Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said at the Kwanhun Forum held at the Korea Press Center on the 6th that, regarding the "special exception to the 52-hour workweek," one of the key issues in the mega special zone special law, "the system should not forcibly block the determination of young people who want to work."
The Minister recounted an anecdote from a business trip to China when working at a private corporation, saying, "I was startled to hear from a contact at an IT corporation in Chongqing, China, that when they tried to introduce the '996' system (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week), employees pushed back, saying, 'How can we compete with other corporations working like that?,' and the system changed to working until midnight."
He said, "Chinese workers also think the corporation has to grow for them to get paid, so they worry about the corporation reducing working hours," adding, "There is a need to adjust working-hour rules not only in research and development (R&D) but across advanced industries, including startups."
By contrast, Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said at a briefing with the press corps the previous day, "(Semiconductor corporations that are subject to the 52-hour rule) are generating tremendous profits even without exceptions," adding, "It is not as if we are being completely overtaken. The (notion of allowing exceptions to the 52-hour rule, etc.) is being overly amplified as if it is something that cannot be left out, making healthy debate difficult."
Minister Kim Young-hoon also appeared on a YouTube program that day and said, "There are often cases where 'white-collar exemption (excluding research positions from the 52-hour rule)' is overly represented as if it is crucial for industrial development," adding, "We need to discuss, based on substance, what kind of labor productivity a white-collar exemption brings."