Pushing pork-barrel projects to the extreme

The Serious Accident Punishment Act holding employers liable for fatal casualties caused by insufficient safety measures extends to smaller workplaces employing 49 to five despite pleas from merchants and small companies for more time. The grace period for the law that went effective for big companies from 2022 ended last week due to a disagreement between rivalling political parties on the extension of the period The law now additionally affects 839,000 small business entities which employ approximately 8 million.

Mom-and-pop diners and stores with more than five hires also would face the punishment of minimum 1-year jail term or the maximum fine of 1 billion won ($750,000) should any of their employee die at work or more than 10 are injured in an accident. Few disagree with the purpose of the law to ensure a safe work environment. But the problem is that most of small establishments cannot meet the tough safety regulations. Small business owners still struggling with their business slowdown after Covid-19 restrictions cannot afford to hire security supervisors or enhance safety infrastructure on their own.

The governing People Power Party (PPP) and majority Democratic Party (DP) had been discussing an extension of the grace period for smaller businesses since last year, but they are tossing the responsibility to one another. The PPP accuses the DP for neglecting the pleas from small business owners to secure votes from a majority of labor union members. The DP slams at the irresponsibility of the government for doing little to come up with countermeasures during the last two-year grace period.

But lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are exceptionally cooperative and swift on bills that can help their constituencies. The legislature last week passed a special law to build a 199-kilometer (124-mile) railway connecting Gwangju and Daegu at a cost of 8.7 trillion won. The project was even exempted from the preliminary feasibility study through bipartisan agreement.

Exempting a close study on the economic value on a project costing tax money of more than 8 trillion won on the grandiose design of connecting the east-west regions and achieving balanced growth will certainly pose a threat to fiscal integrity, as more local governments could demand similar exemptions on pork-barrel projects. Bills on ambitious railway projects across the country are already piling up at the legislature. One even proposes to extend the inner capital subway line to the outer city of Gimpo after skipping a preliminary economic feasibility study.

Little heed goes to bills to aid public livelihoods as the National Assembly is entirely engrossed with populism in their final months in four-year term.