Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon speaks at the "Woori Ministry of Employment and Labor AI Transformation (AX) Seminar" held at On Dream Society in Seoul on July 13. [Ministry of Employment and Labor]
Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon speaks at the "Woori Ministry of Employment and Labor AI Transformation (AX) Seminar" held at On Dream Society in Seoul on July 13. [Ministry of Employment and Labor]

Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon wrapped up a nationwide tour of all eight regional employment and labor offices Tuesday with a final stop at the Seoul Metropolitan Employment and Labor Office, calling on staff to "produce visible results that people can feel in their daily lives" as the government enters its second year. Kim also ordered stronger support for youth employment and the on-the-ground implementation of labor and industrial safety policies, and pledged to actively pursue the hiring of additional labor inspectors to ease the workload on frontline staff.

The ministry said Kim conducted the final session of his "Finding the Way in the Field — Tour of Eight Regional Offices" series at the Seoul office on Tuesday. The tour began June 25 at the Daegu office and proceeded through Daejeon, Gyeonggi Province, Gwangju, the Jungbu district, Busan and Gangwon Province before concluding in Seoul.

Taking into account Seoul's high concentration of young job seekers, Kim visited the office's youth-specialized employment center to review its performance. The center proactively identifies unemployed young people and provides tailored job-readiness programs and hiring referrals, operating in coordination with 38 partner institutions including local governments and university job-plus centers.

"The employment center's core mission is to help young people who feel lost at the threshold of entering the workforce build their first meaningful career and find a stage where they can truly shine," Kim said. "Let the employment center take the lead and become a job partner that walks alongside people from graduation all the way to retirement."

Kim then called for rigorous follow-through on labor and industrial safety policies in the field. On the labor side, he identified the intensive management of workplaces with repeated or large-scale wage theft and the smooth implementation of the revised Trade Union Act as priority tasks. On industrial safety, he pointed to strengthening safety patrols at construction sites and reducing serious workplace accidents through inter-agency cooperation.

Kim said the tour also gave him the opportunity to review region-specific initiatives at each office. The Gyeonggi office runs a semiconductor industry-focused employment center, the Busan office a maritime industry-focused center, the Daegu office a youth-specialized employment center, and the Daejeon office an AI-based employment service pilot program. "Tailoring employment services to regional characteristics and infrastructure, and improving work processes through AI, are essential," he said, urging the wider adoption of field-level innovation.

Kim acknowledged the burden on frontline inspectors. "I know that despite the increase in inspectors, there are still real difficulties and heavy workloads on the front lines," he said. "Drawing on a year of communication, I will work to improve how we operate and make sure we bring in the inspectors the field truly needs, at the right time."

He added: "In the government's second year, let us produce visible results that people can feel in their daily lives. I will pursue field-centered administration without wavering, grounded in the details and communication that come from being on the ground."


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