Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935 (No. 47) - Republic of Korea (Ratification: 2011)

The Committee notes the observations of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), received in 2024 and the Government’s responses thereto.

Article 1 of the Convention. Forty-hour week principle – application in practice. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes that in its report the Government indicates that to facilitate the application of a 40-hour week, measures such as legislative amendments to the Labour Standards Act in 2018 (reduction of overtime hours and of sectors benefiting from special exemptions), awareness-raising campaigns, work–life balance job incentives and targeted inspections have been adopted.

In their observations, the KCTU and FKTU express concerns over continued long working hours in sectors still benefiting from exemptions under section 59 of the Act, and cases of fatalities due to overwork. The FKTU further indicates that authorizations for special overtime have surged, reaching 6,477 in 2021 compared to 15 in 2017; it also indicates that providing 11-hour consecutive daily rest periods is insufficient to protect workers from overwork-related health issues. The KCTU and FKTU further refer to new, ongoing reforms by the Government which, in their view, would erode the foundation of the forty-hour work week, including by increasing the reference period over which overtime is calculated. In response, the Government indicates that the increase in the length of the reference periods for overtime would be accompanied by safety and health measures and would not result in higher working hours. It also indicates that since June 2024, tripartite discussions on this issue have been held at the Committee for Work–Life Balance under the Economic, Social and Labour Council, aiming at reducing actual working hours, guaranteeing labour management choice and protecting workers’ health rights.

In this respect, the Committee notes with regard to the Labour Standards Act, as amended, that:

• Section 51(1) and (2) provides for the averaging of hours over two weeks in accordance with employment rules and over three months subject to a written agreement with the representative of employees, respectively, provided that working hours in any week do not exceed 48 hours.
• Section 51-2 provides for the averaging of hours over periods of three to six months, in certain circumstances and by agreement with workers’ representatives, provided that working hours in any week do not exceed 52 hours.
• Section 52 allows the averaging of working time over one or three months for certain categories of workers, subject to an 11-hour daily rest period but without defining a limit on any week.
• Section 53 allows for overtime, by agreement between the parties, of 12 hours per week or, in the case of an employer who regularly employs fewer than 30 employees, extended work hours, insofar as the work hours do not exceed eight hours per week, in addition to those 12 hours.
• Section 59 provides for further exemptions to certain businesses so that, with a written agreement with the workers’ representatives, employees can work more than 12 hours of overtime per week.

The Committee observes that the above-mentioned provisions of the Labour Standards Act: (i) foresee excessively long reference periods of up to six months for the working hours averaging, as well as weekly limits reaching 48 to 52 hours; (ii) provide for only an 11-hour daily rest period with no weekly limit to the hours of work for some categories of workers; and (iii) allow for a very high number of additional hours per week. The Committee recalls that these provisions may contradict the principle of a 40-hour week enshrined in the Convention.

Therefore, the Committee requests the Government to continue to take the necessary measures to secure, in law and in practice, the full application of the principle of a 40-hour week provided for by the Convention, and to continue to provide information on all developments regarding its ongoing legislative reforms.