The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) plans to complete by Sept. next year an overhaul of the system to impose "stronger" economic sanctions on business sites where fatal industrial accidents have repeatedly occurred. The ministry had earlier said it would impose a penalty surcharge of up to 5% of operating profit, with a floor of 3 billion won, on corporations with three or more deaths in a year, and strengthen business suspension measures.
Minister Kim Young-hoon reported this direction for future work at a presidential policy briefing held on Dec. 11 at the Government Sejong Convention Center in Sejong.
Penalty surcharges imposed for fatal industrial accidents will be incorporated into the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Fund and reinvested in accident prevention later, the ministry said. The organization to investigate serious accidents and the number of inspectors will be significantly expanded by June next year, and the ministry plans to actively use compulsory investigations such as search and seizure and arrests. It also plans to introduce ▲ disclosure of accident investigation reports (June next year) ▲ implementation of a safety and health disclosure system (priority for 500 or more employees, in Aug.) ▲ expansion of workers' right to stop work (in Dec.).
The ministry will also focus on "jobs" next year. For the 2030 generation of "took a break" youth, numbering 700,000, it will push the "first step job guarantee" program that directly matches jobs, and prepare supplementary measures for the took a break youth in the first quarter. It will also support second-act careers for 9.5 million baby boomers (born 1964–1974) and formulate policies for 1 million foreign workers.
It will also speed up the "reduction of working hours." A roadmap to lower Korea's actual annual working hours of 1,865 to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average level (in the 1,700 hours range per year) will be announced this month, and the legal basis to support corporations introducing a 4.5-day workweek will be prepared by Mar. next year.
The ministry will survey the actual conditions of night workers such as those in dawn delivery, and by Sept. next year prepare working-hour management measures to protect night workers' health rights, including guaranteeing minimum rest between late-night shifts, regulating maximum working hours, and limiting the number of consecutive late-night workdays.
In addition, the ministry will push ▲ quarterly planned inspections of business sites that abuse or misuse comprehensive wage systems ▲ enactment of the "basic law on the rights of working people" ▲ introduction of the "worker presumption system" ▲ codification of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value ▲ development of guidelines for the implementation of amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act ▲ achieving the goal of reducing unpaid wages to under 1 trillion won ▲ enhancing vocational skills using artificial intelligence (AI) ▲ shortening the industrial accident processing period from 228 days to 160 days.