Thousands of South Koreans gathered in Seoul this Friday (1st) to celebrate Labor Day as a national holiday.
Before 2026, only private sector workers had paid time off on May 1.
The National Assembly approved a bill in March 2026 that established Labor Day as a national holiday, guaranteeing all workers in South Korea, regardless of the type of employment, the right to rest.
However, rally participants and organizers felt more could be done to promote labor rights.
The demonstration in central Seoul was led by the KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions), and included the participation of workers from several unions.
Jeong Ho-il, KCTU spokesman, told Reuters that the demonstration aimed to support workers “such as those on temporary contracts and freelancers who have not yet fully recovered their rights.”
Jeong added that the demonstration also mentioned the recent strikes by Samsung unions.
“They (the Samsung workers union) are putting forward legitimate demands based on the three basic labor rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” he said, emphasizing that KCTU will stand in solidarity with the union to guarantee their labor rights.
On April 23, tens of thousands of Samsung Electronics workers gathered at a sprawling factory complex south of Seoul, expressing their outrage over pay levels ahead of a planned long strike that could halt production of AI chips.
The protest held at Samsung’s Pyeongtaek campus appears to have had little effect on investor sentiment. Samsung shares rose 3% to close at an all-time high, driven by a rise in SK Hynix’s quarterly profit, which hit an all-time high.
