Driver¡¯s license fees to be abolished next year

Beginning next year, driver's license fees ranging from 20,000 won to 40,000 won at present will be abolished. In addition, automobile taxes imposed on cars for non-business purposes will be discounted after they have been used for more than three years.

However, prices of various oil products are expected to rise next year due to a hike in levies on their import and sales.

President Kim Dae-Jung presided over a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae Tuesday, at which resolutions were passed on 31 issues, including revisions of local taxation and oil business laws.

At the meeting, the government decided to raise levies on the import and sales of crude and petroleum products from 13 won to 14 won per liter, those on natural gas from 6,908 won to 9,750 won per ton and those on kerosene from 20 won to 23 won per liter as part of efforts to reform the price structure of energy.

In order to speed up the restructuring of local government agencies, the government will also revise an enforcement ordinance of a law on allowances for local government officials. The revision will guarantee those in special services or under contracts special severance allowances equivalent to their salaries for six months if they opt to leave their jobs more than one year earlier than their retirement age.

The government also passed a revised bill of an enforcement ordinance of a law on futures transactions aimed at transferring transactions of listed futures to the Pusan Futures Exchange in 2004.

It also decided to revise a commercial law to require companies to get special approval from shareholders when they take over parts of other companies that could affect their own business. The revision is aimed at improving the transparency of corporate management.