Workers' Day overhaul entails name change, potential day off for all workers

National Assembly (Yonhap)
National Assembly (Yonhap)

The South Korean government is moving to designate May 1, known here as Workers’ Day, as an official public holiday starting in 2026. The change would allow all workers, including government employees and those at small businesses, to take the day off.

Currently, Workers’ Day is recognized as a paid holiday under the Labor Standards Act, but that law does not cover certain groups, such as public officials and employees at workplaces with fewer than five staff. By designating May 1 as a public holiday, the government aims to close that gap.

The proposal to designate May 1 as a public holiday is pending at the Assembly.

The plan was announced together with a proposal to restore the holiday's original Korean name “Nodongjeol,” meaning "Labor Day." According to a joint press release from related government bodies, the National Assembly recently passed a bill to replace the current Designation of Workers' Day Act and revert May 1 to the old name.

May Day, or International Workers' Day, is celebrated in many countries on May 1 or the first Monday in May. Korean workers first began commemorating Labor Day in 1923 while under Japanese colonial rule. The South Korean government created Workers' Day in 1958 as a symbolic day of commemoration on March 10.

Workers' Day was made an official paid holiday in 1963, and the date was changed to May 1 in 1994.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com