"Labor Laws During Industrial Development Period Must Be Deregulated for Realistic Changes"

Forum Hosted by Korea Industrial Federation and Automobile Industry Federation
"Global Economic Changes Approaching... Major Labor Innovation Needed"

Jung Manki, Chairman of the Korea Industrial Federation Forum. / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Amid the rapid changes in the labor environment due to the acceleration of the digital transformation, there have been calls for the modernization of South Korea's labor laws. It is pointed out that realistic changes are necessary since the current labor laws are based on collective and uniform factory work from the period of industrial development.

The Korea Industrial Alliance Forum (KIAF) and the Korea Automobile Industry Association (KAIA) held the 23rd Industrial Development Forum and the 28th Automobile Industry Development Forum on the 19th under the theme "Domestic Labor Environment from the Perspective of Corporate Competitiveness."

Professor Lee Jung of the Graduate School of Law at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, in his presentation titled "International Comparison of Labor Regulations from the Perspective of Corporate Competitiveness and Our Tasks," stated, "Employment environments are rapidly changing due to intensified global competition, economic contraction caused by stagflation, worsening low birthrate and aging population, digitalization, and the spread of telework," and emphasized, "There is a need to modernize labor laws that were designed in 1953 based on collective and uniform factory work."

Regarding individual labor-management relations, he presented ten improvement tasks covering ▲disadvantageous changes to employment rules ▲dismissal legislation ▲working hours and wage systems ▲improvements to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, and regarding collective labor relations, ▲dispute actions ▲unfair labor practices system ▲excessive intervention of public authority ▲union officials and labor director systems, including ▲judicialization of labor and ▲excessive welfare benefits across labor laws.

Professor Lee cited illegal dispatch and ordinary wages as examples, stating, "Judicialization of labor relying on litigation rather than autonomous problem-solving by labor and management is not a fundamental solution," and stressed, "It is necessary to induce resolution according to authoritative interpretations and guidelines from the competent ministries so that labor and management can autonomously solve problems, and the judiciary should also respect this."

Attorney Lee Wookrae of the law firm Bae, Kim & Lee, in his presentation titled "Difficulties Experienced by Foreign Companies in Litigation Practice," pointed out, "It is not easy for foreigners to understand the labor laws of any country, but South Korea has many unprecedented and complex systems that are excessive," and noted, "In individual labor relations, freedom to conclude or terminate contracts is extremely restricted, and there is great uncertainty as mandatory provisions or judge-made case law often take precedence over the parties' intentions or collective agreements regarding compensation."

Attorney Lee evaluated, "South Korea is isolated like the Galapagos in labor law and is far from global standards," and argued, "Legal stability and systems appropriate to South Korea's economic status must be established so that foreign companies can invest in South Korea with confidence. Just as there is nothing in the world that is not competitive, labor law is also competition."

Following this, a discussion was held chaired by Professor Kim Taegi, Professor Emeritus at Dankook University, with participants including Hwang Yongyeon, Head of Labor Policy at the Korea Employers Federation, Kim Yeonhee, Vice President of the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea, Heo Jaejun, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Labor Institute, and Lee Seonghee, Policy Director of the Korean Metal Workers' Union.

Jung Manki, Chairman of KIAF and KAIA, stated, "Recently, our industry is facing a crisis due to the possibility of a global economic downturn," and added, "From the perspective of promoting voluntary and creative responses through labor-management agreements to changes in market demand, a large-scale labor innovation that respects labor-management agreements will be necessary."

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