Lee meets leader of major umbrella labor union

▲ President Lee Jae Myung (R) talks with Yang Kyung-soo, leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country's two major umbrella labor unions, during a meeting with the labor group's representatives at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on April 10, 2026. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

Lee-labor leader

Lee meets leader of major umbrella labor union

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, April 10 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung met Friday with the leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), a major umbrella labor union, and exchanged views on protecting workers' rights.

Lee invited KCTU President Yang Kyung-soo and other leaders of the organization to Cheong Wa Dae, where he addressed the pitfalls of a current law requiring employers to hire non-regular workers as permanent workers after two years of employment.

He noted that despite the initial aim of promoting permanent employment, the law has made employers limit contract durations to one year and 11 months.

"I would like us to come up with a realistic solution," Lee said. "A law meant to protect (workers) has effectively become a law mandating their neglect."

Yang offered a positive assessment of some of the administration's labor policies but also demanded a sharp increase in the minimum wage, mandatory assessments of the impact of artificial intelligence on labor and improvements to the working conditions of non-regular workers in the public sector.

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