JEJU -- Park Yong-maan, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, voiced concern over a rush of business regulations proposed by parliamentarians in the past several weeks.

“This could lead to a situation like a waterfall of regulations cascading on businesses,” he told reporters Wednesday on the southern resort island of Jeju. He was there to attend the KCCI’s annual forum for local business leaders. 

Since the 20th National Assembly kicked off on June 13 with more liberals than the ruling conservatives, a total of 870 legislative proposals have been submitted. Of them, 180 pertain to business and corporate management, Park said.

“A two-thirds of those business-related legislations, or 119, are regulations. The rest are to support business activities,” he said.

Companies, not knowing which of those proposals may affect them, will have to study just to figure out whether they need to prepare themselves, he said, adding that he thought this would be a distraction for Korean firms at a difficult time.

“I believe that those proposals will have their own good reasons, but when they all come at once like this, I worry they become a burden on business activity.”

The KCCI forum opened Wednesday, inviting world-renowned speakers and top executives from Korean companies for a four-day exchange of ideas on the topic of the coming fourth industrial revolution.

Speakers include McKinsey & Company global managing director Dominic Barton; Korea’s Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyung-hwan; UCLA Aerospace Engineering Department professor Dennis Hong; French philosopher and economist Guy Sorman; and Cambridge University economics professor Chang Ha-joon.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)