Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
ANALYSIS 'Yellow envelope law' could derail chip cluster project: law experts
President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a meeting on the chip cluster megaproject at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
Expanded labor-dispute rules may open door to strikes, years of litigation
Backed by pro-labor activists, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea passed what is known as the “yellow envelope law” last year, substantially expanding the definition of labor disputes.
Just five months after the law took effect, however, party leaders and the Lee Jae Myung administration face the possibility that the policy they championed could complicate — and potentially derail — their own flagship industrial project: the semiconductor megaproject in the Jeolla region.
Speaking to lawmakers at the National Assembly on Wednesday, Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said he was reviewing whether to establish enforcement rules to resolve ambiguities in the law, which amended the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act. His remarks came a day after the president told him to spell out the boundaries of legally permissible labor disputes through detailed regulations rather than relying solely on administrative interpretations of the law.
The controversy stems from the law’s broadened definition of a labor dispute, as Lee pushes ahead with the chip cluster project. Previously, labor disputes were largely confined to traditional workplace issues such as wages, working hours and dismissals. The revision added disagreements over “business management decisions affecting working conditions.”
This carries significant legal consequences. If the project falls within the scope of a labor dispute, a union may lawfully demand collective bargaining with the employer over it because it could require thousands of workers to move to the Jeolla region from their current workplaces. Should negotiations fail, the union can hold a strike.
Experts told The Korea Times that even if the government introduces enforcement rules designed to prevent unions from using the law to halt the project, the rules may face a legal challenge. Because the law explicitly includes “management decisions affecting working conditions” within the scope of labor disputes, they reckon that courts could invalidate any subordinate regulation that effectively excludes such decisions.
“There is a significant possibility that a court could strike down such rules,” said Jun Hye-jin, senior vice president of the Korea Certified Public Labor Attorneys Association. “Under the principles of statutory reservation and the limits on delegated legislation, the government may issue subordinate regulations — such as enforcement rules — only on matters that have been specifically delegated by law. If it exceeds that authority, they could be invalidated following constitutional review.”
She said the problem is that the revised law does not explicitly authorize the government to define or narrow the scope of labor disputes through enforcement rules, adding that any attempt to use enforcement rules without such authority to curtail that scope expanded by the National Assembly could raise multiple constitutional and legal concerns.
While a company’s decision to build a plant is generally part of its managerial authority and not, by itself, a labor-dispute matter, such a project will almost inevitably be accompanied by measures affecting workers, including commuting and changes in job assignments, said Park Eun-jung, a lawyer at Seoul-based law firm BKL.
“The law refers to management decisions that affect working conditions, and that language is broad,” she said. “Even if the government provides more detailed criteria through an enforcement rule, the question of whether a particular project falls within the law will ultimately remain for the courts.” Park added that without amending the statute itself, new rules are unlikely to eliminate disputes over the project and could leave the government facing years of litigation.
Labor activists hold a rally in central Seoul, March 10. Yonhap
Major labor organizations have already signaled their opposition to any attempt to narrow the law’s scope.
“We will not tolerate, even by an inch, any attempt to curtail the three labor rights. The Lee administration should immediately halt its attempt to introduce an enforcement rule,” the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, an umbrella group, said in a statement on Thursday.
Along with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, another major umbrella group, the organization has also warned that they would launch a campaign to block the proposed Mega Special Zone Act — a bill being drafted by ruling party lawmakers for the project — if the ruling bloc presses ahead without social dialogue.
Park Jin-ho, another certified labor attorney, said determined unions could seek injunctions and other legal remedies, creating delays that may last many years.
“It could take up to a decade,” he said. “That makes the administration’s goal of completing the project within its term nearly impossible.”