Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Gov't vows to push for own labor reform bill
Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan speaks about the government's new independent labor reform bill during a press conference held at the Sejong Government Complex on Friday. / Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
The government will push for an independent labor reform bill following the breakdown of related talks.
Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said Friday in a press conference held in Sejong that the inability of labor and management to find middle ground made it imperative for the government to take the initiative.
Choi said that the government will work with the ruling Saenuri Party starting next week to iron out the bill.
He said the government-Saenuri bill will include measures that will make it easier to dismiss under-performing workers. It also allows companies to change the rules of employment and make it possible to introduce the wage peak system.
The minister also stressed the need for greater cooperation between management and labor, and that unions must put an end to engaging in disruptive walkouts in demand of wage hikes.