As crimes of fraud, kidnapping, and confinement targeting Koreans are surging in Cambodia, criticism emerged that the Ministry of Employment and Labor is neglecting overseas job scam recruitment ads that bait applicants with high returns. Minister Kim Young-hoon said, "I will review the work to see if there were any shortcomings."
Jo Ji-yeon of the People Power Party said at the National Assembly Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee's audit on the 15th, "At last year's audit, I pointed out that young people trapped in so-called 'Golden Triangle' overseas job scams concentrated in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos were staging escapes to get out," adding, "Job ads luring applicants with high returns are still out in the open."
She said, "Related monitoring of job portal sites or community sites is still not being done properly," adding, "I was briefed that the ministry still has no monitoring manual for business sites suspected of violating the Fair Hiring Procedure Act. This needs to be fixed."
In response, the Minister Kim said, "I fully agree with the point and will thoroughly review the work once more before the comprehensive audit to see if there were any shortcomings, and consult with relevant ministries."
There was also a call to resolve uncertainty surrounding the "yellow envelop bill" (amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act). Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party said, "Beyond drafting guidelines (on unifying bargaining channels between original contractors and subcontractors), complementary legislation is needed," and Minister Kim replied, "We will review it." In response to the point that "the scope of labor disputes is unclear," he said, "We are considering a body, like the Disease Evaluation Committee, that can decide how far labor disputes extend."
Meanwhile, the audit of the ministry that day was briefly recessed from the outset as the ruling and opposition parties clashed over whether to call the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) as a witness. The People Power Party urged calling KCTU as a witness, saying, "The espionage activities of key KCTU executives were recently affirmed by a final ruling. We must ask about measures to prevent a recurrence." However, the Democratic Party of Korea demanded an apology, saying, "There is no evidence, and this is not the Intelligence Committee—why call them here? It is defamation."