Nat'l Assembly passes key deregulatory bills at plenary session

South Korea's rival parties agreed to pass more than 70 bills, including key bills related to the economy at a plenary session on Thursday.
Kim Mok-yeon reports.

After weeks of intense negotiations, rival parties agreed to pass some key deregulatory bills at a parliamentary session on Thursday.
These included a bill revising a law so that the tenants of commercial buildings are better protected.
Rival parties agreed to increase the period for guaranteeing existing tenants' contract renewal to ten years from the current five to better protect smaller businesses.
They also agreed to increase the protection period for tenants to claim back the premium they paid for leasing a business space, from the current three months before their contract expires to 6 months.
Another key bill that was passed involved easing non-financial firms' ownership cap in internet-only banks.
The parties agreed to allow nonfinancial firms to hold up to a 34 percent stake in web-only banks, up from the current 4 percent ownership limit, but banned family-owned conglomerates from making such purchases.
Lawmakers also voted for a combined regulatory reform bill which allows certain business districts to become regulation-free special zones in order to nurture innovative growth for strategic industries in non-metropolitan areas.
Such developments came as part of bipartisan efforts to help small businesses and self-employed people suffering from the slumping economy and the government's recent minimum wage hikes.

Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang news.