“Ministry of Employment and Labor Launches labor supervision… Aim at 50 Airline lights”, 16 October 2025

The government has started to tighten working hours. It has started planning and supervision targeting 50 workplaces nationwide, focusing on industries that often work long hours and shifts.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 16th that it will conduct a "joint planning and supervision of labor and industrial safety" for two months from this day. Recently, some manufacturers have taken action after it was pointed out that the working environment has deteriorated and the risk of industrial accidents has increased due to day and night shifts, continuous late-night work, and accumulated long hours of work.

In this supervision, the Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to comprehensively inspect labor management and safety and health, including △ violations of working hours △ non-payment of overtime, night and holiday work allowances △ failure to comply with special overtime work authorization and health protection measures △ implementation of safety measures such as machinery, equipment, and facilities △ special health diagnosis △ installation of rest facilities and compliance with standards.

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The Lee Jae-myung government has set a goal to lower Korea's working hours below the average of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) by 2030. As of 2023, Korea's annual working hours are 1871 hours, 131 hours longer than the OECD average of 1740 hours. However, the management community expresses concern, saying that productivity could decline and the burden of labor costs could increase at a time when global competition is getting fiercer.