Employees of the Financial Supervisory Service, who have been holding morning protests against the financial authorities' reorganization plan, will stage a large rally on the 18th. Because turnout is expected to be higher than initially forecast, they chose the area near Korea Development Bank as the protest site instead of in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul.
According to the financial sector on the 17th, the emergency committee of the FSS labor union plans to begin a protest around 12:10 p.m. on the 18th for about 30 minutes. The originally planned venue in front of the National Assembly limited the rally size to 100 people, so they decided instead to gather in front of the Korea Development Bank headquarters nearby. The expected size is about 700 people, similar to the morning protest turnout.
FSS employees are focusing on collective action that causes the least possible disruption to work. They also decided to use the lunch hour for this outdoor protest. FSS employees have been holding a protest for about 20 minutes every morning from 8:20 a.m. before work starts for a week, opposing the overhaul of the financial supervision framework, and some employees are also staging solo demonstrations near the presidential office and in front of the National Assembly.
Alongside this, FSS employees are stepping up their response by seeking meetings with the chair of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee and the head of the emergency committee to convey their opposition to separating the Financial Consumer Protection Agency. The FSS labor union plans to continue protests until the 25th of this month, when a plenary session of the National Assembly is scheduled.
Employees believe that separating the Financial Consumer Protection Agency will cause functional conflicts among institutions, including the FSS, and ultimately undermine financial consumer protection. Furthermore, if, after the separation of the agency, key FSS functions—such as imposing heavy disciplinary actions on executives of financial companies—are transferred to the Financial Supervisory Commission, the FSS's role could be significantly reduced.
The FSS labor union said, "During the foreign exchange crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called for the independence of the financial supervisory body, leading to the integration of separate supervisory entities into a single independent body and the establishment of the FSS in 1999," adding, "If it is designated as a public institution and the government intervenes in budgeting, personnel, and management evaluations, the independence of the supervisory body could be undermined."
Inside the organization, backlash is spreading, especially among junior employees. In particular, many employees were reportedly disappointed by FSS Governor Lee Chan-jin's position the previous day that "the FSS, as a public institution, should faithfully follow the government's decisions."