The Blue House is ratcheting up pressure ahead of the Samsung Electronics union's general strike on the 21st. As criticism grows that the artificial intelligence (AI) boom is maximizing a concentration of wealth, the strategy appears to be to block the strike by leveraging negative public sentiment toward the union's demand to raise performance-based pay. The situation is also drawing attention as the first test of the Lee Jae-myung administration's labor policy, which has emphasized "unity."
On the 18th, President Lee Jae-myung wrote on X, "In Korea, which has adopted a liberal democratic basic order and a capitalistic market economic order, labor should be respected as much as corporations, and corporate management rights should be respected as much as labor rights." Although he did not name a target, the market views this as meaning the union, which is entering last-ditch talks before the strike, should respect "management rights" and withdraw its strike plan. Lee's mention of "excess is as bad as a miss; when things reach an extreme, they reverse" also supports this reading.
This situation goes beyond Samsung Electronics' economic clout and tax revenue, directly tying into the Blue House's governing momentum. Nine days after taking office, Lee met business leaders and pledged government support and deregulation, while repeatedly calling on unions to shoulder "social responsibility." At the same time, the government implemented the yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers. In this way, it had maintained a mechanical balance between corporations and labor, but now it faces a situation where it must resolve even the issue of distributing profits at an individual company.
Because the president is directly involved, this is also a moment to assess political leadership. According to a key ruling-party official, in a recent closed-door meeting Lee referred to Samsung Electronics' massive operating profit, the global AI boom, and contributions to society at large, and said in effect, "Can we regard all of this as a specific corporation's 'earned income'?" Spurred by this, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said the previous day, "If there is a strike, we will consider all response measures, including an emergency adjustment," and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) and the Labor Ministry are each said to be persuading the union from the sidelines to withdraw the strike.
In this regard, Park Yong-jin, vice chair of the presidential commission on regulatory rationalization, said on CBS Radio that "the Samsung Electronics union needs to coolly recognize the current situation. If it does not earn the public's support and applause, it will have no choice but to lose no matter how well it follows the legal strike procedures," adding that if it pushes ahead with the strike it could "turn into a 'public villain,' and even the members won't be able to endure it."