South Korea's largest labour union grouping withdrew on Tuesday from a labour reform agreement, a setback for President Park Geun-hye's ambitious reform drive just a few months ahead of parliamentary elections.
Park has made the reform of South Korea's rigid labour practices one of the key goals of her government, to help revive Asia's fourth-largest economy in the face of an extended slump in exports and slowing population growth.
"The FKTU will no longer participate in the tripartite commission as agreements made there are not abided by," Kim Dong-man, president of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) which has a million members, told a news conference.
He criticised the government for breaching an agreement reached in September by representatives of business, labour and the government, referring to the government's bid to revise labour laws without full negotiations with the labour unions.
The government's proposed reforms aim to make hiring and firing easier and allow individual negotiations between employer and employee on working conditions. These changes currently require consent from the labour union.
In principle, the government could still push ahead with its attempt to enforce reform measures requiring no law revisions despite the federation's pullout but such a move could turn public opinion against the government just ahead of the polls.
Labor Minister Lee Ki-kweon told a separate news conference later on Tuesday that the government was open to more negotiations with labour but added it could not wait forever.
South Koreans will vote in April to elect all 300 members of the single-chamber National Assembly, in which 53 percent of seats are now held by the ruling party.
South Korea has scored poorly in international surveys on labour practices, especially for a lack of flexibility in hiring and firing workers and in setting wages.
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