Presidential Office: "Emergency Measures to Supplement Semiconductor R&D Special Extended Work... Special Act Must Be Passed"

Yonhap News

On the 12th, the Presidential Office stated that the government's announcement of supplementary measures for the special extended working hours system in the semiconductor research and development (R&D) sector is an "emergency measure to revive the semiconductor industry, a national strategic industry."

A senior official from the Presidential Office said in a press release, "Fundamentally, the Semiconductor Special Act, which includes the '52-hour exception clause,' must be promptly passed by the National Assembly."

Choi Sang-mok, Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, chaired the Economic Ministers' Meeting that day and said, "Technology capability is now national power," adding, "Considering the characteristics of the semiconductor industry that require long-term R&D, we will establish a special exception to extend the approval period for each special extended working hour application to six months."

The special extended working hours approval system allows workers to work extended hours beyond the statutory limit after obtaining the worker's consent and approval from the Minister of Labor, enabling up to 64 hours of work per week.

As the government received continuous feedback from the industry that the current approval period for the special extended working hours system is too short, it has supplemented the system so that when applying for special extended working hours for semiconductor R&D, applicants can choose an approval period of up to six months in addition to the current three months.

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