involving a child, carried out by an excavator operator in a Child Protection Area in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, in July.
The amendment will eliminate blind spots in the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, by including construction machinery operators on the list of drivers subject to aggravated punishment if they commit certain offenses against a child while operating machinery in a child protection area.
<3> Amendment to the Wastes Control Act
The need was recognized to undertake institutional improvements to prevent conflicts between local governments over the treatment of wastes generated in other regions.
The amendment will mandate that mayors, governors, and heads of local governments take responsibility for treating household wastes at facilities located within or servicing their jurisdiction. If it is not possible to treat all locally generated wastes, they will be permitted to transport wastes to facilities outside their jurisdiction after consultation, and the mayors, governors, and heads of local governments that received the wastes will be able to charge fees for the expenses they incur by treating wastes brought to their facilities from another jurisdiction.
<4> Amendment to the Framework Act on Broadcasting Communications Development and the Act on Promotion of Information Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection
A fire at a data center in October 2022 caused a massive service disruption of an unprecedented nature to Korea’s internet platform giants, inconveniencing the public considerably.
The amendment will define the regulations stipulating a faster response in case of disastrous malfunctions to communications networks. Value-added telecommunications business operators with a certain number of users or a certain level of traffic volume, and business entities of clustered information and communications facilities will be required to develop and implement master plans for managing disasters affecting broadcasting communications, in order to prevent future disasters and other physical and functional failings.
