PPP introduces two-year moratorium on SAPA bill

[Photo by Kim Ho-young]

Choo Kyung-ho, the floor leader of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party, announced on Monday that his party proposed a revised bill with a two-year moratorium on the application of the Serious Accident Punishment Act (SAPA) to companies with fewer than 50 employees. This is the first in a package of 22nd National Assembly bills aimed at improving the public’s livelihood.

“I proposed that the act be deferred for at least two years for businesses with fewer than 50 employees in the previous assembly in 2023, to no avail,” Choo said during a dialogue with small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners in Seoul on Monday. “I am happy to report today that Representative Lim Lee-ja and other members of the People Power Party officially proposed and introduced an amendment to suspend the act’s application for businesses with fewer than 50 employees for two years.”

He also intends to push forward with easing the flexible implementation of the 52-hour workweek system, which has been advocated by the SME sector.

“There is no disagreement that we need to protect workers from long working hours. However, each company has different circumstances, and the 52-hour limit must be applied flexibly to different sectors,” Choo said. “The People Power Party will take the lead in amending the relevant law.”

“During the 21st National Assembly, the government and the ruling party introduced a linkage system for payment of delivery fees and increased the inheritance tax deduction limit up to 600 billion won in the business succession bill,” Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ) Chairman Kim Ki-mun said, while calling on the 22nd National Assembly to resolve the issue of deferring SAPA’s application, particularly for businesses with fewer than 50 employees.