Interior Ministry re-notices Life Safety Act enforcement decree with 20 November deadline

South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety has re-issued the draft enforcement decree of the Framework Act on Life Safety, setting out which accidents and victims the new statute covers, which companies must assume prevention and response duties, and how safety-impact assessments of future legislation will work before the Act takes effect on 3 December 2026. The re-notice, 행정안전부공고 제2026-1442호 (Ministry of the Interior and Safety Public Notice No. 2026-1442), was published in the Government Gazette No. 21361 of 13 November 2026, with a public comment period closing on 20 November.

The parent statute, the Framework Act on Life Safety (Act No. 21729), was promulgated on 2 June 2026 and enters into force on 3 December 2026. It declares a citizen’s right to safety, defines the duties of the State and local governments, and provides for the comprehensive conduct of life-safety policy. The notice is issued under Article 41 of the Administrative Procedures Act, the provision requiring prior public announcement of subordinate legislation and the collection of opinions; its “re-announcement” label indicates a second pre-announcement of a decree already circulated in draft.

Broader definition of accidents and victims

Under Article 2 of the draft, the safety accidents that the State and local governments must prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from are no longer limited to disasters defined in the Framework Act on Disaster and Safety Management. They also include other accidents whose damage requires a response at national or local government level, explicitly including child-safety-related incidents.

Article 3 extends the definition of victim. Those entitled to rescue and humane treatment include:

• the deceased in the safety accident;
• the spouse, lineal ascendants and descendants, and siblings of the deceased;
• persons who took part in rescue, clean-up or support operations and who are recognised as having suffered physical, mental or economic harm.

Companies in scope, including foreign firms

Article 5 fixes the range of enterprises bearing duties of prevention, preparation, response and recovery. It covers:

• public institutions;
• local public corporations and local public foundations;
• companies incorporated under the Commercial Act that have completed corporate registration;
• foreign companies that have established a place of business in the Republic of Korea.

Safety-impact assessment of new legislation

Articles 23 to 25 create a preventive check on the statute book. A central administrative agency intending to enact or amend legislation under its remit must request a safety-impact analysis and assessment from the Minister of the Interior and Safety before the legislative pre-announcement stage. The Minister assesses factors that may infringe the citizen’s right to safety and returns a report, including required improvement measures, to the requesting agency, and may subsequently conduct a fact-finding survey on whether those measures were implemented.

Ten-day information duty and victims’ participation

Articles 28 and 31 address victims’ rights. Where a victim of a safety accident requests information about that accident, the State, a local government or a related company must provide it within 10 days of the request; if provision is impossible, the reason must be communicated to the victim by text message, telephone or similar means.

Separately, the National Safety Accident Investigation Committee, which conducts accident investigations independently, must give victims and others affected the opportunity to state their views during the investigation and to attend committee meetings and be heard.

Opinions on the draft may be submitted until 20 November 2026 through the National Participation Legislative Center (opinion.lawmaking.go.kr), or sent to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Safety Policy General Division, by post (1211, 42 Doum 6-ro, Eojin-dong, Sejong), e-mail (cheongram82@korea.kr) or fax (044-205-8997); the division answers enquiries on 044-205-4124.

The decree matters beyond the ministry’s own machinery: the 10-day information duty reaches private firms, including foreign companies operating in Korea, and the safety-impact assessment gives the Interior Ministry a veto-style checkpoint over other ministries’ legislative plans from December. With comments due in a single week, the final text will be settled before the Act’s 3 December commencement.

Source: 관보 (Government Gazette of the Republic of Korea), No. 21361, 13 November 2026, Public Notices (공고), p. 2 (official reference: 행정안전부공고 제2026-1442호).