Reform Party pushes back against Lee So-young's remarks, calling them "a step backward for the times"

The Rebuilding Korea Party criticized SMEs and Startups Minister Lee So-young's remark that applying different minimum wages by industry "requires careful consideration," calling it "a statement that runs against the times." The party pointed out that the Minimum Wage Commission, the statutory deliberative body, had already voted down the proposal last June, so a minister revisiting it reflects an irresponsible idea that undermines the fundamental purpose of the minimum wage system. The party's labor committee warned that tiered application would only institutionalize discrimination among workers and entrench low wages, mass-producing poor-quality jobs and imposing concentrated disadvantages on women and young workers, who make up a high share of the vulnerable workforce. It demanded, "The Lee Jae-myung government and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups must immediately abandon their lingering attachment to the already-rejected tiered minimum wage application."

Minister Lee said the same day on her social media that she had long held a negative view of applying the minimum wage differently by industry. She disclosed the minutes of an April 2022 Democratic Party emergency committee meeting in which she spoke against tiered application, saying she has a responsibility to verify the actual wording of remarks before issuing commentary, and publicly rebutted the Reform Party.

The Reform Party has recently taken positions differing from the government and ruling party on several bills, including a comprehensive real estate tax reform plan, a revision to the Special Act on small merchants' livelihood-related businesses, and an amendment to the National Intelligence Service Act. Discussion of tiered minimum wage application by industry has also continued even after the proposal was voted down by the Minimum Wage Commission.