President vows to reform labor market at meeting with public

President Yoon Suk-yeol holds a meeting to check the progress of his key policy tasks at Yeongbingwan, a reception hall at the former president's office and residence, Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. Joint Press Corps

Yoon meets public to check progress of key policies

By Kang Seung-woo

President Yoon Suk-yeol reaffirmed his decision to reform the labor market during a meeting with the public, Thursday, saying such changes are a must and not an option.

"Reforms are not popular, but we have to pursue them and must not avoid them," Yoon said at the meeting, whose purpose was to check the progress of his administration's key policy tasks and communicate with the public about their implementation.

Describing the three major reforms in pension and education as well as labor as "indispensable" for the nation's sustainable growth and the future generation, the president said, "Unless the government is successful in reforming the labor market, the labor issue could turn into a political matter, which would spoil the economy and politics."

As for the direction of the labor market reform, Yoon stressed four things ― flexibility based on labor demand; fairness of the compensation system for workers; safety of workers in the workplace and stability of labor-management relations.

On a related note, the president emphasized the establishment of constitutionalism to maintain stable labor-management relations, since strikes could lead to huge losses for both sides.

"Should workers seek to achieve their goals through unlawful acts, it may be advantageous temporarily, but in the end it harms the stability of labor-management relations and hurts both sides," he added.

Although the president did not go into detail, he seemed to point the finger at a recent strike by unionized cargo truck drivers that lasted for 16 days. At that time, the presidential office denounced the strikers for causing astronomical losses to the economy.

"The strike caused difficulties for the people and many companies, while many people thought that this kind of practice should not continue in the future," Yoon said.

"Without a change in the labor market, we would lose in the competition and slip to a third- or ―fourth-tier country in the global market," he added.

Currently, the labor market reform has come to the fore, as the Yoon administration is seeking to overhaul the rigid 52-hour workweek mandating that overtime work cannot exceed 12 hours a week. It was introduced in 2018 under the former Moon Jae-in administration and Yoon has criticized the 52-hour workweek as being "unrealistic" in consideration of the various labor needs of different industries and is unfit to keep up with workloads when demand is high or during peak season.

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Yoon also called for speedy reform of the pension system amid growing concerns that it could dry up faster than expected due to a rapidly aging population.

"Pension reform is a matter involving the sustainability of the country that helps future generations maintain their will to live and work hard," he said.

"Pension reform requires an in-depth study for a long time, because it must go on for 30 to 50 years once decided," he said.

In relation, the Future Labor Market Research Association, Yoon's expert advisory group, recommended, Tuesday, a gradual increase of the entitlement age for national pension benefits from the current 62 to 65 by 2033.

Also, Yoon emphasized the need for educational reform, saying that education provided by the state constitutes "welfare" and "growth." In addition, he said the government will guarantee the autonomy of universities, adding that the driving force of national development comes from them.

He also talked about his government's plan to revamp the national health insurance system, saying the aim is to remove moral hazards and create a "just" insurance scheme.

"The health insurance system operates so that when I or someone in my family is affected by a costly and serious disease, we can receive proper treatment without worrying about money and regain our health, so we're trying to normalize it according to its original purpose," he said.

Speaking about real estate policy, the president said the government plans to increase the provision of public rental houses and ease taxes on multiple home owners amid a slump in the local housing market.

The Yoon administration has adopted six national policy goals, 23 pledges and 120 national policy tasks, ranging from a "revolutionary" reinforcement of capabilities to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats to scrapping the nuclear phaseout policy.

The session, broadcast live, was held under three themes: the economy, a vision for regions outside Seoul and its surrounding areas and three major reform areas Yoon proposed involving pension, labor and education. It was the second time that Yoon presided over a live-broadcast meeting since his inauguration in May, following the 11th emergency meeting aiming to address tough economic and livelihood challenges in October.

The meeting was initially supposed to deal with the issue of future growth sectors as well, but in order to focus on the other three themes, the presidential office excluded it. The president presided over an inaugural strategy meeting with government officials and chiefs of businesses, industry associations and public institutions, last month, during which they looked into each strategy and problem related to future exports.

Yoon plans to hold another meeting during the first half of next year to look into foreign policy, national security and other topics that were not covered, Thursday.

In the first session, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho forecast that Korea will see intensifying internal and external difficulties next year due to the country's continued trade deficit, declining exports, high consumer prices and rising interest rates. He said the government will make all-out efforts to manage the financial and real estate markets, while promoting exports, investments and stabilize prices in order to help the economy take a new leap forward.

In the second session, Woo Dong-gi, the chairman of the Presidential Committee for Balanced National Development, presented a vision and strategy for regions outside Seoul and its surrounding areas, by proposing the transfer of the command post of authority, relocation of public institutions, designation of special zones that revitalize the local economy, and expansion of high-quality education to advance the "era of local autonomy," where people enjoy equal opportunities wherever they live.

In the last session on reforming pensions, labor and education, Korea Development Institute President Cho Dong-chul stressed that it was the responsibility of the older generation to address the problems of the pension system, a rigid labor market and the country's cookie-cutter education system, adding that the three major reforms are key tasks for the nation to give hope to young people.

The Thursday meeting carried extra weight as the invitation of 100 members of the public set up a format of conversation with the people, in which the president directly responded to questions about the government's policies or operations.

The decision on the form of the meeting was probably due to the suspension of his routine Q&A session with the press, last month, after an MBC reporter and a presidential aide got into a verbal altercation.

Although the daily chats between the president and reporters sometimes took flak for Yoon's unfiltered remarks, the doorstepping was seen as part of his efforts to openly communicate with the people.