The National Assembly passed a bill requiring medical institutions to report the births of newborns to local governments Friday, after two unregistered babies were found dead in a refrigerator last week.
The revision to the Act on Registration of Family Relations came amid public outrage over shocking revelations that a woman in her 30s allegedly strangled her two babies to death shortly after their births in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and kept their bodies in a home refrigerator.
The case revealed a loophole in South Korea's baby registration system in which only parents are required to report the births of their children to the government within a month after their births, leaving open the possibility of abuse of unregistered babies.
The new legislation requires hospitals to notify local governments of baby information within 14 days after birth via the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRAS). The bill unanimously passed the judiciary committee Thursday.
The revision will take effect one year after promulgation.
During Friday's plenary session, the National Assembly also passed a proposal to introduce an opposition-led pro-labor bill, nicknamed the "yellow envelope bill," directly to the plenary session for debates.
The motion passed in a 178-4 vote, with two votes declared invalid, after lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) left the session en masse in protest of the motion and did not participate in the voting.
The revision of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act aims to restrict filing damage suits against striking workers. The bill had passed the labor committee in February but had since been pending at the judiciary committee chaired by the PPP for more than 90 days.
By law, a parliamentary committee can send a bill directly to a plenary session for debates and final approval with three-fifths support from its members if the judiciary committee takes no action for more than 60 days after taking over the bill.
Source: Yonhap News Agency