Finance minister Choi Sang-mok urged the National Assembly to pass a revision bill extending the grace period for the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act by two years for businesses with fewer than 50 employees.

Presiding over a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Choi said that while there cannot be a discrepancy in the importance of worker safety by company, the reality that small- to medium-sized businesses lack preparation to enforce the act also cannot be ignored.

The minister said if the revision bill does not pass parliament this week, the law will be imposed on small businesses from Saturday, increasing the number of violators and threatening the existence of the businesses.

A group of small- to medium-sized businesses, including the Korea Federation of SMEs, held a press conference on Tuesday urging the ruling party and the government to consider the opposition’s proposal to establish an industrial safety agency as a precondition to the extension.

The group also pledged to secure safety personnel, conduct risk assessments, and upgrade facilities and equipment as self-prevention efforts during the grace period.

Under the act, business owners face a minimum one-year prison term or a fine of up to one billion won, or around 749-thousand U.S. dollars, upon the death or serious injury of an employee in the workplace.