{"id":15722,"date":"2026-05-13T19:53:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/15722\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T19:53:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:53:25","slug":"lead-cheong-wa-dae-vows-to-support-dialogue-for-resolution-of-samsung-electronics-wage-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/15722\/","title":{"rendered":"(LEAD) Cheong Wa Dae vows to support dialogue for resolution of Samsung Electronics wage dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

(ATTN: CHANGES slug from labor minister-Samsung Electronics; RECASTS headline; UPDATES with Cheong Wa Dae’s response; ADDS photo)<\/p>\n

SEOUL, May 13 (Yonhap) — Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday it plans to actively support dialogue between Samsung Electronics Co. and its labor union to resolve a wage dispute ahead of a threatened strike.<\/p>\n

The remark by senior presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung came hours after government-led wage negotiations fell through amid sharp differences over performance-based bonuses tied to the company’s record-high earnings.<\/p>\n

“The government plans to provide active support so that the management and union find a resolution through dialogue,” she said during a press briefing. “There is still time left until the strike.”<\/p>\n

The two sides failed to reach an agreement early Wednesday after two days of government-led mediation talks that had been viewed as a last-ditch effort to avert the strike scheduled for May 21.<\/p>\n

\"Cheong<\/p>\n

Cheong Wa Dae (Yonhap)<\/p>\n

Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon urged continued dialogue, while withholding any direct response to whether the government may exercise an emergency measure against the looming strike.<\/p>\n

“Dialogue is desperately needed. It has to be made even if it means staying up all night,” Kim said in a YouTube interview when asked about the possibility of taking the emergency measure.<\/p>\n

Under labor law, the labor minister has the right to exercise an “emergency adjustment” measure that can suspend a strike for up to 30 days if it is deemed likely to endanger the daily lives of citizens or hurt the national economy.<\/p>\n

“While it is the union’s decision whether to strike or not, the government will make utmost efforts to arrange talks to avert a strike,” he said.<\/p>\n

The union and management have remained sharply divided over performance-based bonuses tied to the company’s earnings amid an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven boom that left the leading chipmaker with record-high earnings in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

The union has demanded performance bonuses equivalent to 15 percent of operating profit, along with the removal of the payout cap and the formal institutionalization of the bonus system.<\/p>\n

The management, meanwhile, proposed allocating 10 percent of operating profit to bonuses and offering a one-time special compensation package that it said exceeds industry standards.<\/p>\n

\"Labor<\/p>\n

Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon speaks at a ministry event in central Seoul on May 6, 2026. (Yonhap)<\/p>\n

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(ATTN: CHANGES slug from labor minister-Samsung Electronics; RECASTS headline; UPDATES with Cheong Wa Dae’s response; ADDS photo) SEOUL,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[127,276],"class_list":{"0":"post-15722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-samsung-electronics","8":"tag-samsung","9":"tag-samsung-electronics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}