President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the government to take a complementary measure on a proposed longer workweek amid backlash from young people complaining it could deteriorate their work-life balance. The South Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor proposed earlier this month to allow workers to extend their working hours in a week to up to 69 hours.

Ahn Sang-hoon, the senior presidential secretary for social affairs, told reporters that Yoon recognizes that working more than 60 hours a week is impossible. He added that the government will seek to understand MZ workers, non-union members and small and medium-sized firms’ employees better. MZ refers to millennials and Gen Zs. The labor ministry first proposed to revise the 52-hour workweek because of complaints from the business community.