President Lee Jae-myung said on the 29th that if deaths from industrial accidents repeatedly occur in corporations, "If obvious industrial accidents occur repetitively and habitually, measures should be taken to publicize them multiple times, so that if investments stop, the stock price collapses." This comment comes amid a spate of similar worker deaths at POSCO E&C and SPC Group, and was made as President Lee received a report on the Financial Services Commission's "industrial accident prevention measures."
On that day, President Lee chaired a cabinet meeting and held a public discussion while receiving reports on industrial accident prevention measures prepared by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and other ministries. At this meeting, Kim Byeong-hwan, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, noted, "Ultimately, there is a need to implement measures that increase the disadvantages through market forces," and proposed enhancing penalty points during ESG assessments of listed corporations, tightening bank loan restrictions, and increasing safety investment costs for exemplary corporations.
In response, President Lee said, "The proposal from the Financial Services Commission is quite interesting," and asked, "Among the various items that serve as investment criteria, does ESG evaluation have a significant impact? Global large funds tend to place a high value on this; are we saying we should reflect this strongly in the evaluation?" He then stated that such corporations should be reflected in the Financial Supervisory Service's public disclosure system, leading to reduced investment and stock price collapse.
President Lee stated, "It is truly primitive for corporations to repeatedly experience industrial accidents due to not adhering to regulations," adding, "Loan restrictions are something we can take immediate action on; we need to create an actual implementation plan for things like loan restrictions." He also mentioned, "If we establish criteria to disadvantage loans and investments, listed companies would face a significant blow."
◇"Preventing industrial accidents is more effective through economic sanctions than punishment."
This cabinet meeting was the first to be broadcast live in real time among past governments. Previously, cabinet meetings had only been publicly released in recorded form through the president's opening remarks. However, on this day, over 90 minutes of discussions between President Lee and various ministers were fully broadcasted through KTV. This was in accordance with President Lee's instructions, considering the importance of the agenda of "eradication of major industrial disasters" that it should be made public to all citizens, according to the presidential office.
It is said that, until just before the meeting, employees related to the press support at the presidential office, as well as the ministers, were unaware of the live broadcast. Lee Gyu-yeon, senior communications officer at the presidential office, noted, "The president stated that the measures to eradicate major industrial disasters must be disclosed to all citizens without omission, directing that the discussion process be broadcast live without filtering." He added, "There were suggestions for phased recording or partial disclosure, but the president's directive was to make it public to the citizens on this day."
The government agreed that while strengthening the effectiveness of criminal penalties for corporations involved in industrial accidents, more emphasis should be placed on "economic sanctions." Discussions included loan restrictions at the level of the Financial Services Commission, imposing a penalty surcharge of 3% based on sales instead of operating profit (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport), establishing a dedicated team for major industrial disasters within the prosecution and strengthening sentencing guidelines related to the Major Industrial Accidents Punishment Act (Ministry of Justice), restricting public tendering for companies violating the Industrial Safety and Health Act and revoking business licenses for repeated violations (Ministry of Labor), and forming a dedicated team for industrial accident fatalities within the police (Ministry of Interior and Safety).