Labor group urges worker-focused shift in industry policy

· UPI

April 3 (Asia Today) -- South Korea's largest labor group on Thursday called on the government to adopt a more worker-centered approach in shaping industrial and trade policies, emphasizing job security amid economic and technological changes.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions made the request during a meeting with Industry Minister Kim Jeong-kwan at its headquarters in central Seoul.

The group said employment stability must be a key consideration in industrial policymaking and trade negotiations, particularly as industries undergo restructuring driven by artificial intelligence and face overlapping challenges from climate change, global trade tensions and economic uncertainty.

The meeting was organized to raise the need for labor-focused policy and to establish a framework for ongoing communication and cooperation with the government.

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Union officials, including Chairman Yang Kyung-soo, Vice Chairman Jeon Ho-il and other senior staff, attended the session, along with ministry officials responsible for industrial and manufacturing policy.

Yang said industrial and trade policies are directly tied to workers' livelihoods and warned that policies focused primarily on corporate competitiveness could shift economic burdens onto labor.

"Government agencies must rethink their view of labor," he said. "Labor is not a cost but the foundation that sustains industry."

He added that industrial transitions should not come at the expense of workers and called for what he described as a "just transition" that protects jobs and working conditions.

The union said it would continue engaging with the government to push for broader changes aimed at placing workers at the center of economic policy decisions.

-- Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260403010001087