Union plans four-hour partial strike Wednesday; government warns service stability is paramount amid labor dispute over performance pay

Members of the Kakao chapter of the Korea Chemical Textile Food Industry Workers' Union hold a rally at Pangyo Station Plaza in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on May 20, vowing to win their 2026 wage and collective bargaining negotiations. [Yonhap]
Members of the Kakao chapter of the Korea Chemical Textile Food Industry Workers' Union hold a rally at Pangyo Station Plaza in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on May 20, vowing to win their 2026 wage and collective bargaining negotiations. [Yonhap]

The government has launched an emergency review of Kakao's key digital services ahead of a planned strike by the company's union.

The union's announcement of a partial strike on Wednesday has raised alarm over the stable operation of widely used services such as KakaoTalk and KakaoMap.

The Ministry of Science and ICT held a meeting Monday at the Government Sejong Building to assess contingency plans for service continuity and stability in light of the strike notice, according to industry sources Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by Choi Woo-hyeok, director general of the ministry's information security and network policy bureau, and Seo Young-hoon, a Kakao executive vice president, among others. They discussed emergency response frameworks and operational measures for Kakao's major services. Both sides agreed to continuously monitor service conditions and maintain a cooperative framework to ensure rapid information sharing and response in the event of any disruption.

The union had earlier failed to narrow its differences with management over wages and announced a four-hour partial strike for Wednesday. A large-scale rally involving an estimated 1,200 participants is also planned that day, running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Pangyo Station in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, to Yuspace.

"We will carry out the four-hour partial strike and escalate the level of action depending on how negotiations proceed," the union said.

The labor dispute centers on a disagreement over performance compensation. Kakao proposed allocating 10 percent of last year's standalone operating profit, along with restricted stock units worth 5 million won (approximately $3,230). The union is demanding a bonus equivalent to 13 to 14 percent of last year's standalone operating profit — which stood at 440.2 billion won — plus RSUs of the same value.

Following the collapse of a second round of mediation, Kakao said the total scale of the performance compensation the union demands "places a significant burden on company management when measured against operating profit," adding that "performance compensation must be balanced and sustainable, taking into account future investment capacity and shareholder value."

With no common ground in sight, what would be the company's first headquarters-level strike in its more than 20-year history now appears likely to materialize. Kakao Mobility conducted a partial strike in June last year, but the parent company itself has never seen a strike.

"The stability of digital platform services used by a large portion of the public is an extremely important matter," Choi said. "Please do your utmost to ensure service continuity and stability so that citizens do not face inconvenience."


ko@heraldcorp.com