ECCK to host conference on Korean law

By John Redmond

The European Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ECCK) will host a conference at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul May 22 to discuss the flexibilization of Korean labor law and particularly whether such would be beneficial to Korea.

Korean labor law was legislated in the 1960s and focused on creating an effective manufacturing industry. Since then, the services industry around the world has drastically increased, so much so that it has grown larger than the manufacturing sector.

“Various countries have decided to adapt their labor laws following the new trends. Korea has not decided to do so and the question following such is: ‘Is the current Korean labor law appropriate for the reality of a more important services industry, or does it require modifications?’” the organizer said in a press release.

“A high participation by foreign enterprises would facilitate discussion and accordingly, we highly recommend you all to participate,” it added.

The sessions will be “History of the establishment of Korean labor law,” “Current status of Korean labor law,” “Foreign labor laws” and “Panel discussion on future of Korean labor law.”

Speakers and panelists will include Bae Young-il, senior deputy director of the labor-management cooperation policy division of the Ministry of Employment and Labor; Kwon Hyuk, professor of labor law at Pusan National University School of Law; Kang Hee-chul, partner and co-chair of the HR Practice Group at Yulchon LLC; and Parth Sharma, head of retirement services at ING Life Korea.

Also among the participants are Park Ji-soon, professor of labor law at Korea University; Moritz Winkler, a foreign attorney at the EU & HR Practice Groups at Yulchon; and Robert Flemer, a foreign attorney at Kim & Chang.

This conference will be held at the International Conference Hall of the Minerva Complex at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies from 2 to 5 p.m.

The conference is free of charge.

For more information, please contact Sven-Erik Batenburg at sven.batenburg@ecck.eu, or call (02) 6261-2706.