Kakao Ends Strike, Agrees to 6.3% Total Pay Raise

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an 'AI-based personalized news recommendation and summary service' developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items by reader type.

1. Kakao Labor and Management Reach Wage Agreement... 6.3% Increase in Total Annual Pay

Key Summary: Kakao's labor and management finalized the 2026 wage agreement through a union vote. The deal includes a 6.3% increase based on total annual pay and a separate payment of a 3 million won special bonus, while funding for stage-ups based on advancement in job and role levels is applied separately. After collective bargaining broke down in May, the Kakao union carried out its first-ever half-day strike and a full-day strike in consecutive succession last month, strengthening its bargaining power and ultimately drawing out a performance compensation agreement. It is a case in which conflict over performance-based compensation resolved into negotiation through a strike, and is assessed as an occasion raising interest in labor-management relations and wage-setting structures.

2. Korea Mid-sized Enterprises Association Chairman Choi Jin-sik: "Working Hours and Minimum Wage Should Be Autonomously Negotiated by Firms and Workers"

Key Summary: The youth employment rate fell to 43.9%, declining for 26 consecutive months, and the number of young employed people continued to fall for the 44th consecutive month, prompting a diagnosis of crisis-level conditions. By contrast, the number of employed people aged 65 and older rose by 343,000, deepening the trend of employment imbalance between generations. At a meeting hosted with the Minister of Employment and Labor, the Korea Mid-sized Enterprises Association delivered 10 regulatory improvement tasks to the government, including flexibility in working hours, reform of wage structures centered on job and performance, and creating a foundation for intergenerational win-win continued employment. Analysts say discussions on a paradigm shift in employment and labor policy to restore youth employment are gaining full momentum at business sites.

3. Hana Bank Blocks Variable-Rate Mortgages... Limits Overdraft Accounts to 50 Million Won

Key Summary: Hana Bank temporarily halted new non-face-to-face mortgage lending, lowered overdraft account credit to 50 million won, and will block variable-rate mortgage lending starting on the 12th. As variable-rate loans account for 80% of new mortgages, the industry judges the impact of this measure to be significant. The household loan balance at the five major banks stood at 778.9791 trillion won as of the end of last month, rising by more than 4 trillion won in a single month, and as of the 2nd of this month, the increase in household loans excluding policy loans exceeded the annual management target by more than 1 trillion won. Other commercial banks are also known to be reviewing additional regulations in preparation for a balloon effect, prompting forecasts that overall lending thresholds may rise.

4. "Naver AI Factory to Generate Revenue From Next Year"

Key Summary: Naver presented a goal of generating full-scale revenue from its AI infrastructure business, starting with a 55-megawatt AI Factory service in the first half of 2027. The AI tab surpassed 10 million monthly active users (MAU) about a month after its launch, and the purchase conversion rate of AI Briefing advertising was found to be more than three times higher than that of existing search advertising. Second-quarter revenue rose 16.2% from the same period a year earlier, marking a quarterly high, but operating profit decreased slightly by 0.2% due to expanded AI infrastructure investment. Analysts forecast that hiring demand for related jobs will rise amid accelerated monetization of AI services and expanded large-scale infrastructure investment.