President Park Geun-hye lashed out at parliament Monday over its failure to pass a set of bills meant to reform South Korea’s labor markets and revitalize the economy.
The National Assembly has also failed to approve an anti-terrorism bill that gained new momentum following the deadly attacks in Paris that killed more than 120 people.
“I cannot but ask the parliament’s raison d’etre over its failure to pass an anti-terrorism bill at a time when terrorism threats are growing around the world,” Park said in a regular meeting with her top secretaries.
Earlier this month, South Korea deported three Indonesians for their associations with a terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaida.
Park also accused the National Assembly of turning a blind eye to people’s livelihoods, saying that lawmakers are mired in internal political issues.
Park pressed the ruling and opposition lawmakers to approve a set of bills on labor reform, noting that the bills could help create about 370,000 jobs over the next five years.
The appeal came three months after labor, management and the government produced a landmark deal to ease labor restrictions. The deal would allow companies, among other things, to dismiss workers who are either negligent or underperforming.
Park also called for parliamentary endorsement of a bill designed to revitalize businesses, noting that massive unemployment could occur unless companies facing a supply glut take preemptive measures to restructure their businesses.
“It’s fair to say that the bill is aimed at preventing massive dismissal beforehand,” Park said.
Park also asked private companies to introduce the wage peak system as part of efforts to create jobs for young people who are struggling to find work.
Earlier this month, all of South Korea’s public corporations agreed to adopt the job-sharing measure.
The wage peak system calls for the retirement age of workers to be pushed back, giving them greater job security. The same people benefiting from this, on the other hand, must accept lower wages just before retirement, with the money saved used to hire new employees in a kind of work sharing arrangement. (Yonhap)
