UN calls for S. Korea to ratify core ILO conventions

Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) call for the South Korean government to ratify core conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in front of the Central Government Complex in Seoul in July 2019. (Hankyoreh archives)

International community intensifying pressure for Seoul to comply to global labor standards

Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) call for the South Korean government to ratify core conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in front of the Central Government Complex in Seoul in July 2019. (Hankyoreh archives)

South Korea is coming under growing pressure from the international community to ratify key labor conventions. Following criticism from the EU, now the UN has called out the South Korean government for not having a concrete plan for ratifying core conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Sources in the South Korean government told the Hankyoreh on Jan. 5 that the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (which monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights) had notified Seoul last month about the results of its assessment of whether Seoul is adequately implementing the committee’s recommendations, which include ratifying the ILO conventions. While the committee noted the South Korean government’s plans and measures regarding the ratification of ILO Conventions 87 and 98, it voiced disappointment about the lack of adequate information about a timeframe for ratification. In short, the committee criticized Seoul’s failure to offer a concrete plan for ratification.

As a party to the covenant, South Korea is periodically reviewed for compliance. In the final opinion given during its fourth review of South Korea, in October 2017, the committee recommended that Seoul take action to prevent corporate violations of human rights, enact a comprehensive ban on discrimination, and ratify the ILO conventions. In April 2019, Seoul submitted a follow-up report to the committee explaining its efforts to implement those recommendations, and the recent notification concerned the committee’s evaluation of that report.

In May 2019, the government announced its plans to ratify three ILO conventions  namely, Conventions 87 and 98, which have to do with the freedom of association, and Convention 29, which bans compulsory labor  and submitted revisions to related legislation to the National Assembly. But lawmakers haven’t moved forward with considering those revisions.

“The document received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contains the results of an assessment of a government report that was submitted before the government announced its ratification plans, and it should be viewed in light of that fact,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

After the EU initiated conflict-resolution proceedings on the grounds that South Korea hasn’t done enough to ratify the ILO conventions, based on a clause in their free trade agreement (FTA), the two sides set up a panel of experts to determine whether a violation of the FTA occurred. That panel began its activities on Dec. 30.

By Hwangbo Yon, staff reporter

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