The ruling People Power Party (PPP) said Friday it plans to propose a set of bills on creating a new ministry to tackle the low birth rate and on scrapping the financial investment income tax as some of its first legislation of the new National Assembly.
A total of 31 bills, announced during a two-day workshop of PPP lawmakers, include those on tackling the low fertility rate, livelihoods, future industries, balanced regional development and health care.
President Yoon Suk Yeol earlier this month announced his plans to create a new ministry fully dedicated to tackling South Korea’s low birth rate, calling it a “national emergency.”
The PPP said it will also push for a reform of the country’s high inheritance tax rate.
Meanwhile, the PPP took a swipe at the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) for turning a blind eye to bills related to people’s livelihoods and prioritizing its political agenda.
“The public must have been dumbfounded as (the DP’s) first bills all neglect issues related to people’s livel
ihoods and finding the truth but focus instead on impeding investigations and fueling political strife,” Rep. Jang Dong-hyuk, the PPP’s chief spokesperson, said in a commentary.
Shortly after the 22nd National Assembly began Thursday, the DP reintroduced a contentious bill mandating a special counsel investigation into the military’s response to a Marine’s death last year that failed to pass the previous Assembly.
The bill calls for the appointment of a special counsel to look into allegations Yoon’s office and the defense ministry inappropriately interfered in the military’s probe into the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun, who was killed during a search mission for victims of heavy downpours in July 2023.
During a Supreme Council meeting Friday, the DP also stepped up its targeting of Yoon over his alleged involvement in the probe.
At the meeting, Rep. Jang Kyung-tae urged Yoon to “give up his immunity from criminal prosecution and come forward for a fair investigation before the public,” stressing that the “p
robe on the Marine should in fact be a probe on Yoon.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency
