KRA-KCTU Negotiations Break Down Over Late Jockey Moon Jung-won's Death

Declaration of Suspension of Negotiations by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions over 4 Disputed Proposals out of 7 Agreed Proposals

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyun-jung] The Korea Racing Authority and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) have suspended negotiations aimed at resolving the situation, including a fact-finding investigation related to the death of the late jockey Moon Jung-won.

On the 3rd, the Korea Racing Authority announced that it had held 11 intensive negotiation sessions with the KCTU and the KCTU Public Transport Workers' Union from the 13th to the 30th of last month to address issues related to the death of jockey Moon Jung-won. Although they reached a verbal agreement on 7 out of 8 items concerning institutional improvement measures, they failed to narrow differences on fact-finding, punishment of responsible parties, and compensation for the bereaved families, leading the KCTU to declare a suspension of negotiations.

Regarding fact-finding and punishment of responsible parties, the Korea Racing Authority stated that if illegal activities are confirmed through the police investigation results, it will take internal disciplinary actions as well as legal measures. Meanwhile, the KCTU expressed its existing stance that the police investigation results are not trustworthy and demanded immediate dismissal and other measures. The Korea Racing Authority explained that as disagreements continued over compensation demands for the bereaved families due to differing positions, the KCTU declared a suspension of negotiations.

The Korea Racing Authority's position is to take disciplinary and criminal actions based on the investigation results concerning the assistant trainers' instructions for illegal horse racing and the fairness of assistant trainers' licensing reviews, which are currently under police investigation.

A Korea Racing Authority official stated, "Although we regret the KCTU's unilateral announcement of the breakdown of negotiations through a press release, our position to resolve the situation through continuous consultations with the KCTU remains unchanged."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.