Photo unrelated to article [Getty Images Bank]
Photo unrelated to article [Getty Images Bank]

The government has officially launched the National Life Safety Commission, a presidential body that will consolidate life-safety policies previously handled separately by individual ministries — covering suicide prevention, industrial accidents, traffic safety and natural disasters.

The commission held its inaugural ceremony and first meeting at Government Complex Seoul on Tuesday.

The body was established under a presidential decree on the commission's establishment and operation, promulgated in May. It is tasked with deliberating and coordinating major national policies to guarantee citizens' right to safety and build a society that values human life.

The first meeting was co-chaired by Yun Ho-jung, minister of Interior and Safety, and Baek Jong-woo, a professor at Kyung Hee University and president of the Korea Suicide Prevention Association. Both serve as co-vice chairpersons in place of the president, who chairs the commission.

The launch marks the full activation of a national implementation framework to translate into policy the right to safety enshrined in the Basic Act on Life Safety, enacted in June.

Going forward, the commission will integrate and coordinate life-safety policies that had been dispersed across ministries — suicide prevention under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, industrial accident management under the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and others. It will also identify gaps in safety coverage and bring in private-sector experts to supplement government measures.

The commission will operate four subcommittees — covering life safety, disaster safety, lifestyle safety and victim support — to deliberate on sector-specific policies and key agenda items.

"With the enactment of the Basic Act on Life Safety, protecting the lives and safety of citizens has become a right the state is obligated to guarantee," Yun said. "The commission will consolidate safety policies that had been scattered across ministries under a single standard — the protection of human life — and will build a prevention-focused safety framework rather than one centered on after-the-fact response."

Co-vice chairperson Baek said the commission would work to build a society that minimizes preventable deaths and harm through close cooperation between the government and the private sector.


adastra@heraldcorp.com