President Yoon, on the 52-hour week reform theory, "It has not yet been officially announced by the government"

President Yoon Seok-yeol said today (24th) that the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced a plan to reform the current working hours, including the 52-hour workweek, saying, "It has not yet been announced as an official position of the government."

On the way to the presidential office in Yongsan this morning, President Yoon answered a reporter's question saying, 'The labor community is opposed to the 52-hour workweek reform in the new government's labor policy announced yesterday, saying it goes against the purpose of the 52-hour week.'

President Yoon said, "Well, the fact that I did not receive the report yesterday was reported to the press this morning, and when I checked, it was not announced by the Ministry of Labor. “It’s something we talked about,” he explained.

He added, "It has not yet been announced as an official position by the government."

Earlier, Minister of Labor Jeong-sik Lee announced the 'Labor Market Reform Promotion Direction' at the government complex in Sejong yesterday and announced that "within the framework of the 'maximum 52-hour week' system, we will reorganize the operating methods and means of implementation to suit reality."

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The Ministry of Labor plans to launch the 'Future Labor Market Research Group' composed of experts next month and present more specific policy and legislative tasks through discussion for four months.

President Yoon's remarks that 'the matter was discussed to be reviewed with the advice of a private research group' and 'it has not yet been announced as an official position by the government' seems to mean that these procedures remain.

President Yoon, who values ​​the private sector, is saying that he will make a final decision by fully reflecting the opinions of private experts on the issue of reorganizing working hours directly related to people's lives.

However, there are also pointed out that confusion may arise as the president draws a line that 'is not the official position of the government' over the proposal that the Minister of Labor volunteered to hold a press conference and disclosed the 'direction'.

In addition, some were suspicious of President Yoon's remarks that "there was no report" given that labor reform was President Yoon's key election promise and was one of the three reform tasks announced in his first address to the National Assembly on the 16th of last month.

(Photo = Yonhap News)