The Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology has proposed that startups within five years of founding and companies in national strategic technology sectors should be exempt from the 52-hour workweek regulation. This candid advice likely reflects the sense of crisis in the industrial field that outdated and uniform working hour regulations are hindering corporate innovation in an era of global science and technology hegemony competition. The Advisory Council recently held its 15th meeting and approved in writing the "Plan for Building a Virtuous Cycle Ecosystem for Science and Technology Startups."
The rationale behind the Advisory Council's recommendation to exempt startups and strategic technology companies from the 52-hour workweek is clear. While competing nations keep their lights on 24 hours a day, staking their national fortunes on securing future advanced technologies, Korea remains bound by the rigid 52-hour system, forcing key researchers to stop work when their allotted time runs out. Although the Semiconductor Special Act passed through the National Assembly in January, it was only half-measures as it excluded the 52-hour exemption clause that the industry had strongly demanded. It is as if Korean companies alone are being made to compete with sandbags strapped to their legs in the silent war for technological supremacy.
To make matters worse, painful results have emerged showing that Korea's science and technology competitiveness is declining. According to the "2024 Technology Level Assessment" recently reported to the Advisory Council by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea ranked last among the five surveyed nations—the United States, European Union, China, and Japan—in a comprehensive evaluation of 136 core technologies across 11 sectors. Furthermore, Korea's technology gap with China has widened over the past two years, and the country has even been overtaken in secondary batteries, the only strategic technology where it had maintained the top position.
The government and National Assembly must take the Advisory Council's candid advice seriously and immediately pursue follow-up legislation to allow working hour flexibility, including exemptions from the 52-hour system. The scope of working hour deregulation also needs to be significantly expanded beyond startups and strategic technology companies to encompass all areas of science and technology. No matter how much astronomical budget is poured in, the government's vision of a great economic leap based on science and technology will amount to nothing more than empty words unless the shackles of rigid working hour regulations are removed. In the era of science and technology hegemony competition, national survival depends on success or failure in developing advanced technologies. We must no longer waste the golden time to remove the 52-hour shackles and lay the foundation for economic takeoff.