A pan-government penalty rationalization task force was officially launched on the 30th. The task force aims to reasonably adjust all administrative penalties, including economic penalties, in line with the severity of violations, thereby enhancing fairness and effectiveness.
The task force is headed by Choi Young-chan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Government Legislation, who serves concurrently in the role. It comprises about 40 members in total, including officials and researchers from relevant agencies such as the Ministry of Government Legislation, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. Over the next two years, the task force will overhaul current penalty provisions to ease excessive administrative penalties that burden citizens and businesses, while strengthening financial accountability for violations and responding sternly to crimes that warrant social condemnation. To this end, it plans to focus exclusively on the following: ▲a complete review of 11,165 penalty provisions, ▲the establishment of "comprehensive standards for penalty rationalization" encompassing the entire penalty system, and ▲the revision of identified tasks.
Through this effort, a fair penalty system matching the severity and responsibility of crimes is expected to be established. Rationally revising penalty provisions to keep pace with changing times is also projected to reduce unnecessary social and administrative costs, promoting economic activity by citizens and businesses and bringing positive effects to national competitiveness and economic revitalization.
"This task force has been established not to uniformly revise penalty provisions according to a single standard, but to prepare reasonable improvement plans that consider the specific validity of each provision," said Cho Won-chul, Minister of Government Legislation. "By revising penalty provisions to fit reality, resolving penalty imbalances between laws, and reducing the social costs of regulation and law enforcement, we will produce penalty rationalization results that citizens and businesses can feel within two years of the task force's launch."
Meanwhile, the task force will immediately conduct a preliminary review of about 1,200 penalty provisions (equivalent to 10% of the total), selected in consideration of their importance and impact. Based on this, it plans to announce the "comprehensive standards for penalty rationalization" and a "two-year roadmap" by the end of the year.
