The government is reportedly considering applying special exemptions to working-hour regulations in the "mega special zone" it plans to designate in the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City to build a semiconductor cluster. Options under discussion include granting partial exemptions from the 52-hour workweek for research and development (R&D) personnel, high-income professionals, and startup workers. The government also appears to be reviewing plans to extend the unit period of the flexible working-hour system from the current maximum of six months to up to one year, and to adjust the management unit for overtime work from the current "weekly" basis to "monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual" bases. The government is reported to include the final proposal in a "Mega Special Zone Special Act" after consultations with relevant ministries and between the party and the government. The challenge, however, lies in overcoming arguments about reverse discrimination by region and industry. If benefits are granted only to the mega special zone, companies and industries unable to move in will face relative investment imbalances.
The business community has long pointed out that Korea's uniform working-hour system hampers corporate technology development and productivity improvements. For the same reason, a plan to grant an exemption from the 52-hour workweek for semiconductor R&D workers was included in a semiconductor special bill proposed under the lead of the People Power Party in 2024. However, amid a backlash from labor circles, the majority Democratic Party of Korea vacillated, and the 52-hour exemption clause was dropped from the Semiconductor Special Act passed this January. The Mega Special Zone Special Act must not end up as half-baked legislation like the Semiconductor Special Act.
At the "Chungcheong Region Advanced Industry Development Vision National Report Session" held in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, on Tuesday, President Lee Jae-myung said of the government's recently announced "Three Mega Projects for Korea's Great Leap Forward" that they "will become the driving force to diversify the axis of growth across the nation beyond the capital region, which faces its limits, and transform the entire country into a Korean version of Silicon Valley." For that to happen, advanced technology companies across all fields — including the bio, display, battery, aerospace, and materials, parts and equipment industries that have supported the national economy and Chungcheong-region employment — should be able to receive the 52-hour workweek exemption evenly. To this end, it is worth reviewing a plan to expand the benefits to all regions of the country after examining the impact of the exemption's implementation in the mega special zone. Furthermore, starting with the Mega Special Zone Special Act, working-hour flexibility by industry and region should also be pursued through revision of the Labor Standards Act. It is worth noting that the U.S. "white-collar exemption system," comparable to this mega special zone exemption, is specified not in a special act but in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
