President Lee: "Public officials work overtime but don’t get credit... It doesn’t make sense"

According to Financial News, President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea said on the 9th that the current overtime system for public officials "seems odd" and ordered improvements to the limits and compensation structure. He stressed that the system should be overhauled because officials who actually need to work more hours are not properly recognized, while unnecessary overtime has become routine for others.
During his opening remarks at the 29th senior presidential aides meeting held at the main building of Cheong Wa Dae (the Blue House) that day, President Lee said, "In our Cheong Wa Dae as well, don’t rely too heavily on the Inclusive Wage System," adding, "When people work extended hours, at night, on holidays, or on weekends, make sure they are properly compensated." He went on, "Public officials have a monthly cap, an overtime limit, don’t they?" raising questions about the overall system.
Lee also pointed out problems in the current overtime culture. He explained, "It was created to guard against people who don’t really need to work overtime but do it unnecessarily," yet noted, "There is a tendency for people who don’t really need to work late at night or on weekends to still put in those hours." He continued, "People who don’t need to work overtime end up using up all those hours, while those who actually need to work beyond that are not even recognized. That doesn’t make sense to me."
He added, "If we trust each other and let the people who truly need to work more do so, and instead strengthen supervision and management, there is no need to run the system with rigid limits. That approach is problematic," and stated, "It would be good to come up with improvement measures. We will work this out with the Ministry of Personnel Management."
On the same day, Lee also called for greater speed in the public sector. "We only have about four years and one month left to work like this," he said. "If we double the speed of state affairs, it is as if we had nine years and two months left." He emphasized, "In administration, we must abandon the basic assumption that things take several months. We should have the mindset to push through tasks overnight, within a few days, or at least within a month or two."
However, Lee also encouraged public servants, saying, "This is by no means to say you have failed. Everyone is already working very hard and doing a good job."
west@fnnews.com Reporter Seong Seok-woo Reporter