GOV'T PASSES SEVERAL BILLS

[Anchor Lead]

The National Assembly has passed the bills on the mandatory installation of surveillance cameras in operating rooms and on levying the comprehensive real estate holding tax only on homes whose value exceeds 1.1 billion won.

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The bill on the mandatory installation of surveillance cameras in operating rooms has been finally passed, six years after it was first presented to the National Assembly. Under the new legislation, security cameras must be installed in ORs when patients are unconscious, and surgeries must be videotaped if patients or their guardians make the request for such recordings.

[Soundbite] Nam In-soon(Democratic Party) : "This will help prevent criminal acts in operating rooms, which are tightly closed from the outside, and help arbitrate medical disputes."

The new regulation will take effect two years after the law is proclaimed. The National Assembly also passed a bill that alleviates taxes for those who own only one home. The comprehensive real estate holding tax will only be imposed on those whose official home value exceeds 1.1 billion won. The Justice Party and the Basic Income Party voted against it. They say the bill does little to stabilize housing supply for low-income earners.

[Soundbite] Yong Hye-in(Basic Income Party) : "This means the National Assembly is willing to give up on taming skyrocketing housing prices."

Other bills passed this time include the revision of the Military Court Law, which calls for perpetrators of sexual crimes in the military and crimes committed prior to military service to be tried in private courts, and the carbon neutrality basic law, which calls for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent by 2030. The bill on the revision of the Private Education Act has been passed despite opposition from the People Power Party. The revised law mandates that teachers applying to private schools take written tests overseen by municipal and provincial offices of education.

[Soundbite] Chung Kyung-hee(People Power Party) : "No industrialized nation has the state select private school teachers."

The bill on the revision of the Court Organization Act, which calls for reducing legal experience to five years for prospective judges, has been voted down.