[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon met with reporters at the Sejong Government Complex on the 5th and strongly criticized Coupang's alleged cover-up of an industrial accident and the recent massive personal information leak, directly asking, "Can they be fixed?"

He reflected on Coupang's stance during the National Assembly hearing held on December 30-31 last year, saying, "Before the hearing, I thought they could fix things, but I couldn't sit still, wondering if they would actually succeed." He expressed regret, saying he had hoped Coupang would be reborn as a platform connecting consumers, workers, and small business owners. The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to swiftly pursue special labor supervision and an on-site inspection into the allegations of concealment of industrial accidents.

Industrial accident cover-ups and personal information leaks directly impact Heinrich's Law.

Minister Kim likened the Coupang incident to Heinrich's Law (29 major accidents and 1 fatal accident for every 300 minor accidents), asserting that "the cover-up of industrial accidents is the root cause of mass personal information leaks." He pointed out that the process of withdrawing industrial accident claims, such as the 2020 Coupang Fulfillment Service (CFS) Incheon Center 4 overwork death incident, was suspicious as "it seemed to have been written under expert direction," and analyzed it as "a typical case of covering up a minor accident and then escalating into a major disaster."

Regarding the appearance of the phrase "Ministry of Employment and Labor cooperation" in Coupang's internal documents (including the "Major Accident Response Manual") disclosed at the hearing, the Ministry of Employment and Labor urged strengthened internal controls, stating, "This appears to be the cause of the failure to file industrial accident reports." The Ministry of Employment and Labor has discovered that six regional offices of Grade 5 and 6 civil servants were recruited en masse due to suspicions of lobbying for Coupang's government offices, and has issued an order stating, "Contacting them will result in ruin and embarrassment.

The Yellow Envelope Act Enforcement Decree "Actively Solicits Reasonable Opinions"

Regarding the enforcement ordinance for the amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union Act (Yellow Envelope Act), for which the legislative notice period ended on the 5th, Minister Kim stated, "We will gather opinions from the business community, labor community, and experts and reflect acceptable ones." The enforcement ordinance, scheduled to take effect on March 10th, prioritizes unifying the negotiation channels of primary and subcontracting unions, followed by applications for separation of the negotiation units of the Labor Relations Commission (taking into account working conditions and employment types). At the meeting with heads of non-regular worker branches, Minister Kim maintained his stance of "maintaining the basic framework and supplementing it after implementation."

The labor sector protested, saying, "The interests of the prime contractor and subcontractors are conflicting, making unification impossible and nullifying the purpose." However, the minister persuaded them, saying, "Build trust, resolve conflicts, and apply mitigation standards." The government plans to finalize the plan after collecting opinions from approximately 40 submissions during the notice period from November 25 to January 5.