August 2 Legislative Report: Rep. Son Chang-hwan Pushes for Inclusion of Safety Rights Violations in School Violence Definition and Mandatory On-Site Meal Preparation

Legislative Drive to Identify Violations of Student Safety Rights and Mandate Direct Meal Preparation

Rep. Son Chang-hwan of the Rebuilding Korea Party has introduced two key education bills in the 22nd National Assembly aimed at strengthening student human rights and the public education system. An analysis of legislative trends indicates that the newly proposed measures include an amendment to clearly distinguish the scope of school violence and provisions to directly manage the quality of school meals. Specifically, Rep. Son introduced a bill to amend the law to explicitly define acts that infringe upon students' safety rights as school violence. Additionally, he submitted an amendment to the School Meal Act to the National Assembly that mandates on-site meal preparation as a general principle and strictly restricts the distribution of processed foods.

Rep. Son has served as a member of the National Assembly Steering Committee and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts during the first half of the 22nd National Assembly, playing a significant role in the review of education and administrative budgets. In particular, Rep. Park Sung-bae, a member of the Education Committee, and Reps. Lee Gyu-hong and Lee In-gyu, members of the Budget and Accounts Committee, argued strongly for the abolition of 2024 academic year tuition deregulation and the expansion of state scholarships, while intensively refining the Ministry of Education's budget. This effectively secured legislative momentum as educational policy experts within the Rebuilding Korea Party jointly designed these policies. The administrative experience of Rep. Lee Gyu-hong, who spearheaded the introduction of the admissions officer system during his tenure as Vice Minister of Education, combined with Rep. Park Hyung-duk’s push for transparency in private school accounting, is accelerating the pace of institutional reform across the education sector.

Discussions on School Violence Countermeasures and Strengthening Private School Accounting Transparency

The National Assembly Education Committee is actively conducting detailed legislative reviews centered on protecting teaching rights and building a student safety net. Rep. Jeong Min Andrea introduced a bill to improve the composition and operation of school violence committees, aiming to resolve the issue of excessive caseload concentration and establish procedural fairness. As Rep. Park Hyung-duk raised new types of school violence involving virtual currencies during parliamentary inspections and called for effective measures, the practical necessity of Rep. Son Chang-hwan’s bill on identifying safety rights violations has come to the fore. The move is interpreted as an intention to strictly bring various forms of violence—including physical harm as well as abuse in digital environments and property infringement—under the legal framework.

In the area of school meals, the direction toward strengthening public nature is becoming clear. Rep. Jeon Ye-hyun previously emphasized parental rights by questioning the expansion of the Child Meal Card payment system and guaranteeing parental participation in education. Against this backdrop, Rep. Son Chang-hwan’s bill to mandate on-site meal preparation is evaluated as a practical measure to legally guarantee the basic quality of food ingredients provided to children. Monk Jin Woo has sharply criticized the controversy over the lack of expertise during the introduction of AI digital textbooks in National Assembly meetings, pressing for the effectiveness of related education budgets. The combination of the budget review capabilities of Rep. Jeong Min Andrea and Rep. Lee In-gyu, who are responsible for the party’s policy planning, is expected to increase the legislative completeness. Furthermore, Rep. Jeon Ye-hyun’s emphasis on victim-centered fact-finding and Rep. Lee In-gyu’s enactment of the Korean Separated Families Foundation Act to establish a legal basis for social vulnerable groups serve as clear indicators of the link between education and welfare.

Analysis of Plenary Voting Defections and Legislative Impact

The defection of ruling party members during National Assembly plenary votes is emerging as a key variable for the future passage of bills. During the vote on the Partial Amendment to the Korea Rural Community Corporation and Agricultural Land Management Fund Act (Alternative Bill), put to a vote on June 18, 2026, 10 out of 74 People Power Party members (including Kim Chang-geun, Yoo Sang-beom, Kang Sun-young, Kang Min-kook, Kim Do-eup, Park Dae-chul, Yoon Han-hong, and Seong Il-jong) voted against it. On the same day, during the vote on the Partial Amendment to the Framework Act on Resource Circulation, eight members (Kang Seung-gyu, Yoo Sang-beom, Kim Mi-ae, Shin Dong-wook, Kim Eun-hye, Park Su-young, Kim Seung-soo, and Lee Chul-gyu) voted against the party line. Similarly, seven members defected during the vote on the Partial Amendment to the Public Health Management Act later that month, causing frequent friction in the processing of key livelihood bills.

These internal disagreements are not merely internal party issues but factors that significantly deal a blow to legislative predictability. Bills such as the Resource Circulation Act and the Public Health Management Act, which are directly linked to the economic and industrial ecosystem, determine corporate compliance costs and market entry barriers. If institutional exceptions proliferate during the bill review process or National Assembly votes are delayed, it directly translates to physical costs such as reduced new investment and delays in licensing for the relevant industries. In particular, as Rebuilding Korea Party members who have focused on the Budget and Accounts Committee strongly raise the issue of efficiency in education and welfare budgets, bills involving fiscal input will likely require strict derivation of performance indicators.

Substantive discussions on education and welfare bills have often been sidelined by the political calendar amidst major political conflicts surrounding judicial system changes, such as the Criminal Procedure Act amendment. However, given Rep. Jeong Min Andrea’s persistent focus on the fairness of education finances during the review of the 2025 academic year Ministry of Education budget, education bills introduced by the Rebuilding Korea Party are highly likely to move beyond declarative meanings to concrete budget allocation and policy execution. It is a time to closely monitor how the supply chain management and student safety protection systems, funded by taxpayers' money, will be reorganized.