The 20th Senior Party-Government Council decided to actively consider designating Armed Forces Day on October 1, the 76th anniversary of the founding of the armed forces, as a temporary public holiday.
Han Ji-ah, the People Power Party’s senior spokesperson, announced on the afternoon of the 25th that the People Power Party, the government, and the Office of the President discussed and decided on this matter in a briefing following the 20th Senior Party-Government Council meeting.
At the meeting that day, the party requested the government to designate Armed Forces Day as a temporary public holiday. In response, the government decided to comprehensively review the matter by considering various factors such as boosting military morale, stimulating consumption, and reducing corporate burden.
The party is said to have proposed that a temporary public holiday be designated in order to further emphasize the importance of national defense and the value of the military’s existence in a severe security situation, and to boost soldiers’ pride through national-level interest and courtesy toward them. The People Power Party explained that Representative Han Dong-hoon was the one who actively proposed it.
After the briefing, Senior Spokesperson Han Ji-ah met with reporters and said, “Regarding the temporary holiday, Representative Han Dong-hoon asked us to actively consider it,” and “Since the government said it is positively reviewing it, I think we will come out with (a decision on whether to create a temporary holiday) soon.”
The government will also make it mandatory for electric vehicle manufacturers to disclose battery information to protect the public’s right to know. It has also prepared measures such as installing wet sprinklers in underground parking lots to prevent large-scale damage such as the electric vehicle fire that occurred earlier this month.
A senior spokesperson said, “In order to guarantee the public’s right to know about electric vehicle safety, the government has decided to make mandatory the current voluntary disclosure of battery information by automakers and bring forward the implementation of the battery certification system, which was originally scheduled to begin in February next year, to October this year as a pilot project.”
In relation to the occurrence of electric vehicle fires in underground parking lots, the government decided to improve related regulations to require that all new buildings install wet sprinklers capable of early fire detection and prevention of fire spread in underground parking lots, and to proactively deploy electric vehicle fire suppression equipment to all fire stations nationwide.
In addition, through consultation with the industry, it was decided to conduct free safety inspections of electric vehicle batteries every year and expand the number of smart chargers that can control excessive charging to 90,000 next year. The distribution of battery management systems (BMS), which remotely diagnose the status of batteries and notify consumers and manufacturers if there are any problems, will also be expanded.
The government has decided to develop next-generation batteries that can significantly reduce the possibility of electric vehicle fires, advance battery management systems (BMS), and unmanned fire trucks that can safely and efficiently extinguish fires in underground spaces in the mid- to long-term.
Based on the content discussed that day, the government plans to announce comprehensive measures as soon as possible after gathering opinions from various stakeholders, including industry and experts, and holding additional discussions between relevant ministries.
A senior spokesperson explained, “We discussed comprehensive measures to relieve public anxiety caused by the electric vehicle fire in an underground parking lot in Incheon on the 1st and to prevent a large-scale fire like this from happening again.”
Reporter Kim Jeong-hyeon Photo News 1
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2024-08-25 22:44:59