The ruling Democratic Party of Korea said on the 23rd it will move to legislate a plan to extend the retirement age to 65 after the June 3 local elections. Labor groups are protesting, calling it a "delay in legislation."
The Democratic Party's special committee on extending the retirement age held its second plenary session at the National Assembly that afternoon and decided to conduct six more months of discussions. Kim Ju-young, the special committee's secretary on extending the retirement age, said, "Sufficient social consensus must come first," adding, "Through an expanded and reorganized committee, we will compile on-site opinions, youth measures, and even the government's fiscal and job support plans over the next six months to prepare a responsible solution."
The ruling party had intended to push legislation on extending the retirement age by the end of last year, but coordination was difficult because of the wide gap between industry and labor. The party's position is that broader discussion is needed regarding concerns that extending the retirement age to 65 could reduce youth jobs.
At the meeting that day, the ruling party proposed reorganizing the special committee on extending the retirement age and extending the discussion period in the first half of the year, while simultaneously pushing a public discussion process through industry-by-industry labor-management meetings and forums to study overseas cases. The timeline is to pursue actual legislation after the local elections.
At the same time, the party decided to have the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) attend the special committee on extending the retirement age, effectively operating it in the form of a tripartite labor-management-government commission.
Labor groups strongly opposed the delay in legislation. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions said, "We cannot accept the plan to pursue legislation after the local elections," and walked out of the meeting during the session. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is also demanding legislation in the first half of the year.
The ruling party said it would coordinate differences with labor. Lawmaker Kim Ju-young said, "We will discuss through working-level consultations."