PM-class action

▲ Prime Minister Han Seong-sook speaks during a consumer policy committee meeting Sept. 8, 2026. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said Tuesday the government will introduce the class action system across all consumer sectors to significantly strengthen consumer rights.

Han made the remark during a consumer policy committee meeting, highlighting key government initiatives to enhance consumer rights, including expanding consumer data rights in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) and significantly stepping up safety inspections.

"We will establish a comprehensive consumer rights protection system with no blind spots," Han said. "We will introduce a class action system across all consumer sectors and create a new system for court orders to instruct businesses to submit data, ensuring that a substantial recovery is possible even in the event of large-scale consumer damage."

A class action refers to a lawsuit whose ruling applies not only to plaintiffs in the suit but also to all other victims. The system is in place in countries like the United States and Britain, but South Korea introduced the class action system only for the securities sector in 2005.

In December, the chairman of the corporate watchdog Fair Trade Commission, Ju Biung-ghi, said the government could consider expanding the class action system, as he appeared in a parliamentary hearing on a massive data breach by e-commerce giant Coupang Inc.

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