Presidential office ducks leadership on 52-hour workweek dispute

The presidential office is undercutting its semiconductor push by avoiding making a clear decision on 52-hour workweek exemptions for megaprojects.

President Lee Jae Myung emphasized a "blitzkrieg," rather than merely speed, at the second review meeting on three megaprojects — semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centers — on Monday. He expressed his hope that the Honam semiconductor cluster would be implemented "as quickly as the Kumamoto plant was in Japan, if not faster."

TSMC's Kumamoto facility went from its construction announcement in October 2021 to mass production in December 2024 — only three years and two months. Construction itself took just 22 months. Converting farmland into industrial land was completed in four months, and construction crews worked intensively from early morning until late at night.

The Japanese government subsidized half the plant's construction costs. Working with local governments, it accelerated land acquisition, permits and environmental impact assessments while helping secure water supplies and roads.

Meanwhile, the Korean government claims to want to benchmark the "Kumamoto miracle," yet it remains cautious about granting exemptions from the 52-hour workweek. The presidential office even said that the workweek and the success of the megaprojects were not directly related. Calling for "time for deliberation," it also cited the need for labor's consent.

Taiwan and Japan, Korea's competitors, operate more flexible working systems. Is Korea saying that it cannot do the same without approval from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU)?

The presidential office's deeply rooted pro-labor approach also makes it difficult to take seriously Lee's instruction to clarify the scope of permissible labor disputes under the "Yellow Envelope" act. The Ministry of Employment and Labor appears to be sidestepping the issue by merely strengthening interpretive guidelines that carry no legal force.

At Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Lee even encouraged the dispute between the Labor Ministry and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources over a 52-hour workweek exemption under the proposed megaspecial-zone legislation, calling it a "democratic process." He said that appointing a labor minister from the KCTU and an industry minister who was formerly a corporate executive was intended to encourage such debate.

A day earlier, the presidential office stated that this was "not an issue that the presidential office can direct."

It is irresponsible for the presidential office to stand by while disagreements between ministries are openly exposed. Complaints that the government lacks a policy control tower have not arisen without reason.

What the public wants to see is not ministries debating one another but a government that makes responsible decisions in the national interest and implements them.

Bold rhetoric followed by deferred responsibility only fuels claims that the "Gwangju semiconductor blitzkrieg" is aimed at the Democratic Party.

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