President Yoon Suk-yeol holds a meeting to check the progress of his key policy tasks at Yeongbingwan, a reception hall at the former president's office and residence, Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. Joint Press Corps

Yoon meets public to check progress of key policies

By Kang Seung-woo

President Yoon Suk-yeol reaffirmed his decision to reform the labor market during a meeting with the public, Thursday, saying such changes are a must and not an option.

"Reforms are not popular, but we have to pursue them and must not avoid them," Yoon said at the meeting, whose purpose was to check the progress of his administration's key policy tasks and communicate with the public about their implementation.

Describing the three major reforms in pension and education as well as labor as "indispensable" for the nation's sustainable growth and the future generation, the president said, "Unless the government is successful in reforming the labor market, the labor issue could turn into a political matter, which would spoil the economy and politics."

As for the direction of the labor market reform, Yoon stressed four things ― flexibility based on labor demand; fairness of the compensation system for workers; safety of workers in the workplace and stability of labor-management relations.

On a related note, the president emphasized the establishment of constitutionalism to maintain stable labor-management relations, since strikes could lead to huge losses for both sides.

"Should workers seek to achieve their goals through unlawful acts, it may be advantageous temporarily, but in the end it harms the stability of labor-management relations and hurts both sides," he added.

Although the president did not go into detail, he seemed to point the finger at a recent strike by unionized cargo truck drivers that lasted for 16 days. At that time, the presidential office denounced the strikers for causing astronomical losses to the economy.

"The strike caused difficulties for the people and many companies, while many people thought that this kind of practice should not continue in the future," Yoon said.

"Without a change in the labor market, we would lose in the competition and slip to a third- or ―fourth-tier country in the global market," he added.

Currently, the labor market reform has come to the fore, as the Yoon administration is seeking to overhaul the rigid 52-hour workweek mandating that overtime work cannot exceed 12 hours a week. It was introduced in 2018 under the former Moon Jae-in administration and Yoon has criticized the 52-hour workweek as being "unrealistic" in consideration of the various labor needs of different industries and is unfit to keep up with workloads when demand is high or during peak season.