KLRI : KOREA LEGISLATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE

I. Needs and purposes 

▶ COVID-19 has resulted in rapid social changes in the existing lifestyle, such as an increase in online, non-face-to-face and non-contact activities due to reluctance to perform face-to-face activities, come into contact with others and participate in assembly. 

○ Widespread social distancing, fueled by COVID-19, has caused the public to experience dramatic changes in its lifestyle, including a decrease in all types of interpersonal contact and less contact between individuals.

○ Combined with digital transformation, such changes have accelerated a transition in daily life in the direction that raise the effective value of convenience, such as an expansion of e-commerce, the cold chain and the stay-at-home economy. 

▶ Issues to be discussed regarding social changes by field driven by COVID-19 are as follows:

○ In the field of e-commerce, a surge in electronic transactions is facilitating non-face-to-face delivery and provision of data-based customized services on various platforms, and, as online platform workers have emerged, issues concerning such workers are occurring;

○In the field of education, the opening of online classes, instead of face-to-face ones, has reduced a risk of getting infected with and spreading the virus. However, as non-face-to-face classes have brought issues related to school days, criteria for completing educational courses and a widening learning gap, stronger social responsibilities of education are increasingly emphasized; 

○ In the field of labor, as working from home is becoming more prevalent, issues on reforms in labor-related legislation are arising in order to deal with a growing need to create and establish an environment and infrastructure appropriate for working from home, address information security concerns and help those working from home balance work and family life;

○ Other issues are also emerging, such as environmental problems caused by a rise in the use of disposable products due to a more frequent use of delivery and courier services, and alienation of those suffering from digital divide from non-face-to-face activities. 

▶ As the terms “with COVID-19” and “CODIVDing” indicate, COVID-19 has increasingly become a part of our daily life. We should, therefore, discuss new legislative methods, supplement and enact provisions regarding administrative procedures, and conduct a specific review of other relevant issues in order to respond to social changes driven by the disease.

○ To this end, this study predicts what changes are taking place in major social sectors, identifies a legal and institutional demand to cope withsuch changes and suggests methods for improving the existing law and institutions.

○ By doing so, this study proposes comprehensive legislative and policy alternatives as well as strategies to respond to the changes in preparation for the post COVID-19 era.  

▶ To achieve the purposes mentioned above, this study deals with major issues and develops strategies for dealing with such issues by establishing forums for each field which consist of a panel of experts in the relevant field.  

○ A literature review is also conducted to look at the changes in our daily life driven by COVID-19 and to identify the need to establish forums that are essential to this study.  

○ This study, furthermore, analyses key words and networks to ascertain overall issues before examining the specific details of forums.

 

II. Major content 

▶ The biggest change resulting from COVID-19 is the shift towards non-face-to-face activities, such as social distancing, to prevent infectious diseases and their spread. 

○The social changes caused by COVID-19 are: The need for a shift towards big government has emerged to cope with highly infectious diseases including COVID-19; social polarization has substantially increased in every aspect of society such as education and medical services; and non-face-to-face platforms have brought various changes to society.

○ In the field of social welfare, for example, a rise in non-face-to-face activities has led the elderly, the disabled and other vulnerable social groups to be denied the services that they have been provided with, making it difficult for them to meet their basic human needs including safety.

○ In the field of education, as remote learning has become commonplace, a difference in students’ self-directed learning capabilities and a lack of physical and emotional infrastructure due to a poor social and economic background of their parents are widening the learning gap among students. 

▶ As mentioned the above, COVID-19 has posed new challenges to us, and, with an outbreak of an infectious disease like COVID-19 expected to continue, we need to formulate appropriate measures to respond to such circumstance. 

○ So for this study, forums consisting of experts in each social sector are organized.  

○ A total of 86 experts in various fields, including law, education, public administration and labor, have participated in the forums. Each forum is comprised of experts from different job groups who serve at universities or companies or engage in practical education, in order to hear opinions from those on the ground. 

○ The forums are composed of six divisions: Education and culture division; social welfare division; Information and Communications Technology (ICT), non-face-to-face and electronic public administration division; family and population division; and public health and medical service division. Meetings of the divisions were held 18 times from February to July this year (including one joint forum covering all issues for the divisions).    

