Ruling Party's Euljiro Committee Presents Seven Key Issues for Parliamentary Audit, Including Homeplus, Delivery Apps, Technology Theft and Parcel Worker Overwork Deaths

[Financial News] The Democratic Party of Korea's Committee for Protecting People's Livelihood (Euljiro Committee) selected seven key issues to focus on during the upcoming parliamentary audit on the 2nd. They include the MBK-Homeplus situation, unfair practices involving delivery apps, and technology theft from small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Euljiro Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center that day and selected seven key issues to investigate intensively during the parliamentary audit session, which will begin in earnest on the 6th.
The first issue is the MBK-Homeplus situation. Although Homeplus has resumed operations after a court approved its rehabilitation plan, the Euljiro Committee maintains that major shareholders, including Kim Byung-joo, chairman of MBK Partners, and the management remain responsible. The Euljiro Committee stated, "It has recently been reported that prosecutors were considering not indicting Chairman Kim," adding, "This is unacceptable. We will use a thorough parliamentary audit to prevent Chairman Kim from evading responsibility."
The committee also plans to examine unfair practices involving delivery apps during this parliamentary audit. The Euljiro Committee argued, "Solo business owners with no employees account for as much as 75%, and most have fallen into a chronic-deficit trap," adding, "Behind the crisis is a distorted cost-shifting structure created by giant platform companies." It said it would use the parliamentary audit to rigorously investigate abuse of power, tax evasion, and attempts by major delivery apps to undermine public authority.
The chronic problem of technology theft affecting small and medium-sized enterprises is also one of the Euljiro Committee's seven key issues. The Euljiro Committee pointed out, "According to the '2025 Survey on the Level of Technology Protection among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises,' technology infringements against small and medium-sized enterprises are estimated at 589 cases annually, with average damage amounting to KRW 2.32 billion," adding, "It is also a major problem that victimized companies must find evidence themselves, bear the costs, and endure lengthy disputes."
It added, "At this parliamentary audit, we will examine why it is difficult to secure evidence, why disputes become protracted, and why victims are not receiving sufficient recovery," stating, "We will also check whether the calculation of damages, recovery for victims, and sanctions for technology theft are properly working on the ground."
The Euljiro Committee also plans to closely examine overwork-related deaths among parcel delivery workers, an issue that has accompanied the growth of the early-morning delivery market. It said, "The third round of social dialogue has stalled because of companies' lukewarm attitude, and even the first and second agreements are not being followed in the field," adding, "In particular, Coupang is driving workers into high-intensity labor by violating its promises to the public to establish a 'five-day workweek' and to exclude workers from sorting duties and pay a sorting allowance when they are assigned to such work."
It argued, "To prevent overwork-related deaths among parcel delivery workers, it is urgent to ease work intensity by completely removing Fresh Bag collection and sorting duties, while imposing substantive working-hour limits and guaranteeing rest, including a 48-hour workweek cap and mandatory rest after four or more consecutive nights of night work."
The Euljiro Committee said, "We will promptly normalize the stalled social dialogue and do our utmost to pursue legislation and institutional improvements to protect parcel delivery workers' lives and right to health, including introducing a cap on night work and revising the standard contract."
In addition, the Euljiro Committee selected unfair contracts in the cultural industry, the eradication of illegal and unfair subcontracting, and abuse of power by public institutions as key topics to address during this parliamentary audit.
 
[email protected] Kim Hyeong-gu Reporter