Hiring interns in Korea?

Starting with a passionate team on your side would be wonderful, but in reality many founders struggle with building up a dream team.

Finding the right person is a big challenge, and you still have to make cost effective decisions with a given budget amount. The minimum cost to hire one full-time employee in Korea is about krw 2MIL per month which is over krw 24 million in a year.
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If you hire interns, can you avoid paying social insurance and the minimum wage?

According to a guideline provided by the Ministry of Employment and Labor(or MOEL) of Korea, whether you hire a trainee, an apprentice, or an intern, if the person provides labor under full control of his employer, then he should be protected by the Labor Standards Act of Korea.

The guideline by MOEL also says that the total training period shall be no longer than 6 months, and the training hours shall not exceed 40 hours in a week.

It is recommended to structure a training program, and prepare documents in detail, so that the internship was intended to benefit the trainees, otherwise there is a potential risk of having arguments for unpaid salary.

Please feel free to ask any questions on this posting to myself.
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Written by Ara Jung (CTA)

All information provided is of limited scope and not exhaustive or comprehensive of any subject. It is not intended to be legal, and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals

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