A revision to the Public Holidays Act designating May 1 Labor Day as a national public holiday passed a standing committee of the National Assembly. If the bill clears the plenary session, Labor Day will be extended to all citizens as a public holiday starting this year.
The National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee held a plenary session on the 26th and approved the "Partial Revision to the Act on Public Holidays" through bipartisan agreement. The passage came just two days after the bill cleared the committee's legislation review subcommittee on the 24th.
Labor Day is a day commemorating workers' rights and values. It currently operates under the Act on the Establishment of Labor Day. A revision to the related law in November last year also changed the official name from "Workers' Day" (근로자의 날) to "Labor Day" (노동절).
May 1 originated from "May Day," which commemorates the 1886 struggle by workers in the United States demanding an eight-hour workday. In Korea, the day was called Labor Day from 1923 before being renamed Workers' Day with the enactment of a related law in 1963. The date was later changed from March 10 to May 1 through a 1994 legal revision.
Currently, Labor Day is guaranteed as a paid holiday but is not a statutory public holiday, limiting its application to workers covered under the Labor Standards Act. This has left civil servants, teachers, delivery drivers and other special-employment workers without the holiday benefit.
Once the revision takes effect, Labor Day will be designated as a statutory public holiday, allowing all people to enjoy the holiday regardless of employment status. If the bill passes the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the plenary session by next month, it could take effect as a public holiday as early as May 1 this year.
