Cheong Wa Dae tells police to consider delivery workers' livelihoods in motorcycle parking crackdown

Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday warned that a crackdown-only approach to fining motorcycles for illegal parking — without accounting for delivery workers' livelihoods or a lack of dedicated parking infrastructure — risks becoming "desk-bound administration," and ordered the Korean National Police Agency to draw up realistic remedies.

Deputy Spokesperson An Gwi-ryeong conveyed the results of a senior secretaries and advisers meeting held that afternoon, chaired by Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik. The meeting covered the proposed motorcycle parking fines, steps to strengthen disaster-response capacity following heavy rainfall along the southern coast, and preparations for the upcoming national audit.

At the meeting, Kang said the agency must actively gather feedback from the field on the planned fines for illegally parked motorcycles.

Kang said more than 4,000 public comments had been submitted after the Korean National Police Agency announced a proposed amendment to the Road Traffic Act enforcement decree that would impose fines on illegally parked motorcycles. He said the government must closely examine criticism that the plan tightens penalties without first securing dedicated parking spaces, the particular nature of delivery work that makes brief stops unavoidable, and the financial burden on workers who depend on riding for their income. He noted that at a forum for delivery workers hosted by the agency on Friday, Aug. 14, participants raised the need to expand parking infrastructure and delay enforcement. Focusing solely on crackdowns under such conditions, he said, risks ignoring the realities of the job and the hardships workers face — the very definition of desk-bound administration. He directed the agency to preserve the intent of the reform while devising supplementary measures that reflect on-the-ground realities, including the shortage of parking spaces.

Kang also cited the heavy rainfall that recently battered the southern coast and called on relevant ministries to upgrade the country's disaster-prevention capabilities in line with the climate crisis and to conduct ongoing inspections of related facilities.

Pointing to last year's downpours in Muan and Hampyeong in South Jeolla Province — which exceeded 140 millimeters per hour, far surpassing existing standards — he directed ministries to promptly complete upgrades to infrastructure such as riverbanks and drainage pipes in line with the significantly raised disaster-prevention performance targets the government set last December, and to keep a standing inspection system in operation.

He also ordered officials to thoroughly review non-structural risk-management measures — including flood and landslide early-warning systems and preemptive evacuation protocols — to prepare for extreme rainfall events, such as those that struck Geoje in South Gyeongsang Province, that exceed what infrastructure standards alone can handle.

On the approaching national audit, Kang said the government must make substantive improvements to issues the National Assembly has flagged repeatedly. He added that when similar criticisms recur year after year, it may be a sign of deeper problems in systems and practices, and called on Cheong Wa Dae to lead by example — ensuring that the Assembly's concerns are genuinely addressed so the public can see tangible results and trust in the government.