Presidential office walks back Yoon’s comments on ILO wage discrimination ban

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Monday. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

The presidential office on Monday backtracked comments by President Yoon Suk Yeol that appeared to suggest he was considering ways to suspend the International Labour Organization's (ILO) ban on wage discrimination between domestic and foreign workers in Korea.

In comments made at a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day, Yoon said that the owners of small businesses, such as restaurants, had voiced strong discontent over rising labor costs and argued that the Korean government should look into withdrawing from the ILO’s provisions regarding pay equality.

But a presidential official told reporters at an afternoon briefing that Yoon’s comments should not be interpreted as beinh “directly tied” to a policy direction.

“The president was relaying comments he heard in his encounters [with business owners] to other Cabinet members and the wider public,” the official said.

Yoon mentioned the calls for withdrawing from the ILO’s ban on wage discrimination as he described his meetings last week with the owners of 36 small businesses and social care facilities across the country.

The president said that small business owners are in “desperate” need of relief and government measures to reduce the growing costs of doing business, including high interest rates.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]