On September 29, 2026, a "National Assembly Roundtable for the Enactment of an ESG Framework Act" was held at the National Assembly, and a draft of the framework act was unveiled along with it. Nine systems were named for discussion, ranging from mandatory ESG disclosure to supply chain sustainability due diligence, sustainable finance disclosure, a taxonomy of sustainable economic activities, transition finance, fiduciary responsibility, ESG rating and advisory services, rules for verification bodies, ESG washing prevention, and sustainable public procurement. It is an attempt to place within one system the things that had been split up across individual statutes and administrative guidelines.
Rep. Min Byoung-dug of the Democratic Party of Korea, co-chair of the National Assembly ESG Forum, delivered the opening address. He said that a mandatory sustainability disclosure system alone is not enough. The forum presented the purpose of the enactment as connecting fragmented systems to raise the coherence and continuity of policy.
Why now.
Because the disclosure schedules that companies will face are lined up one after another. Domestic ESG climate disclosure is scheduled to begin in 2028, and safety and health disclosure under the strengthened Serious Accidents Punishment Act, with the system already in force, has its first disclosure set for April 2027. Supply chain carbon emissions, so-called Scope 3 disclosure, is at the stage where its introduction is under discussion. No confirmed announcement has come out that would pin down an implementation year, and the range of companies subject to mandatory application also has different outlines system by system.
At the roundtable, cases were presented for partly adjusting the scope of sustainability disclosure and the reporting burden, while at the same time strengthening rules on greenwashing prevention and on securing the credibility of ESG ratings and verification. One side reduces the paperwork companies must file, and the other side scrutinizes the truth of that paperwork more closely. Figures such as the extent of the adjustment or the asset thresholds for companies subject to it were not presented at the roundtable stage. The same goes for the sanctions backing the tighter rules.
Whether the two tracks came from the same remarks, or whether the arguments of different participants were introduced side by side, is unclear. The point emphasized in the opening address, that mandatory disclosure alone is insufficient, and the point about adjusting reporting burdens have a different tenor. Figures or institutions from the UN Global Compact also took part in the roundtable.
Jurisdiction over the existing systems is divided among finance, environment and industry. If the framework act stops at providing principles and definitional provisions, little changes on the ground, and conversely, if it directly prescribes specific obligations, room arises for conflict with the individual systems now in operation. Which of the two the draft's provisions come closer to becomes the focus of the debate over effectiveness.
Chemtopia and Ecosian signed a strategic alliance for an integrated EHS and ESG digital solutions business. There are four areas of cooperation, including joint pursuit of state-funded R&D and the Green New Deal. Global environmental regulations such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the Digital Product Passport (DPP) were cited as the backdrop that has increased corporate demand for data management.
The timing of the bill's submission, the standing committee with jurisdiction, and the route for negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties were not announced. Among the scheduled disclosure dates, the first safety and health disclosure in April 2027 is the earliest.
