Editing Kim Dae-jung (section)

===Labour reform===
Kim Dae-jung's government also enhanced labour market flexibility as a key goal of structural reforms.

Kim forged [[corporatism|corporatist]] agreements between business, labour and government to get them to work together to resolve the country's financial woes. Kim's long history in the opposition, his pro-labour views and his overall populist, outsider credentials enabled him to get his mobilized and militant working-class voter base to make sacrifices to meet fiscal stabilization, while also asking businesses to make sacrifices at the same time.<ref name="Manchester University Press">{{cite book|last1=Sharma|first1=Shalendra|title=The Asian financial crisis: Crisis, reform and recovery|date=2003|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=|isbn=|page=240}}</ref>

After successful tripartite consultative negotiations between labor, business and government, the Labor Standards Act was amended by the National Assembly on 13 February 1998. Under the new accord, business promised to ensure transparency in its management and to take prudent measures when laying off its employees. Specifically, the law provided legal grounds for employment adjustment and permits layoffs only after a company has duly considered the interests of its workers. Labour, on the other hand, agreed to the implementation of flexible worker layoffs for restructuring, while pledging to work towards to enhancing productivity and cooperate with business on terms of wages and working hours. As for government, it committed itself to strengthening its support programs by providing vocational training and information on re-employment. New employment options such as temporary work, part-time employment and work at home were developed. To deal with the expected large-scale layoffs from the economic crisis and restructuring process, the government also pledged to strengthen and expand the coverage of unemployment insurance.<ref name="Manchester University Press"/>