▶ Before examining the specific details of the forums for each division, the findings of the analysis based on presentations and discussions made during the forums are as follows: 

○First, in the case of the education and culture division, the words ‘regional community’, ‘society’ and ‘management’ are most frequently mentioned and words are found to be connected mainly with ‘school’, ‘education’ and ‘student’. This suggests that regional communities and society need to play a bigger role as social distancing has become a common way of life and that heated discussions on students, school and education have been underway;   

○Second, in the case of the labor division, the words ‘employment’, ‘government’,  ‘wage’, ‘system’ and ‘problem’ are most often used, indicating that the government has to take institutional measures to address employment-related issues. In addition, the fact that various words largely related to ‘labor’ and ‘industry’ are connected with each 

other reveals that discussions focusing on changes in labor and industry have taken place; 

○ Third, in the case of the ICT, non-face-to-face and electronic public administration division, among the most repeatedly used words are ‘change’, ‘management’, ‘work’, ‘working from home’ and ‘society’, followed by ‘policy’, ‘response’ and ‘administration’. This result shows that the government need to make the utmost effort to deal with changes in ways of working. The findings of analyzing networks also indicate the same; 

○ Fourth, in the case of the family and population division, the most often mentioned word is ‘insecurity’, suggesting that COVID-19 has become a major factor in making family members feel insecure. The words ‘economy’ and ‘crisis’, in this regard, means that COVID-19 is one of the reasons for the economic crisis. The analysis of networks shows similar results: Words are found to be connected mainly with ‘family’ and ‘insecurity’, showing that insecurity arising from family relationships is a major subject of this division;

○ Fifth, in the case of the public health and medical service division, the words ‘damage’, ‘contract’, ‘regulation’ and ‘the public’ are most frequently used along with ‘problem’, ‘exemption from responsibility’, ‘state’ and ‘circumstance’, indicating that discussions have primarily focused on issues such as responsibility and exemption from responsibility in tackling a public health crisis in the COVID-19 era.   

▶ The major subjects of forums for each division and legal issues drawn from them are as follows:

○ First, major subjects and legal and institutional issues that were dealt with in the forums for the field of public administration are as follows:

○ Second, major subjects and legal and institutional issues that were covered by the forums for the field of education are as follows:

○ Third, major subjects and legal and institutional issues that were discussed in the forums for the fields of family, public health and medical services are as follows:

○ Fourth, major subjects and legal and institutional issues that were raised in the forums for the fields of labor and industry are as follows:

 

III. Prospects for response to social changes by field

▶ (Public administration) Strategies need to be developed to cope with changes in the government’s decision-making process and the increase in public officials working from home.

○Changes in the government’s decision-making process are expected to be made, such as the utilization of technological development for administrative services and a transition to a flexible system to meet various needs. In addition, as electronic administration has been facilitated, more and more public officials are working from home.  

○Therefore, a close examination of the State Public Officials Service Regulations, the Local Public Officials Service Regulations and other relevant statutes has to be conducted in order to classify whether working from home is necessary based on the characteristics of public officials’ duties and prepare plans for performance management appropriate for working from home.

○ Furthermore, information sharing between ministries that is necessary for flexible administration and provision of electronic administration services can lead to issues related to personal information security, which is why we need to set the direction for taking legal measures in consideration of the Act on Promotion of Data-Based Administration, the Personal Information Protection Act and other relevant statutes so as to provide administration services in a stable manner.

▶ (Education) Strategies need to be prepared to address a widening education gap and actively respond to changes in education methods.

○As different personal characteristics of students (family background, cognitive traits, etc.) is leading to a widening education gap, measures to support the disadvantaged students suffering from a learning loss have to be taken from a welfare perspective. To this end, efforts are being made to establish a legal basis for reducing the education gap through the legislation of the Act on Securing Fundamental Academic Skills, the Education Welfare Act and other relevant statutes.  

○While there has been a shift in education methods towards remote classes, or non-face-to-face learning, the current Elementary and Secondary Education Act defines such type of education only focusing on the utilization of media. The Act, therefore, needs to be amended reflecting the procedures and methods for remote learning, attendance acknowledgement and its other specific aspects.

▶ (Public health and medical services) Strategies need to be established to improve medical safety when in comes to telemedicine, the normalization of public medical services, etc.  

○In order for telemedicine to be effectively implemented, the term “telemedicine” defined in Article 34 of the existing Medical Service Act has to be changed to “non-face-to-face medical service” so that more persons are eligible for such service. Additionally, diverse approaches have to be adopted to address the issues that are still in dispute with regard to telemedicine, such as the use of patients’ personal information and responsibility for medical malpractice.  

○ On top of that, a comprehensive review of the Public Health and Medical Services Act, the Act on the Establishment and Management of Local Medical Centers, the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act and other relevant statutes is necessary to normalize public medical services.

▶ (Labor and industry) Strategies need to be developed to respond to the emergence of new forms of work and promote vocational education and training. 

○ With non-face-to-face activities being increasingly commonplace in our daily life, a new type of worker — ‘platform workers’ — has emerged. They are considered self-proprietors so their legal status is not guaranteed by the Labor Standards Act. This situation can result in poor working conditions, and therefore, improvements in the legal system have to be made to create a safe working environment for them. 

○ The development of digital technology has become a worrisome factor for workers, suggesting that laws related to vocational education and training and lifelong learning, including the Act on the Development of the Public’s Lifelong Vocational Skills and the Act on the Development of Vocational Skill of Workers, have to be examined in a comprehensive manner in order to adjust to a changing digitalized working environment where technological development has resulted in a decline in unskilled jobs and digital capability building has become more important to adapt to a digitalized working environment.