Prime minister makes sweeping deregulation promises

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks on the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s regulatory reform plans in a press conference at the government complex in Sejong on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announced Tuesday the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's new approach to regulatory reform as a part of its effort to spur economic growth.

In a press conference at the government complex in Sejong, Han announced the establishment of a new strategy meeting that will serve as "the highest decision-making body for government regulatory innovation."

The regulatory innovation strategy meeting will be chaired by President Yoon, with Han serving as vice chairman. It will be a public-private joint consultative body that includes ministers, local government leaders, economic organizations and experts.

"For important issues, the president will personally preside over the meeting," Han said, "and based on strong leadership promptly decide and implement key tasks."

The president has promised regulatory reform for the sustainable growth of the country.

A regulation innovation meeting aimed at cutting red tape was among 110 key policy tasks announced by Yoon's presidential transition committee in early May.

In the press briefing, Han also announced the establishment of a regulatory adjudication system through which regulatory judges, including private experts, will review and resolve regulatory grievances of citizens. Individuals or entities facing difficulties with regulations in various fields can make proposals through the regulatory tribunal, and around 100 regulatory judges will make a decision on whether to scrap a regulation or not.

"These regulatory judges will determine the appropriateness of the relevant regulation based on international standards and the opinions of stakeholders and relevant ministries," said Han. "If the relevant ministries cannot prove the necessity or validity of the regulation, we will abolish or improve upon the regulation."

Han said that the government will set a deadline of three years to review all regulations related to economic activities and jobs, adding, "When the review deadline comes, we will strive to systematically and continuously follow-up with measures such as abolishing and improving upon unfair regulations through a regulatory impact analysis."

The government will also form a regulatory innovation promotion team, an advisory group comprised of civilian experts from economic groups, research institutes and retired public officials.

Han said, "The regulatory innovation promotion team plans to review in-depth mass regulations that are difficult to tackle by a single ministry and aims to come up with effective reform plans."

The government also plans to reorganize the existing regulatory sandbox, a mechanism to temporarily suspend or exempt regulations for innovative growth.

Yoon has frequently compared regulations to ankle weight "sandbags" for physical training, as they hinder business activities. The president has pushed for relaxing corporate regulations to encourage companies to invest and hire more.

At a meeting with senior secretaries on May 30, Yoon said, "It is hard for companies to wear sandbags and compete in the global market."

On Monday, Yoon and Han held their first weekly meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, and they agreed that regulatory reform will be a top priority.

Yoon said in the luncheon meeting, "Regulatory reform will soon be the [engine of] growth of the country."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]