A bill to revise the Holidays Act to designate May 1 each year as Labor Day, a statutory holiday, passed The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 30th.
That afternoon, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a full session and passed a bill to amend the Act on Holidays to designate Labor Day as a statutory holiday.
Labor Day had been designated a paid holiday under the Act on the Establishment of Labor Day and the Labor Standards Act. However, because civil servants, teachers, and specially employed workers are not workers under the Labor Standards Act, they were excluded from coverage, raising the issue that their holiday was not guaranteed.
If the amendment is promulgated after approval by the National Assembly plenary session and the Cabinet meeting, Labor Day will be designated a public holiday as early as May 1 this year.
Earlier, on the 24th, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Yun Geon-young pushed the Holidays Act revision bill through the first subcommittee of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, saying, "At last, the half-formed Labor Day has become a complete Labor Day."