As the industrial ecosystem undergoes rapid change in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and calls grow for reforms to make labor more flexible, the business community has spoken with one voice, appealing to politicians to pass "economic revival legislation." At a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Cho Jung-sik on Monday, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) conveyed difficulties in the industrial field and policy proposals, focusing on three main agenda items: fostering the AI industry, creating jobs for young people, and revitalizing regional economies. KCCI Chairman Tae-won Choi said, "To connect the changes AI is bringing to growth, businesses must ultimately be able to act in the field," adding that "laws, institutions, and the environment must be built together in a timely manner." The Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) also held a policy meeting with the People Power Party, conveying concerns about the so-called Yellow Envelope Law, extension of the legal retirement age, and the presumption-of-worker system. KEF Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik said, "The spread of advanced technologies including AI is demanding changes across the industrial base and employment structure, but the laws and institutions of the labor market are failing to keep up with the changing times."
The tasks the business community appealed to the National Assembly on this day must be resolved for the survival of companies and to secure future growth engines for the economy. However, since they are difficult to resolve by companies alone and ultimately require legislation, the support of the National Assembly is desperately needed. The National Assembly must provide timely legislative backing so that corporate innovation and execution are not delayed. Yet the current state of the National Assembly is the height of incompetence and irresponsibility. Confrontation began from the stage of forming the second-half body, and after the Democratic Party of Korea unilaterally assigned 11 standing committee chairmanships, the People Power Party is countering by having all its standing committee members resign. Even if the National Assembly resumes operations, there is a strong possibility that economic revival legislation will be pushed aside as the ruling and opposition parties clash over various pending issues, such as abolishing the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights and reforming real estate taxation.
The ruling and opposition parties must squarely face the fact that the economy is now in crisis amid the "triple-high wave" of high prices, high exchange rates, and high interest rates, and make the livelihood legislation the business community has appealed for the top priority of the second-half National Assembly. Speaker Cho, too, must actively work to swiftly process the livelihood legislation he himself promised. Only when the National Assembly opens a path through economic revival legislation and companies increase investment and jobs can our economy overcome the triple-high wave and raise its potential growth rate. The greatest duty of the second-half National Assembly is economic revival legislation.
