President Lee Jae Myung operates a rice transplanter during a visit to a farm in Gunwi County, Daegu, on May 15. [NEWS1]
President Lee Jae Myung called on labor and management at Samsung Electronics to “respect” each other in a social media post on Monday, urging both sides to reach a compromise to avert a planned strike that could cause the company as much as 100 trillion won ($66.5 billion) in losses.
Lee noted that “the rights of corporate management should be respected” under Korea’s “democratic order and capitalist economic system” in his post on X.
The remarks come as Samsung Electronics unions threaten to go on an all-out strike from Thursday through June 7. The company’s management and labor only restarted talks on Monday.
Union representatives have demanded that the company abolish caps on performance bonuses and allocate 15 percent of operating profit to employee incentives — demands that Lee appeared to suggest are partially rooted in the country’s constitutional tradition.
“At one time, the Constitution even stipulated workers’ rights to an equal share of corporate profits,” he wrote, referencing Article 18 of the original 1948 Constitution, which granted workers in for-profit private enterprises the right to participate in profit-sharing in accordance with the law.
That clause was removed when the Constitution was amended in 1962.
But even as he acknowledged that workers “must receive fair compensation for the labor they provide,” Lee also agreed that “shareholders who bear risks and losses through investment are entitled to a portion of corporate profits.”
The president’s comments struck a more balanced tone compared to his past positions, which have generally leaned in favor of workers. He has frequently referenced his experience as a child factory worker, which left him with a lifelong arm injury, when speaking in support of labor rights.
While noting that “the current Constitution guarantees the fundamental rights of all citizens,” including the right to strike, he warned that “those rights may be restricted for the public good.”
His comments appeared to suggest that the government could invoke its emergency arbitration powers should negotiations between labor and management at Samsung Electronics fall through again.
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok speaks about the ongoing labor dispute at Samsung Electronics in a public address at the government complex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on May 17. [NEWS1]
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok hinted at the same possibility in a rare public address on Sunday.
“Rather than [either side] making extreme choices, I strongly urge [them] to communicate and compromise,” he said. “If a situation arises in which massive damage [to the national economy] is feared, the government cannot help but consider every available option, including emergency arbitration.”
Lee further called for social cohesion in his X post, in which he used multiple metaphors to caution against extremism.
“Where there is sunlight, there is shadow, and the higher the mountain, the deeper the valley,” he wrote. “Excess is worse than deficiency, and when things reach an extreme, they inevitably reverse course.”
He added that “a society in which everyone prospers together through solidarity and shared responsibility — rather than one in which the strong have more and live better — should be the future of Korea.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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