South Korean organized labor has had a difficult time during President Yoon Suk-yeol's first year in office, and it appears that further challenges lie ahead as the administration gears up to tackle labor reforms, a move that could improve unions’ financial transparency but which risks infringing on workers’ right to organize.

In December, the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the more militant of the country’s two most prominent umbrella labor union groups, faced a blow when the government refused to extend a minimum pay system for truckers and imposed an unprecedented return-to-work order with severe penalties in the case of noncompliance.