[fn Editorial] President Lee's Declaration of Regulatory Reform, Expecting Strong Momentum

President Lee Jae-myung held the 1st Core Regulation Rationalization Strategy Meeting on the 15th and mentioned regulatory innovation. "The regulations are tangled like a spider web due to complex interests and differences between ministries, and the goal of this government is to boldly remove them," he said. "To quickly change regulations, there must be momentum. We will hold several regulatory reform meetings under direct jurisdiction. We will listen to field opinions and, if necessary, proceed with strong momentum, including legislation," he added.

There has never been a government that did not attempt to abolish or relax regulations. They have shown strong will by comparing regulations to telephone poles, nails, or sandbags, saying they would pull them out or eliminate them. The previous Yoon Seok-yeol government also held consecutive regulatory reform meetings and said similar things. If they had practiced what they said at that time, this government might not need to talk about regulatory innovation again.

The fact that President Lee has brought up regulatory reform means that unnecessary regulations still exist. It means that they have only shouted regulatory reform in words and have not practiced it. The government said it would reform regulations, but the business community does not feel it, and whenever the time comes, they almost plead with the government and political circles to remove regulations. The reason this keeps repeating is the lack of execution.

Regulations are necessary. For example, limiting the speed of vehicles to 30 km/h on roads in front of schools is made out of necessity under the goal of child protection. In a way, various laws are regulations. Regulations are still being made for the operation of the state and the maintenance of social order. The problem is that regulations that hinder economic activities continue to accumulate without changing despite the changes of the times.

The reason regulations are not easily removed is also because officials consider them their authority. There is a saying that hundreds of stamps are needed to create a financial company. Each one becomes the authority of the responsible officials. Officials with authority become powerful, and urgent petitioners try to pass regulations even by giving bribes. As a result, regulations also become the cause of corruption.

No matter how loudly the central government shouts regulatory reform, it is in vain if the working departments or, further up, the National Assembly do not move. Administrative officials or the National Assembly do not easily give up regulations to avoid losing their authority. As a result, regulations have hardly disappeared over decades, and when the government changes, they shout regulatory reform again, but the result is always anticlimactic.

The fact that President Lee said he would hold regulatory reform meetings himself is because he knows this reality well. Therefore, it is seen as a declaration to properly eliminate them. It is not the first time the president has expressed strong will. Former President Park Geun-hye and former President Moon Jae-in had the same view on regulations. As they said, we must check and urge the results in the middle to see if regulations are being removed and relaxed, otherwise, it is likely to fizzle out in this government as well.

As President Lee said, regulations hinder growth and leap. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won also pointed out that regulations are obstacles to corporate activities by saying, "Let's create a mega sandbox." If companies that have to compete on the world stage are entangled in spider web-like regulations and cannot even stretch out domestically, does that make sense? We hope for genuine achievements in regulatory reform in this government.