Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 23rd at a party-government consultative meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, that the ministry will closely inspect worksites and provide preemptive support to ensure the revised labor law is not distorted contrary to the legislative intent of the National Assembly.
The Minister said the revised Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act is a "dialogue promotion law" and a "gap-narrowing law" aimed at breaking the vicious cycle in which dialogue itself becomes illegal and damage claims and extreme struggles are repeated.
He went on to explain that the government is preparing the institutional foundation necessary for the law's implementation by revising the enforcement decree of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act and establishing interpretive guidelines, and that it is operating on-site support teams and simultaneously identifying model cases of win-win bargaining to minimize unnecessary confusion and conflict.
He added that to establish a predictable order, the government is setting clear standards for determining employer status and the scope of bargaining, and is also building a joint response system with relevant ministries.
The Minister also mentioned the tripartite joint declaration on improving the retirement pension system. He assessed that the declaration is significant in that labor, management, and government reached their first agreement on "activating fund-type retirement pensions" and "mandating external funding of retirement benefits," issues that have been discussed for more than 20 years since the system was introduced.
However, he said there is also the task of reviewing support measures to ease the burdens that micro and small and medium-sized enterprises may face, adding, "We will look into this together." He continued, "We will work closely with the party to ensure that the core principles of the joint declaration—ensuring benefit claims, expanding choice, and putting subscribers' interests first—lead to substantive institutional improvements."
Attending the consultative meeting were ruling party officials, including Policy Committee Chair Han Jeong-ae of the Democratic Party of Korea.