SEOUL: The government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea will push for abolishing breach of trust as a criminal offence in a bid to ease excessive legal risks that hinder normal business decisions.
The announcement came during a party-government council at the National Assembly, led by a government task force on rationalising economic penalties and attended by the finance and justice ministers.
“The breach of trust offence has long been criticised for its vague requirements and broad scope, which undermine normal corporate management,” said Kwon Chil-seung, head of the task force.
“To address this, we plan to pursue abolition under the Criminal Act as the baseline, while preparing reasonable alternatives to prevent any legislative gap.”
The decision is part of the task force’s first-stage plan to streamline penalties for economic crimes.
President Lee Jae Myung launched the team in July to ease excessive corporate sanctions and spur investment. The body has since been working toward addressing about 30% of the government’s roughly 6,000 economic crime provisions within the coming year.
Breach of trust applies when executives or employees violate their duty of good faith for personal gain or cause losses. South Korea is one of few countries that treats such a breach as a crime, carrying some of the toughest penalties. — The Korea Herald/ANN
