Gov`t Enforces Class Action Lawsuit System

The government is to enforce the class action lawsuit system from next year despite the objection of the industrial circles.

After the firm decision of the government was delivered, the business sector delayed the signature-collecting campaign for the opposition to the class action lawsuit system. Even though they did not give up their negative opinion to the introduction of the new system, the conflicts for the deregulation between the government and the business sector seemingly came to an end.

However, the chairpersons of the 5 major business organizations urged, at the press conference, the fair and fast execution of the law, claiming ``the governmental response to the illegal strikes has been too lukewarm.``

Jin Nyum, the deputy Prime Minister and the Finance and Economy Minister, said that the government is to introduce the class action lawsuit system, from the large registered enterprises next year to all others step by step. The business sector does not have any reason to oppose because the system aims to increase the transparency of the enterprises.

Deputy Prime Minister Jin said that, if they respect the stockholders and make the correct public announcements, there is no reason for the business sector to be afraid of the new introduction of the system. He also added, ``since the new class action lawsuit system is to applied to the large enterprises, the signature-collecting campaign of the Federation of Korean Industries to the medium and small-sized enterprises is not acceptable.``

The Federation of Korean Industries is to request more deregulations, including the class action lawsuit system, in the latter half of this year.

Meanwhile, the chairpersons of the 5 major business organizations held a conference and announced `the declaration of the business sector about the current situation.`` They urged the labor sector to recede from the general strike and they also proposed a public discussion about the reasons of the general strike.

They also remarked, ``while everyone is struggling to recover the national economy, the general strike led by the hard-line unionists is opposed to the public opinion. The strike will affect the foreign credibility and decrease the foreign investment in the nation.``

They urged the fast and fair legal execution of the government and insisted that, ``the government should recognize the social unrest would increase if the government sets a precedent, by ignoring the illegal behaviors and strikes in the industrial sites.``

Park Won-Jae parkwj@donga.com