Ruling, Opposition Parties Clash over Labor Reform Issue

The Korean government and the ruling Saenuri Party collided with the opposition party again over labor reform, their top-priority issue for the second half of this year. The ruling party strongly advocated the urgent necessity of reform, while the opposition party criticized it as a measure to exacerbate generational conflicts.

At a supreme council meeting held at the National Assembly in the morning of July 22, ruling party leader Kim Moo-sung mentioned that labor reform is an inevitable national task. “The purpose of labor reform is to get rid of unreasonable discrimination between permanent and temporary workers, seek better ways for the co-prosperity of large and small companies, and ensure that the young and the elderly flourish together,” he said, adding, “It does not require the labor community’s unilateral sacrifice at all, and I hope the opposition party will be more cooperative with regard to this issue.”

Ruling party supreme council member Lee In-je continued, “We have looked forward to voluntary labor reform based on the tripartite committee, but 20 years of time has already passed in vain. I believe that now is the time for us to move ahead with it under the leadership of the government.”

In response, the opposition party claimed that labor reform cannot be a fundamental solution to youth unemployment, and that it would deepen the bad blood between different generations. “President Park Geun-hye is maintaining that labor market restructuring is required for more jobs to be given to the young, but increasing the number of temps by means of reduced wages and more pink slips is not reform but retrogression,” United Democratic Party of New Politics (UDPNP) leader Moon Jae-in remarked.

UDPNP supreme council member Jeon Byeong-heon pointed out that the government’s plan concentrates on nothing but labor market flexibility, and that the responsibility for youth unemployment goes to no other than workers. “It is leading enterprises’ reliance on temporary workers that should be corrected before anything else,” he added.