Han Jeong-ae, the Democratic Party of Korea policy committee chair, proposed a bill to restrict animal ownership by animal abusers. Han also serves as the head lawmaker of the National Assembly Animal Welfare Forum.
Han Jeong-ae's office in the Democratic Party said on the 25th that she had led the proposal of an amendment to the Animal Protection Act with these details. The current law specifies penalties for animal abuse, but it has no provisions related to animal ownership.
The amendment allows a court, when sentencing an animal abuser to a fine or heavier punishment, to order the loss or restriction of animal ownership. For habitual abusers punished two or more times, it mandates restricting animal ownership for at least five years and up to 10 years, absent special circumstances.
Han, who also serves as the head of the National Assembly Climate Change Forum and Water Forum, on this day also led the proposal of amendments to the Electric Utility Act and the Sewerage Act.
The Electric Utility Act amendment aims to address the limitations of the current power market, where only "electricity" is a transaction item, by including "available supply capacity" and "reserve power" as items for transaction. It also introduces a system for approving changes such as facility capacity and grid connection locations, and allows punishment for obtaining permits by fraudulent means.
The Sewerage Act amendment limits the warranty liability period for public sewerage to seven years for sewage treatment plants and three years for sewer pipelines. Under current law, businesses and their affiliates that participated in planning, design, construction, or supervision of public sewerage are permanently barred from participating in technical diagnostics; by setting a warranty liability period, the intent is to lower entry barriers.
Han said, "Going forward, through activities in National Assembly forums, we will continue to identify policy tasks across various fields and work to ensure that voices from the field lead to legislation and bring about tangible change."