Sohn Kyung-shik, chairman of the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF), speaks during an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Seoul on Jan. 23, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Sohn Kyung-shik, chairman of the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF), has raised strong concerns about the imminent expansion of the workplace safety law aimed at penalizing employers for fatal industrial accidents.
The law, implemented in January 2022, subjects business owners or CEOs of companies with 50 or more employees to penalties of a minimum one-year prison term or fines of up to 1 billion won (US$749,000) in the event of fatal accidents caused by inadequate workplace safety measures.
Currently, the law is slated to extend its jurisdiction to companies with fewer than 50 employees, covering a significant 80 percent of serious accidents. They were given a two-year grace period.
Sohn, the head of the KEF, which represents businesses in Korea, argued against the full expansion of the law, claiming that punitive measures alone are not the solution to preventing industrial disasters.
He said the business community, under the banner of the KEF, has expressed apprehensions about the potential impact on the overall business environment.
“Businesspeople fear the possibility that they can be punished any time,” he said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency held on Tuesday. “I heard some foreign companies operating in Korea have difficulties sending their officials to the top position in their Korean unit because of the law.”
The local business community has long urged the government to postpone the expansion, but a bill to give an additional two-year grace period has been shelved at the parliament.
Sohn emphasized that the law, implemented to enhance workplace safety, has not significantly contributed to reducing industrial accidents in the country.
“The key point is that companies have to make constant efforts not to bring on industrial disasters and seek more ways to prevent them,” he said. “The KEF will set up a task force to help companies improve their workplace safety capabilities.”
At the same time, he said the KEF will focus on broader labor market reforms, addressing issues like labor market flexibility and the seniority-based wage system this year in a way to support Korean companies in the competitive global market.
Sohn, who also serves as the chair of the food-to-entertainment conglomerate CJ Group, expected the Korean economy will grow around 2.5 percent this year but stressed it is not easy to achieve the growth due to many challenges down the road.
“We’ve grown faster than other countries in the world, but in the past two or three years, we were slower,” he said. “Now we have to face up to the reality and learn global trends for a fresh start.”
(Yonhap)
