Signal Korea's regulatory sandbox has exempted over 2,000 new businesses since 2018 but remains a deferral tool

Summary

Korea introduced its regulatory sandbox in 2018, and more than 2,000 new industries and services have since received exemptions from existing rules. The essay argues that using the sandbox mainly as a regulatory grace period for nurturing new businesses has clear limits. Because the Korean scheme focuses on industry promotion, it is judged insufficient as a transition to an advanced system that makes reliability and safety prior requirements. The author wants the sandbox to strengthen regulatory learning and institutional verification instead. Experiments should serve as a learning tool for the evolution of the entire regulatory system rather than as favours to individual companies.