Minister Kim Young-hoon stated that he will increase the number of industrial safety supervisors by 300 and allow local government officials to supervise business sites as special judicial police.

On the 24th, Minister Kim noted in his inauguration speech, “I will focus all administrative power on eliminating industrial accidents so that workers can return home to their families and society as they arrive at work, ensuring that they can feel a significant difference in safety issues on the ground.”

On the 24th, Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor holds a dialogue with employees at the inauguration ceremony in the conference room of the Government Sejong Building, answering employees' questions. /Courtesy of Yonhap News Agency

He said, “I will take zero tolerance against repeated accidents such as falls, entrapments, and collapses that occur due to backwardness or discrimination,” adding, “I will especially manage high-risk business sites intensively.”

He continued, “To enhance execution power, I will promptly increase the number of industrial safety supervisors by 300, and push forward additional increases rapidly,” and added, “We will build a thorough work safety supervision system where local government officials will supervise business sites as special judicial police according to unified standards in line with International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions.”

Minister Kim also emphasized the ‘protection of the right to work for all citizens.’ He stated, “The government will be a guide for young people's job opportunities so that those who cannot even have the right to work do not get frustrated and can dream of the future,” and added, “We will expand job opportunities for 9.5 million baby boomers to ensure that technological changes such as artificial intelligence (AI) do not lead to labor alienation.”

Minister Kim remarked, “I will prove that overcoming the outdated frame of ‘pro-labor equals anti-business’ allows the pro-labor stance to become pro-business, and that cooperation and participatory labor-management relations can be new growth engines,” mentioning the necessity to promote ▲Preventive measures against serious accidents ▲ The yellow envelope law (revisions to labor union laws Articles 2 and 3).

Meanwhile, Minister Kim, a former railway engineer, concluded his inauguration speech by saying, “I welcome everyone who has boarded the ‘Respect for Labor train,’ and our train will depart on time.”

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