Kim Du-kwan "Prestige University’s Wrong Sense of Privilege... Opposition Party Nitpicks"

Democratic Party of Korea Assemblyman Kim Du-gwan Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy reporters Seunggon Han and intern Heeun Park] Kim Du-gwan, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, rebutted opposition figures who criticized his remarks on the controversy over the conversion of Incheon Airport workers to regular positions.

On the afternoon of the 27th, Kim posted on his Facebook a message titled "To Ahn Cheol-soo, Ha Tae-kyung, and Oh Se-hoon."

Previously, Kim had stated the day before, "It is rather unfair that those who have studied a little more receive about twice the wages of non-regular workers."

Kim first mentioned criticisms from Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, and Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the United Future Party. He said, "Yesterday, Leader Ahn said, 'If converting to regular positions, existing staff and external job seekers should compete on equal terms,'" and "Representative Ha also said, 'Under the principle of fair hiring, equal opportunities should be given to all youth and citizens outside of partner companies.'"

Regarding this, Kim argued, "(The claims of Leader Ahn and Representative Ha) are equivalent to saying that all security screening staff scheduled for regularization should be dismissed and newly hired." He explained, "This is 'new regular hiring,' so how can it be called 'conversion to regular positions'?"

He added, "I wonder how prestigious a university one must graduate from to grasp the logic that non-regular workers who have worked hard for three years should be dismissed and compete equally with general job seekers to be newly hired as regular employees."

He continued, "Representative Ha said that non-regular workers are taking the places of job seekers, and that 'Incheon Airport regular positions require perfect TOEIC scores, Level 1 computer skills, and studying national competency standards at the level of civil service exams, with fierce competition to get the job,'" and questioned, "Is the aspiration of the youth whom Representative Ha thinks so highly of a security screening job paying 35 million won annually?"

He said, "Isn't it that they cannot accept workers who did tough jobs becoming regular employees even though those are not their positions?" and "Am I the only one who senses the shadow of a wrongful privilege that says, 'How dare non-regular workers try to enter for free into a prestigious job at a top Seoul university where one can prepare for employment for 5 or 10 years without worrying about livelihood'?"

Kim also addressed former Mayor Oh Se-hoon, saying, "Former Mayor Oh called me a 'pseudo-leftist,'" and explained, "I asked whether the widening wage gap between regular and non-regular workers is fair, but I don’t understand what that has to do with being leftist."

He added, "Converting safety workers related to the lives of the people to regular positions is not a 'lottery' but something that should have been done earlier," and explained, "The conversion of 1,900 workers at the corporation to regular positions has nothing to do with job seekers at the corporation."

He stated, "There is no conflict of interest between public enterprise job seekers and non-regular workers," and revealed, "Under the Moon Jae-in administration, youth recruitment at public institutions has actually increased by 9,752."

Kim said, "Whether the annual salary difference of more than twice between regular and non-regular workers is justified is a task our society must answer," and "We must work to prevent the polarization of income and status, which is expected to deepen after COVID-19."

He also urged the United Future Party, "Instead of thinking about parasitizing the war of the weak, please step forward to propose practical policy alternatives to reform the dual structure of the labor market."

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