Labor unions and the small and medium enterprise cooperative community are at odds over a bill introduced in the National Assembly to abolish term limits for the head of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises and the chairs of cooperatives. The cooperative community urged the repeal of the term-limit rules, while unions oppose long tenures, citing concerns about concentration of power and the privatization of organizations.
The "committee to promote amendments to the Small and Medium Enterprise Cooperatives Act," made up of national federation cooperatives, national cooperatives, regional cooperatives, and business cooperatives under the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, said on the 10th that it had delivered a proposal centered on abolishing the current term-limit provisions for executives under the Small and Medium Enterprise Cooperatives Act to the office of Jeong Jin-wook of the Democratic Party of Korea.
The amendment removes the cap on the number of terms by changing the rule that the head of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises "may be reappointed only once" to "may be reappointed." For the term of a cooperative chair, it changes the clause "may be reappointed only twice" to "matters concerning reappointment shall be determined by the articles of association."
The promotion committee said the problem with the current law is that it uniformly restricts the reappointment of the head of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises and cooperative chairs. It argued that in a rapidly changing global business environment, continuity of leadership with accumulated expertise is needed for close alignment with government policy and for win-win cooperation with large corporations.
In the case of cooperatives, general meetings, boards of directors, and auditors can provide oversight on whether operations comply with bylaws and regulations, yet legally mandating reappointment limits on grounds such as turning into a private organization or closed management is seen as infringing on members' independent right to choose.
Unions believe term limits are necessary. Because term limits were introduced to prevent concentration of power and privatization of organizations due to long tenures, they say any repeal should be approached cautiously.
The term limit on the federation head was established in 2006 to reduce organizational conflict and strengthen accountable management, and the term limit for cooperative chairs was introduced in 2018 to prevent closed management arising from long tenures. Unions say the intent of these systems remains valid.
A union official said, "The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises is an organization with a high degree of public interest, to the point that it has been designated as an organization related to public office," adding, "Abolishing term limits could weaken the organization's public interest and accountability."