[In-Depth Look] It Is Not Fair

Kim Han-kyu, former president of the Seoul Bar Association.

It has become a hot topic after a post claiming that BTS members RM and Jimin purchasing houses worth around 6 billion KRW each is 'unfair' was uploaded. The post titled "Seeing BTS members buy houses is driving me crazy" was posted on 'Blind' on the 2nd. The author is presumed to be an employee of a large corporation.

The dissatisfaction is as follows: "Honestly, they just did what they wanted and got lucky to become famous," and "Didn't I put in more effort? Did they even take the CSAT? Did they attend university for four years? Did they take any aptitude tests?" "I do things I don't want to do and work hard, but it's hard to buy even one house, yet they did what they love, got lucky, and became famous. It really makes me angry and crazy."

There is agreement that it is a tough world to buy a house even with hard work. However, the author fundamentally took the wrong approach. Even if BTS did not take the CSAT, that does not mean they lack effort or are not qualified to own good houses. The author probably worked as hard as RM and Jimin. But is it really fair that everyone’s life is determined solely by the CSAT and university? It is somewhat fortunate that they did not compare Son Heung-min, who only finished middle school, or Ryu Hyun-jin, who graduated high school.

Now, let’s assume a post like this appears on 'Blind': "Honestly, I probably work harder than the primary contractor’s employees. But even when I do the same work as them, my salary is less than half. There are almost no benefits either." The author is an employee of a subcontractor.

What would the internet comments be like? Many would likely respond, "If you worked hard and got a job at the primary contractor, you should naturally be treated well." That is considered fair. The same applies to discussions about regular versus fixed-term employment.

But what if we think about the concept of fairness differently? Is it fair to receive different treatment for doing the same work? Is it fair to be discriminated against just because you are a fixed-term employee or work for a subcontractor, even though your productivity at the current job is the same or similar, while regular employees or those hired by the primary contractor receive better treatment?

In December 2018, the late Kim Yong-gyun, who died instantly on site after being caught in a coal conveyor belt at the Taean Power Plant, worked for a subcontractor contracted by Korea Western Power. At that time, the direct labor cost paid by the primary contractor, Korea Western Power, was 5.22 million KRW, but only 2.11 million KRW was deposited into the late worker’s bank account. The subcontractor that employed him took 3.11 million KRW more than his salary. What role did the subcontractor play to generate over 3 million KRW in revenue per month for one worker? Even if indirect employment is allowed, this situation should be considered a serious problem.

The dual structure of the labor market refers to a state where two markets with qualitative differences in working conditions such as wages and job security coexist. Good quality jobs (large corporations’ regular employees, public officials) and poor quality jobs (small and medium-sized enterprises, non-regular workers) are divided, and not only is there a large gap in working conditions between the two, but high barriers prevent free movement between them. In South Korea, workers in large companies with over 300 employees and the public sector, considered good quality jobs, make up only 20% of all workers. The remaining 80% have poor quality jobs. In the face of tragic deaths like that of the late Kim Yong-gyun, saying "Just work harder and get a job at the primary contractor" ignores the reality that poor quality jobs are becoming the norm and that it is difficult to escape this situation through individual effort. This applies to the vast majority of our children and future generations.

Job reform is much more important to us than prosecutorial reform or media reform. The regularization of non-regular workers in a few public institutions alone cannot solve the problem of poor quality jobs. It is curious how the leading candidates running in the presidential election next March are planning to address this issue.

Kim Han-gyu, former president of the Seoul Bar Association

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