Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 29th that the plan to distribute large corporations' excess profits is "not about cutting open the goose's belly."
The Minister said on YouTube's "OhmyTV Park Jong-ho's Hotspot" that day, "It is a co-growth proposal to ease polarization and enhance corporations' competitiveness," adding the same.
He went on, "When we talk about sharing excess profits, some claim it's communist, but how is social dialogue talk of communism?" The Minister said, "Samsung Electronics already has a performance incentive (OPI) system," adding, "The question is whether this kind of performance sharing should be limited to regular employees and primary contractors."
He added, "The late Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee said, 'Another family, partner companies are family,'" and said, "It was the teaching of the previous chairman that partner companies must live together, so this is not something I raised first."
The Minister said, "From the ministry's standpoint, we are proposing to find a way for win-win cooperation between parent companies and subcontractors," adding, "It is to resolve polarization and ultimately to boost corporations' competitiveness." He added, "If we share performance related to profits and grow together, the competitiveness of the entire industry will rise."
Earlier, on the 27th, the Minister said at a tea meeting with the press corps, "The only solution to how to distribute large corporations' excess profits socially is social dialogue," and said he would hold an emergency forum on the 1st of next month. But as criticism grew, mainly from the opposition, that it was a "dangerous idea of state intervention that shakes the foundation of the free market economy," it was postponed indefinitely.