The National Assembly passed a law granting nurses more rights and legal protection during a plenary session on Wednesday. (YONHAP)
In a rare case of cross-party cooperation, the National Assembly on Wednesday passed a series of laws on existential issues whose passage had stalled due to bitter disputes between the country’s major political parties over other bills.
The passage of the bills came nearly three weeks after the conservative People Power Party (PPP) and the liberal Democratic Party (DP) reached an agreement on August 8 to work together on bills where there is cross-party consensus.
One of these bills is a law that would give victims of rental housing fraud the right to rent social housing for up to twenty years.
Most of the victims were killed during the unique jeon Tenancy system that allows tenants to live in a property rent-free or at a reduced rent for a set period of time in return for paying the landlord a large security deposit. Under this system, many forgo the potential interest that would accrue on the amount if it had been deposited in a bank account during the tenancy.
A nationwide investigation into jeonse fraud identified 2,995 victims who suffered losses totaling approximately 459.9 billion won ($344.4 million) because their landlords did not return their security deposits.
In most cases of jeonse fraud, landlords used their tenants’ security deposits to buy additional properties that later proved unprofitable or invested in development projects that never materialized.
Another bill passed by parliament on Wednesday will allow nurses to take on more responsibilities, amid ongoing staff shortages in the health service following a months-long strike by junior doctors protesting against government plans to increase the number of doctors recruited annually by 1,509 positions.
The bill was supported by nursing staff who argued that they should be allowed to perform certain medical services independently, especially on elderly patients.
However, the bill faced strong opposition from medical associations, which warned that it would lead to nurses performing medical procedures without adequate supervision.
Although President Yoon Suk Yeol rejected a similar bill in May last year, the pro-government PPP seemed to have changed its stance after negotiations with the DP.
The National Assembly also passed a bill to prevent parents who neglect their children from claiming their assets.
The law became known as the “Goo Hara Law” after the late K-pop star’s estranged mother tried to claim half of Goo’s estate, which her brother Goo Ho-in had inherited.
The revised inheritance law will come into force in January 2026.
Despite the successful passage of several bills in the plenary session on Wednesday, the PPP and DP are likely to continue to clash on other legislative proposals.
At the urging of the PPP, the president earlier this month vetoed a DP-backed bill calling for an investigation into the death of a young Marine corporal who drowned during a flood rescue operation last year.
The president also rejected four DP bills that would reduce the government’s influence over state media regulators and the country’s public broadcasters, as well as a bill that would implement DP Chairman Lee Jae Myung’s campaign promise to allocate 250,000 won in cash to every household.
BY MICHAEL LEE ([email protected])
