President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday called on the Ministry of Employment and Labor to issue clear guidelines on disputes arising from the so-called yellow envelope law before they escalate to the courts. "If necessary, please organize the guidelines — whether in the form of presidential decrees or enforcement rules — before things go to court. That is how we reduce social conflict," he said.

Cheong Wa Dae chief spokesperson Kang Yu-jung relayed the remarks in a written briefing after the Cabinet meeting, saying Lee had instructed officials to closely examine the disputes that have emerged since the yellow envelope law passed.

Lee also addressed the Samsung Electronics union's claim that the government-backed Honam semiconductor cluster should be subject to labor-management bargaining, telling Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon that "providing a certain standard on labor law is also the government's role."

At the closed-door portion of the Cabinet meeting, Lee said a review of the abuse-of-authority provisions in criminal law was needed to embed proactive administration as a universal norm in the civil service. He also raised the possibility of amending the criminal code and asked the secretary-general of the Board of Audit and Inspection whether the agency had introduced any systems allowing it to offer advisory opinions before policy decisions are made, urging that such systems be properly organized.

Lee then asked Prime Minister Han Seong-suk to consider ways to reduce the burden of punishment on civil servants so they would work voluntarily, proactively and with initiative.

Kang said Lee also noted that disagreements sometimes arise because people rely on different sets of facts, and said public debate should be used to narrow gaps in basic understanding. Lee added that "distorting the facts themselves and turning them into a political agenda must not happen."

On a proposal submitted by the Ministry of Interior and Safety to revoke certain honors, Lee said the ministry had "done well in sorting out long-accumulated distortions" and asked whether additional recipients might be subject to revocation. When Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung replied that an investigation was underway and further review was planned, Lee told officials to "look into it carefully and handle it well so there are no mistakes or grounds for objection."


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