Kakao Union Stages Four-Hour Strike in South Korea Over Pay and Bonus System
Unionized employees at South Korean tech company Kakao staged the company's first-ever strike on Wednesday, holding a four-hour walkout and rally near its headquarters in Pangyo. The action follows failed government-mediated wage talks, with workers demanding 13–14% of operating profits as performance bonuses and a restructured compensation system. The strike highlights growing labor unrest in South Korea's tech sector amid record corporate earnings driven by the global AI boom.
Around 1,200 to 1,500 unionized workers from five Kakao units, including Kakao Pay and Kakao Enterprise, participated in the walkout and rally near the company's Pangyo headquarters on Wednesday, marking the first strike in Kakao's history. Workers are demanding that 13–14% of last year's operating profits be distributed as performance-based incentives and that restricted stock units be included in the official bonus pool. The union has argued that compensation reforms have disproportionately benefited executives, citing data showing executive average wages rose 32.2% between 2024 and 2025 while general employee wages increased by only 2.9%. Kakao's management has rejected the profit-sharing demand as unrealistic and warned it could place a significant burden on operations, though it pledged to continue negotiations. Core services such as KakaoTalk are expected to remain largely unaffected due to automation and essential staff remaining on duty. The dispute mirrors broader labor tensions in South Korea, where Samsung Electronics' union recently secured a deal tying chip division bonuses to 10.5% of operating profit. The union has announced a follow-up action, a so-called 'Log-off day,' planned for June 29.
What's missing
Neither source specifies Kakao's actual operating profit figures for the relevant period, which would help assess the financial scale of the union's demands.
How coverage differed
Both outlets reported the core facts neutrally, but UPI provided more granular detail — including specific wage disparity figures (32.2% executive increase vs. 2.9% for employees) and the union's specific bonus demands (13–14% of operating profit) — while Channel NewsAsia offered broader economic context around South Korea's labor unrest and the Samsung comparison.
What different sources said
- Channel NewsAsiaCenter
Kakao union stages four-hour strike and rally in South Korea over pay
- UPICenter
Unionized members at Kakao stage first-ever strike
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