South Korea's New President Believes People Should Work Up To 120 Hours A Week

Yoon Seok-youl has just been announced as South Korea's new President and although he’s burning bright on his victory lap, the newly elected leader had some very interesting views about the standard work week.

“To develop a game, you need to work a week instead of 52 hours a week. You should be able to work hard even for 120 hours and then be able to rest as much as you want.”

What ever happened to following the words of the great Dolly Parton, ‘Working 9 to 5’?

In a press briefing, a Democratic Party floor spokesperson said that if Yoon meant to criticise the government’s labour policy, he ‘flunked’ big time.

“He should study properly if he wants to run for president,” they said.

“What has he been learning cramming all this time? It’s very disappointing. Better stay quiet when you don’t know well.”

Kim Young-bae, a member of the Democratic Party’s supreme council, compared the President's views to Nazism.

She said: “The Nazis’ Auschwitz concentration camp was 98 hours work per week, and people worked 90 hours during the Industrial Revolution in Britain.”

In a game of he-said, she-said, Seok-youl quickly defended his comments following the outrage.

In July last year, he told reporters in Daegu: “What kind of a dictator would make people work 120 hours a week? That’s nonsense.”

“I heard that people on the political opposite side from me distorted what I said as if I said we should work 120 hours. It’s not worth any attention.”

Seok-youl, who is considered a conservative ‘icon’ has extremely traditionalist stances on social issues.

However, despite sharing these conservative views, Seok-youl won the presidency this week.