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Biz lobbies urge swift, unconditional abolition of breach of trust charge

Published: 26 Jan. 2026, 12:38

The Federation of Korean Industries [FKI]

Korean business lobbies on Monday called for the government and parliament to speed up efforts to abolish the breach of trust charge under criminal law without introducing any new regulations that might continue to restrict their managerial activities.

In September, the government and the ruling Democratic Party announced plans to scrap the breach of trust charge under criminal law, assessing that it has excessively restricted normal business activities.

"Ambiguity over who is subject to punishment and how the breach of trust offense is defined has put businesses at risk of facing criminal punishments even for normal management activities," a group of eight business lobbies, including the Federation of Korean Industries, said in a release.

The business lobbies noted that despite the government vowing to push for reform, there has been no clear progress, calling for swift legislative action.

"We call for an unconditional and full overhaul of breach of trust charges, with relevant misconduct punished under fraud or embezzlement charges or resolved through civil lawsuits, as in the United States or Britain," they said.

The business lobbies added Korea should not introduce new regulations on businesses, such as implementing a punitive damages system, as a supplementary measure to the abolition of breach of trust charges.

The punitive damages system is a legal mechanism that requires additional compensation beyond actual damages to punish the perpetrators and prevent a recurrence of the offense.

Yonhap