The ruling People Power Party (PPP) has abruptly withdrawn controversial provisions that would have eliminated minimum wage requirements and work hour caps in the proposed Daegu-Gyeongbuk regional integration law, following immediate backlash from labor unions and even supporters in the conservative stronghold.
An anonymous PPP official confirmed to the Yeongnam Ilbo that the provisions would be removed from the draft legislation, marking a rare retreat for the party on labor deregulation—an agenda item that has been central to President Yoon Suk-yeol's economic platform.
The proposed law, intended to facilitate administrative integration of Daegu metropolitan city and surrounding Gyeongbuk Province, included clauses that would have created a special economic zone exempt from national labor standards. Specifically, the draft would have allowed employers in the integrated region to hire workers without minimum wage protections and without the statutory 52-hour maximum workweek.
The provisions sparked immediate condemnation from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), which called the measures "a return to 19th-century labor exploitation." More surprisingly, criticism emerged from within Daegu itself—a region that has voted overwhelmingly conservative for decades and serves as a crucial PPP electoral base.
Local business associations in Daegu expressed concern that the provisions would damage the region's reputation and make it harder to attract young workers already fleeing to Seoul and other metropolitan areas. "Daegu is already struggling with population decline," one business leader told local media. "Who will want to work here if we're known as the place with no labor protections?"
The swift reversal raises questions about internal dysfunction within the PPP and the party's legislative vetting process. How such extreme deregulation measures made it into a draft bill without triggering internal alarms suggests either ideological overreach by specific factions or a breakdown in party coordination.
"This reveals the chaos inside the PPP," said Park Ji-won, a political analyst at Korea University. "Either the party leadership didn't review the draft carefully, or they approved provisions so extreme that even their own base rejected them. Neither scenario reflects well on the party's governance capacity."
The episode is particularly embarrassing for the PPP given the timing. The party has been working to rebuild credibility following President Yoon's historically low approval ratings and policy missteps that have alienated even conservative voters. The quick retreat on the labor provisions suggests the party recognized the political danger but raises questions about who proposed the measures in the first place.
The PPP has not disclosed which officials or legislators drafted the controversial clauses, nor has the party announced any internal disciplinary measures. This opacity has frustrated both critics and supporters. As one commenter on the Korea subreddit noted: "Who the f*** in PPP included that kind of bullsh*t article/clause? The one who included those must be disciplined by the party, for disgracing Daegu-Gyeongbuk and the party itself."
The incident highlights broader tensions within Korean conservatism over labor policy. While the PPP has long advocated for regulatory reform and labor market flexibility—arguing that rigid employment protections harm economic dynamism—there remains significant public support for basic worker protections even among conservative voters.
South Korea's minimum wage, currently ₩9,860 per hour (approximately $7.40), is modest by OECD standards but represents an important floor in a labor market already characterized by high inequality, extensive irregular employment, and widespread wage theft in small businesses. The 52-hour workweek cap, implemented in 2018, remains controversial among employers but has become a generational expectations marker for younger workers.
The Daegu-Gyeongbuk integration itself remains broadly supported as a means to create administrative efficiencies and boost regional competitiveness against the Seoul metropolitan area, which continues to dominate Korean economic and cultural life. The integration would create a combined region of roughly 5 million people, making it the nation's third-largest metropolitan area.
But the botched rollout of the labor provisions has complicated what should have been a straightforward governance reform. Opposition parties have seized on the incident to argue that the PPP cannot be trusted with labor policy, while labor unions have vowed to scrutinize all regional integration proposals for similar "poison pill" clauses.
In Korea, as across dynamic Asian economies, cultural exports and technological leadership reshape global perceptions—even as security tensions persist. Yet the swift reversal in Daegu reveals that even in Korea's conservative heartland, there are limits to labor deregulation that politicians cross at their peril. The question now is whether the PPP will learn from this misstep or whether it signals deeper disarray within the ruling party.
