The Economic, Social and Labor Council (ESLC) held the inauguration ceremonies and first meetings of the third 「Youth Committee」 and 「Women's Committee」 in succession on the afternoon of May 29.

The Committees by Social Classes are bodies established under the Steering Committee pursuant to the Economic, Social and Labor Council Act. They are responsible for identifying the challenges and policy agenda of various social groups — including youth, women, non-regular workers, and small business owners — and proposing policy recommendations, including submitting agenda items to the Plenary Council.

The third 「Youth Committee」 is chaired by Han Dasri, Chairman of the Labor Union of the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare, who serves as a Chairman of the Preparatory Committee. The Committee consists of eight members representing the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), Youth Community Union, the National Youth Policy Network, the Hanbit Media Labor Human Rights Center, the Good Neighbor Youth Group "Manitto" under the Working People's Mutual Aid Association, and the Pan-Youth Action Against Inequality. At its first meeting, the Committee shared its overall direction and discussed future operational plans.

The 「Youth Committee」 plans to broadly reflect the voices of young people facing diverse labor and employment realities—including unemployed youth, employed youth, and regional youth—and to identify agenda items and propose policies based on their experiences and challenges in the workplace.

To this end, the Committee plans to visit regional industrial complexes and other local sites to communicate directly with young people and faithfully reflect their views on issues such as youth outmigration from local communities, welfare conditions in jobs located in small and medium-sized cities, and other labor issues that directly affect young people.

The third 「Women's Committee」 was established to broadly reflect the voices of women workers in the field and to seek practical solutions and policy alternatives to major issues affecting women workers. In particular, the Committee is meaningful in that diverse stakeholders participate in addressing issues related to women workers in the care-services, long-term care, school meal services, healthcare, other services and counseling sectors through social dialogue, with the goal of improving women's rights and working conditions.

In particular, the Third Women's Committee has further strengthened its representativeness and field relevance through the participation of the Women's Labor Solidarity Council (comprising the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the Korea Women's Trade Union, the Korean Women Workers Association, the Korean Women's Associations United, and the Korean WomenLink).

Going forward, the Women's Committee plans to conduct in-depth discussions on the following key agenda items: ▴emotional labor and workplace safety for women workers, ▴measures to improve working conditions for women in low-wage occupations, ▴institutional improvement and public awareness of domestic and care work, ▴responses to workplace sexual harassment and bullying, and ▴women's employment stability in response to the AI transition.

Chairman Kim Ji-hyung of the ESLC stated, “Today's inauguration ceremony marks the starting point for reflecting the voices of diverse social groups, including youth and women, in social dialogue. I hope that the members of each group will take the lead in listening to and representing the voices from the field.”

Chairman Han Dasri of the Preparatory Committee for the third 「Youth Committee」, stated, “I hope that the voices of young people identified through the Third Youth Committee will, unlike in the past, be able to proceed through the Agenda Development and Coordination Committee and the Steering Committee and ultimately be discussed by the Plenary Council.”

Chairman Choi Mi-ra of the third 「Women's Committee」, stated, “We will represent the interests of vulnerable women workers and lay the foundation for institutions and policies that can bring meaningful improvements to their lives.”

Going forward, the ESLC plans to continue consultations on common agenda items through joint meetings and other collaborative mechanisms based on close coordination and cooperation among the Social Group Committees, including the Youth Committee, Women's Committee, and Committee on Non-Regular Workers.