Exclusive: Labor Ministry to hold first tripartite forum on 'excess profits' next week

A proposal by Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon to share "excess profits" with society — a concept that has stirred considerable controversy — will for the first time be brought to a tripartite labor-management-government dialogue table next week. The ministry plans to hold an open forum with participation from labor, business and experts to discuss excess profits and solidarity wages, among other issues.

According to the ministry and business community, the Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to hold a tripartite forum on excess profits and solidarity wages on one day between July 14 and July 16. The final schedule and speakers are still being coordinated, but Kim is expected to attend.

"Nothing has been finalized yet, but we are reviewing holding it between July 14 and July 16," a senior ministry official said. "Labor representatives and experts will participate, and we plan to have a moderator. The minister is also scheduled to deliver remarks." The official added that business groups are also on the invitation list, though their participation has not been confirmed.

The forum will mark the first time Kim's proposal for the social sharing of excess profits — floated since he took office — has been placed on an official social dialogue agenda.

The ministry had originally planned a forum on solidarity wages to discuss profit-sharing between large companies and their suppliers and ways to address labor market polarization, prompted by controversy over Samsung Electronics' performance bonuses. The scope has since expanded after the presidential office reviewed broadening the discussion, shifting the initiative from a one-off forum to a wider public deliberation process.

Kim recently said the process would begin "by July at the latest," adding that he intends to pursue a public deliberation modeled on Germany's "green paper–white paper" approach, involving experts, businesses, labor and citizens. A green paper is a government consultation document that puts policy questions to society and gathers public input before any direction is set.

However, there remains disagreement over what exactly should be on the table.

Views differ — even within the government — on whether the discussion should focus on large companies sharing excess profits to narrow labor market gaps, or whether it should also cover the use of surplus tax revenues swelled by the semiconductor boom and other windfalls.

The ambiguity has fueled the spread of unverified online rumors claiming the government plans to introduce a mandatory excess-profit sharing scheme or scrap performance bonuses altogether. The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy both strongly denied the claims, calling them "groundless."

Business groups say they are open to participating in social dialogue in principle, but have drawn a clear line against any agenda they see as one-sided.

"As far as we know, the date, topics and speakers have not been finalized," a senior official at the Korea Employers Federation said. "This should not be an event run solely by the ministry — it needs to be a forum shaped together by all the parties involved."

The official added that participation would be difficult if the agenda favored only one side. "If it is a balanced discussion that addresses issues meaningful to both labor and management — including corporate investment and strengthening industrial competitiveness — the burden would be much lighter," the official said, adding that it was too early to confirm attendance given that the topics and content had yet to be clearly defined.

Experts, however, warn that redistributing excess profits would be difficult to implement in practice, largely because the concept itself is too vague. The Korea Economic Research Institute has noted that while "normal profit" is a recognized economic concept, "excess profit" is one that is realistically difficult to measure.

Kim has pointed to Samsung Electronics' Overall Performance Incentive, or OPI, as a reference point. He has previously argued that the OPI "was originally a system for sharing the surplus when a company exceeds its targets among its members," adding that "the problem is that the scale has grown so large that it now warrants social discussion."

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics disclosed Tuesday that its preliminary consolidated second-quarter sales reached 171 trillion won ($112 billion) and operating profit came in at 89.4 trillion won. Sales surged 129.31 percent year-on-year, while operating profit soared 1,810.26 percent. Compared with the previous quarter, sales rose 27.74 percent and operating profit climbed 56.21 percent.