Fundamental Review of the Comprehensive Wage System
Tax Support for Communication Expenses and Families with Multiple Children
Annual Leave and Other Standards to Be Raised to Advanced Country Levels
Lee Jae Myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on April 30 that he would reduce the average working hours in South Korea to the level of advanced countries by 2030. He also presented measures to ease the living burdens of office workers, including enhanced vacation support and assistance with housing, transportation, and communication expenses.
On this day, through social media, Lee stated, "I will guarantee rest and recharging time, and alleviate the burdens of daily life," emphasizing that "the era when long working hours guaranteed success is already over." He explained, "With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), simple and repetitive tasks will be handled by machines, and people will focus more on work that creates creativity and added value." He added, "In this new era, ensuring sufficient rest and opportunities for recharging is essential to enhance the value of 'people.'"
As for policies related to working hours, he set the goal of "reducing the average working hours in South Korea to below the OECD average by 2030." To achieve this, he said, "We will establish definite support measures for companies that introduce a 4.5-day workweek," and added, "In the long term, we should move toward a four-day workweek." He also promised to introduce a daily maximum working hours system and a minimum rest time system to prevent death from overwork, as well as to fundamentally review the comprehensive wage system.
Lee Jae Myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, is delivering opening remarks on the afternoon of the 28th at the 'K-Semiconductor' AI memory semiconductor company meeting held at SK Hynix Icheon Campus in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. 2025.4.28 Photo by Kim Hyun Min
Regarding improvements to the vacation system, Lee presented specific measures, stating, "We will increase the number of annual leave days and the rate at which they are used to the level of advanced countries." He said, "We will ease the requirements for obtaining paid annual leave, and increase convenience by allowing unused leave to be used within three years through an annual leave savings system."
He also announced the introduction of the "Three-Part National Vacation Support Package" to help office workers recharge. This consists of the Worker Vacation Support Program, the Local Love Vacation Support Program, and short-cut travel options. Lee emphasized, "To revitalize the Worker Vacation Support Program, in which the government, companies, and workers each currently contribute 100,000 won, 100,000 won, and 200,000 won respectively, we will increase the government's contribution and significantly expand the range of beneficiaries."
He also proposed various measures to reduce the cost of living, including housing expenses. He stated, "Above all, we will strengthen housing support related to jeonse and monthly rent," and added, "We will expand the government interest subsidy for jeonse loans, raise the income threshold for those eligible for monthly rent tax credits, and significantly broaden the range of eligible housing." He also promised to improve guarantee systems to reduce the burden of jeonse fraud, lower transportation costs, and provide tax support for communication expenses.
In addition, he proposed expanding tax benefits for families raising children. Lee stated, "We will increase the credit card tax deduction rate and limit according to the number of children," and "We will also expand the child tax credit." He plans to strengthen tax support for families with multiple children. He further added, "We will work to expand the scope of education expense tax credits to include arts and physical education for elementary school children."
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