A standard contract form will be made mandatory in the industry, which will include a standard wage guideline above the legal minimum wage. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) had the ‘2nd Meeting of the Korean Tripartite Commission for Agreement on Execution’ on April 16th. The agreement embraces most of the ways to improve the working environment for film staff that have been discussed since the Korean Cinema Growth Together Association was founded in October 2011. Main plans include ▲ Expansion of participation of people in the film industry in execution of agreement of the Korea Tripartite Commission ▲ Attempt to secure funds for training incentive ▲ Extension of basic social security system for people working in the film industry and ▲ Application of standard labor conditions in the film industry.

Most of all, plans to enhance the rights and interests of film staff such as the obligation of application for the four major insurances and application of standard labor conditions were included. They also decided to set the standard wage guideline higher than the legal minimum wage in the film industry. The standard wage guideline will be announced when the agreement on wage and group agreement between labor and management are finalized, within two months of the agreement on execution being finalized. In addition to this, film production companies that delay payment will not be allowed to attract investment or distribute or screen films. To ensure that staff get safely paid, they will have an agreement on wage and group agreement include specific means.

The minister YU Jin-ryong said, “Responsibilities must be fairly distributed to gain support for Korean films from Korean people.” Then he added, “In order to strengthen the effectiveness of the agreement, we will actively attempt to forbid supportive investment of the government in films that violate the agreement.”

At the meeting, a total of 100 people including film staff members and representatives of the film industry such as the minister for culture, sports and tourism YU Jin-ryong, the chairman of KOFIC KIM Eui-suk, the chairman of Korean Cinema Growth Together Association KIM Dong-ho, the chairman of Korean Film Producers’ Association LEE Eun, the head of Federation of Korean Movie Workers’ Union CHOI Jin-wook, the president of Lotte Entertainment CHA Won-cheon, the president of Showbox/Mediaplex YOU Jeong-hoon, the president of film business department of CJ E&M Julian JUNG, the president of CJ CGV SEO Jeong and the president of NEW KIM Woo-taek attended.