The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that Vice Minister Noh Yong-seok held a meeting on the 12th at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises in Yeouido, Seoul, to hear the opinions of the small and medium enterprises regarding recent labor issues.
During the meeting, Vice Minister Noh noted, "The industrial safety sector is a task that both the government and corporations must prioritize, as it is directly related to life. Many small and medium enterprises may face difficulties in preventing industrial accidents due to a lack of skilled personnel, investment burdens in safety equipment, and difficulties in accessing information, but I urge small and medium business owners to actively cooperate to ensure that small and medium enterprises can be safe workplaces for both domestic and foreign individuals."
Oh Gi-woong, the executive vice president of KBIZ, responded, "We will actively cooperate to create safe workplaces in the small and medium enterprises sector."
Small and medium enterprises attending the meeting suggested concerns about the expansion of the user scope of the Yellow Envelope Law, improvements in the punishment levels of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, increased government support for accident prevention, rigidity of the 52-hour workweek system, careful introduction of the 4.5-day workweek, and a review of employment policies centered on re-employment rather than uniform retirement age extensions.