Cheong Wa Dae said it will create a special law for mega special zones within the year in connection with a 4,700 trillion won mega project centered on establishing a Honam semiconductor cluster. It said it will shorten administrative procedures such as permits and environmental impact assessments and prepare a legal basis to provide infrastructure and residential conditions. However, regarding the "exception to the 52-hour weekly work cap," the core issue in enacting the special law, it said, "This is a matter that requires consent from labor circles."
Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff to the president, said after the "second public-private joint review meeting on the mega project" presided over by President Lee Jae-myung at Cheong Wa Dae that "we will push to enact a special law for mega special zones within the year to shorten various permits and environmental impact assessments, and we plan to provide infrastructure such as power, water and transportation, as well as residential and educational conditions."
Kang said, "The mega project must become a starting point for bold regulatory innovation and breaking down walls between ministries," adding, "To that end, we will identify one by one the bottlenecks that block investment, especially regional investment, set a regulatory innovation list, and resolve them step by step." To do this, in addition to a new "mega project task force" to be established within Cheong Wa Dae, the government decided to set up a pan-government support council for the mega project in the prime minister's office to support inter-ministerial collaboration.
They also discussed ways to address K-shaped polarization. Kang said, "It is important to ensure that investment outcomes spread not only to large corporations but also to materials, parts and equipment companies and small and medium-sized corporations," adding, "Over the next 10 years, the government will pursue a 'grow together' project worth 1 trillion won in which large and small corporations cooperate from semiconductor technology development to pilot mass production, and will provide 5 trillion won in win-win trade finance to ease funding shortages for exporting materials, parts and equipment companies."
Cheong Wa Dae is withholding its position on the 52-hour workweek special exception clause. Within the current draft of the special law, views within the ruling camp are split over whether to apply exceptions for research and development personnel in the mega special zones. Kim Jung-kwan, Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, recently said of the special exception clause, "We should not block the freedom to work." In particular, he had requested an exception to the 52-hour workweek in the mega special zones, citing China's "996 (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week) work system" as a model. By contrast, Kim Young-hoon, Minister of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), has taken a skeptical stance, saying there is already a system for special extended work in place.
A senior Cheong Wa Dae official said, "The 52-hour workweek issue is one that should be discussed together by the local area and labor circles to create room, and it is only possible when residents and labor circles give their consent," adding, "This is not an issue for the president to direct unilaterally or for Cheong Wa Dae to direct, so we are taking time for deliberation."