Seoul, March 11 Industry and labour ministers on Tuesday called for an exemption of researchers in the semiconductor industry from South Korea's 52-hour workweek system that prevents them from working extended hours even when needed.
The government has been calling for a revision to the system to allow such workers to put in additional hours when necessary, reports Yonhap news agency.
Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun and Labour Minister Kim Moon-soo made the call during a meeting with officials from the semiconductor industry, including those from leading chipmakers Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc.
"The ongoing chip war is a technology war, and a tech war is ultimately a race against time," Ahn said, referring to the fierce global competition in the chip industry.
"The United States, Japan and Taiwan are fostering their semiconductor ecosystems with their national fortunes at stake, while China has almost caught up with our memory chip technology, which is one of our major growth engines," he added.
"It is deeply concerning that only our semiconductor industry remains hindered by labor hour regulations."
The government and rival parties had been discussing legislating a special bill aimed at exempting semiconductor workers from the country's 52-hour workweek system but failed to reach an agreement.
The government earlier said it will review ways to improve the work hour system for the chip industry.
South Korea's exports increased from a year earlier in the first 10 days of this month on strong demand for shipbuilding and automobiles, data showed.
Outbound shipments reached US$13.87 billion in the March 1-10 period, up 2.9 percent from $13.48 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service
Imports gained 7.3 percent on-year to $15.92 billion during the period, resulting in a trade deficit of $2 billion.
The daily average volume of exports increased 12.3 percent on-year over the cited period, according to the trade agency. The number of working days during this period stood at 5.5, compared with six days last year.
In February, the country's exports increased 1 percent from a year earlier, rebounding from a decrease the previous month.
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