If the four-day week is implemented, annual holidays will amount to 174 days = South Korean report

With the presidential election scheduled for June 3, the ruling and opposition parties are announcing their campaign pledges in earnest. Among them, the Democratic Party of Korea and the ruling People's Power Party are united in their support for the reduction of working hours.
It has been included as a campaign pledge. In particular, the Democratic Party of Japan has been arguing that the shift to a four-day week should be implemented. However, in order to implement the four-day week, it is necessary to review the existing holiday regulations, such as the substitute holiday system.
In the current situation where the substitute holiday system is applied to the Lunar New Year and mid-autumn celebration (Chuseok/August 15th of the lunar calendar) holidays, if a four-day week is implemented, it will result in a closure of about two weeks.
It has also been pointed out that the shortage of business days for companies and government offices will become more pronounced. According to the "Public Holidays Act," the public holidays in Korea are March 1st Independence Day, Gwangbokjeol, Gaecheonjeol, Hangul Day, Former Day (1
1st of each month), Lunar New Year and the days before and after it, Buddha's Birthday, Children's Day, Memorial Day (a day to commemorate martyrs and fallen soldiers), mid-autumn celebration and the days before and after it, and other special days designated by the government from time to time.
These public holidays include holidays for certain days such as Saturdays, Sundays, and other public holidays. Substitute holidays can be designated for those days that fall on Saturdays, Sundays, or other public holidays. The public holidays designated as substitute holidays by the Korean government are Former Day and Memorial Day.
The remaining public holidays are excluding Sunday, voting day, etc. The 4.5-day week system that the People's Power Party has pledged to implement is a "flexible work system" in which workers work an extra hour from Monday to Thursday and only work in the morning on Fridays.
On the other hand, the Democratic Party, which claims to promote the four-day week, has a policy of reducing working hours. As a result, if the four-day week is realized as promised by the Democratic Party, the number of working hours per year will be reduced.
For 52 weeks, employees will have Fridays off in addition to Saturdays and Sundays, which will increase the number of holidays by 52 days. The problem is that if the current legal provisions for substitute holidays are maintained and a four-day week is implemented,
However, due to consecutive holidays and substitute holidays, half of the year could be off. In fact, if a four-day week instead of a two-day week is adopted this year, the number of holidays, including weekends, would be 119 days out of 365.
This will increase by 55 days to 174 days (including three substitute holidays on Fridays). This means that the number of holidays in a year will reach 48%, nearly half. In particular, in October, which has the mid-autumn celebration holidays, there will be 18 holidays out of the 31 days.
The mid-autumn celebration holiday will be a seven-day long holiday from October 3rd to 9th, including a five-day week and substitute holidays. However, if a four-day week is applied, the opening day on Friday will be a long holiday.
It will also be necessary to designate a substitute holiday for Tensetsu (October 13th). If this is done, next Friday, October 10th, will also become a holiday, increasing the consecutive holidays to 11 days. This will increase the number of business days for businesses.
There is a risk that there will be a shortage of school days, as well as problems with the number of school days at elementary, junior high, high schools, and universities. Some have suggested that before the four-day week is promoted, legislation related to substitute holidays must first be established.
A source in the financial industry said, "Due to the Lunar New Year and mid-autumn celebration holidays, banks are running out of business days and are having difficulty meeting their monthly targets at each branch.
"If the four-day week is implemented, it is likely that nearly half of the year will effectively be holidays, which could cause headaches for some industries due to a lack of business days," he said.