KCCI chairman urges passage of economic bills

The head of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry called on the National Assembly to act on a set of economic bills before the closure of the parliamentary extraordinary session this week.

“It is regrettable that the debate on pending economic bills in the Assembly has stopped,” KCCI chairman Park Yong-maan said in a meeting with a group of reporters on Monday.

Among more than 10 pending bills aimed at economic revitalization and structural reforms, the KCCI head raised the urgency to pass the bills to establish a framework for the service industry as its level of development is far lower than other OECD member countries.

“The bill will lay the foundation to facilitate start-ups in the service industry and to create more jobs,’’ he said, adding that the KCCI will continue the petition campaign for the public and business community to put pressure on lawmakers.

The KCCI took a leadership role in launching the rare signature-campaign for the bill passage in January. It turned in the collected 1.6 million signatures to the Assembly last month. The association said will continue the campaign until the pending bills are passed.

Among 18 economic bills, the assembly only passed the so-called “one-shot” act, aimed at corporate restructuring, last month.

The ruling and opposition parties have failed to reach an agreement mainly due to their differences over labor reform bills. 

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)