Lee & Ko shores up labour practice with former minister | South Korea

Lee & Ko has recruited Kyung Duk An, the previous minister of employment and labour in South Korea from 2021 to 2022, as a senior adviser to fortify its labour apply.

“An is thought to be Korea’s prime professional in human assets, labour and security affairs,” Sanggon Kim, the senior managing accomplice at Lee & Ko informed Asia Enterprise Legislation Journal, on the agency’s recruitment.

“An will make a big contribution throughout the business, notably by guaranteeing that purchasers adhere extra strictly to labour laws by means of enhanced compliance, thereby enabling them to function their companies extra stably.”

Having handed the Public Administration Examinations in 1990, An spent greater than three a long time on the Ministry of Employment and Labour and associated businesses. Notably, between 2019 and 2021, An served as a vice-chair of the Financial, Social and Labour Council of Korea, which is a social dialogue physique straight below the Korean president.

Requested about An’s function in responding to the Critical Accident Punishment Act (SAPA), Kim replied: “Whereas our agency has been monitoring a collection of current responsible verdicts associated to the SAPA, An’s function is way broader. An will leverage his intensive expertise and experience to construct our purchasers’ labour compliance system and also will deal with coaching Lee & Ko legal professionals.”

The SAPA got here into pressure in 2022, which imposes critical prison sanctions on the highest decision-maker of an organization in Korea accountable for accidents at workplaces. The Ministry of Employment and Labour reported final month that there had been 15 instances with remaining judgments because the enforcement of the SAPA, all of which resulted in responsible verdicts.