[Anti-Corporate Bill Review] The Three Major Anti-Corporate Bills Recently Flooding the Market

The Federation of Korean Industries Foundation (FKI Foundation) announced what it described as three major “anti-business” bills and released a review that diagnoses and examines potentially problematic provisions.

The first is the recent amendment to the Commercial Act, which passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 3rd and was approved by the Cabinet on the 15th. It includes measures such as expanding directors’ duty of loyalty to shareholders, applying the “3% rule” to voting rights in the appointment of audit committee members, and raising the mandatory ratio for appointing outside directors.

The second is the so-called “Yellow Envelope Act,” which is expected to be fast-tracked in the National Assembly. It contains provisions such as expanding the definition of “user/employer” and the scope of labor disputes, individualizing and mitigating liability for damages, and restricting or limiting claims.

The third is the government’s tax reform package announced on July 31. It includes a 1 percentage-point increase in corporate income tax rates by taxable income bracket, a stricter “major shareholder” threshold for stock capital gains tax (from KRW 5 billion to KRW 100 million), and the introduction of a separate taxation regime for dividend income.

Korean version: https://www.cfe.org/20250813_27973