The National Assembly will hold a public hearing on the 22nd regarding the class action act being pushed by the Democratic Party of Korea. The ruling and opposition parties showed differences over "retroactive application," the key issue of the class action act. The Democratic Party said the law should apply to cases up to three years ago in light of past damage cases, while the People Power Party argued that retroactive application would cause lawsuits to increase exponentially.
The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee held the Subcommittee on Bills No. 1 at the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 20th and decided to hold a public hearing on the class action act on the 22nd. After the public hearing, the class action act is expected to pass the subcommittee and be placed on the agenda of the full committee.
Kim Yong-min of the Democratic Party, who chairs the subcommittee, told reporters after the meeting, "The core of the debate among lawmakers was whether to apply it to cases up to three years ago or not," and said, "Most People Power Party lawmakers were opposed. The Ministry of Justice supported it, and the courts were a bit cautious."
Na Kyung-won of the People Power Party told reporters after the meeting, "None of the related laws so far have argued for retroactive application." Lawmaker Cho Bae-sook of the same party also said, "There are currently 200,000 cases in court, and if the class action act is implemented, conflicts will arise."
A class action is a system in which, in a case with numerous victims, a representative of the victims files suit and the effect of the judgment extends to all victims. Currently, class actions operate only in the field of securities, but the class action act could expand this to telecommunications companies, credit card companies, and platform corporations.
The most contentious part of the class action act is retroactive application. The bill for the class action act introduced by Park Kyun-taek of the Democratic Party stipulates that it "shall also apply (class actions) to claims for damages arising from reasons prior to the enforcement of the law."
On retroactive application, the National Court Administration offered a "careful review" opinion. The National Court Administration said, "Class actions could be filed even when lawsuits are already underway for some victims, judgments have been finalized, or damages have been paid," adding, "Disputes could intensify over res judicata (the binding force of a final judgment)." (☞Related article [Exclusive] For the ruling party's "retroactive application" class action act, the National Court Administration says "careful review")
The Ministry of Justice presented a different view from the courts. On retroactive application, the Ministry of Justice said, "It is reasonable for this law to apply to claims for damages arising from reasons before the law takes effect," adding, "It is necessary to prevent the unfairness of differences in relief for victims depending on the timing of legislation."
Earlier, President Lee Jae-myung, in a work briefing in Dec. last year, mentioned the Coupang data leak incident and said, "We also seem to need to introduce class actions. Please speed up the legislation."