Parliament set to kick off extraordinary session
Members of People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and those from other civic groups protest in front of the National Assembly on Thursday, demanding lawmakers pass “10 essential bills” to spur domestic economy. Among the bills were easing down on excessive card transaction fees and space rental fees in commercial buildings. Courtesy of Hankook Ilbo
The National Assembly is set to open an extraordinary session on Thursday to deal with key bills on deregulation and the economy.
Parliamentary standing committees will start reviewing the motions before putting them up for vote at a plenary session slated for next Thursday.
The National Assembly was put back on track in early July after it had been inactive for more than 40 days, due mainly to the June 13 local elections.
The ruling Democratic Party (DP) wants lawmakers to pass five bills to reform regulations.
The motions include the introduction of a "regulatory sandbox" that will allow companies in new, innovative industries to operate free from excessive regulations for a certain period of time.
But the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) seeks a bill for across-the-board deregulation in designated industries.
The floor leaders of ruling and opposition parties earlier agreed to handle a bill aimed at allowing non-financial firms to take a bigger stake in Internet-only banks and a revised motion to designate heat and cold waves as natural disasters.
President Moon Jae-in raised the need to ease regulations on bank ownership in the case of Internet-only banks in a bid to promote innovation in the financial sector.
The passage of bills on people's livelihoods is also a matter of particular urgency as the Korean economy is slowing due to sluggish facility investment and weak exports.
Small business owners reacted angrily to steep hikes in the minimum wage, saying they cannot shoulder rising labor costs. (Yonhap)