South Korea: President plans to increase working hours to 80 hours a week

Yoon Suk-yeol contemplates changing the weekly working time.

AFP - KIM HONG-JI

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

While the South Korean government has just emerged from the truckers' strike which paralyzed part of the economy for two weeks, new unpopular reforms are announced.

President Yoon Suk-yeol has particularly emphasized a labor reform increasing the number of hours, up to 80 hours a week.

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With our correspondent in Seoul,

"

," is how South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol sums up his series of reforms he plans to implement over the next year.

Among all these reforms, ranging from education to social security, one of them has particularly attracted attention: the modification of the weekly working time.

Currently, the working week is 40 hours plus 12 overtime.

But Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik wants to allow companies to request up to 40 hours of additional work, raising the maximum volume to 80 hours.

ILO warning

The unions have already criticized the reform and called the government to the negotiating table.

But the brutal attitude of the latter during the truckers' strike raises fears of a new impasse.

The president even congratulated himself for

and indicated that he wanted to continue in this direction.

The International Labor Organization had nevertheless warned Yoon Suk-yeol of his attitude "

".

The social climate at the start of the school year promises to be tense, but the text will be the subject of discussion in Parliament.

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• South Korea

• Employment and Labor

• Unions

• Yoon Suk-yeol