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The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) yesterday submitted to the National Assembly a petition calling for legislation that would lead to the introduction of a five-day workweek.

In the petition, the umbrella labor group asked for the revision of the 49th article of the Labor Standards Law to reduce weekly working hours from the current 44 hours to 40.

The group demanded the enactment of a special law which would allow the establishment of a labor-management-government committee to implement plans for reduced working hours, as well as a proposal to lower the permissible overtime from the current 12 hours per week to seven.

Regarding the petition, KCTU head Dan Byung-ho said that given the nation's economic status, the time is ripe for a reduction in working hours.

"Korea ranked 13th in the world last year in terms of GDP and 37th in per capita income," he said. "However, Koreans were found to work 47.9 hours per week, the highest total among OECD countries."

The proposal to reduce working hours has emerged as Korea's biggest labor issue this year, even ahead of wage demands.

The issue also served as the major motive for the KCTU-led general strike which began on May 31 and is now in its last stages. The group argues that long working hours are the main culprit for the nation's notoriously high rate of industrial accidents, adding that it also deprives workers of time to spend with their families or pursue hobbies.

Amid growing protests from labor, the government announced last week that it would produce a labor-management agreement on the issue and present a revised bill on legal working hours to the Assembly by the end of this year.

The KCTU, which is opposed to resolving the issue within the framework of the labor-management-government commission, went ahead with strike plans while calling on the government to come up with a concrete timetable for introducing the five-day workweek.

Businesses, meanwhile, consider the introduction of a 40-hour week to be premature, saying the country is still recovering from recession. They are also opposed to labor's demand for lowering working hours without a corresponding cut in pay.