Amount Back Pay Workers Are Owed Rises 350 Percent to 220 Billion Won

The amount that back pay workers are owed in the period leading to lunar New Year holidays rose by 350 percent compared to the same period of last year.

“About 222.4 billion won, a per-head average of 3.68 million won, are in arrears and about 60,725 workers from 3,808 businesses are owed,” said Yi Young-tak, chief of the office for government policy coordination, in a meeting on January 13 at the presidential office to discuss measures for the lunar New Year holiday.

The government decided to help arrange a subsistence loan of a maximum five million won for each worker with back pay owed. It also will lend as much as 10.02 million won from a wage/loan warranty fund to workers who couldn’t get paid because their companies went bankrupt. It will collect these loans from their former employers after completion of the bankruptcy proceedings.

President Roh instructed the cabinet to devise a measure to preempt the disguised sale of imported beef as local in restaurants. The government is considering introducing the certification of origin for beef designated to be sold to restaurants.

The government decided to increase supply for such New Year hot items as beef, apples and yellow corvinas by 130 percent to 270 percent, in an attempt to hold prices in check. It will also check the turnover of domestic beef daily.

As the number of travelers during the holidays is projected to reach about 39 million, up 2.7 percent compared to the year-earlier period, the government will increase train services by 13 percent, express bus lines by 14 percent, airlines by 7 percent and ferry services by 19 percent.

Jong-Hoon Lee taylor55@donga.com