Moon Jae-in is trying to lead by example when it comes to wo la bal – by taking time off.
Over the weekend, after a long week at the United Nations, South Korean President Moon Jae-in did something unusual for many South Koreans with busy work schedules — he took a vacation.
According to posts from the official Blue House Twitter account on September 30, after returning from New York, Moon spent the weekend hiking in his hometown of Yangsan and enjoying some time off. Moon has taken several breaks since entering office, including a couple of sick days this June, which were also publicized on the Blue House’s social media.
Moon is not the first South Korean president to take vacations — his predecessor, Park Geun-hye, was criticized for taking time off during crises like the 2015 MERS outbreak and the 2014 Sewol Ferry disaster. But Moon does seem to be doing more to publicize his time off, in part because of his focus on improving South Korea’s work-life balance. During his presidential campaign, Moon proposed increasing the mandatory amount of paid vacation days that Koreans receive and creating incentives for Koreans to actually take the vacation they are offered. Shortly after taking office, he pledged to take all 21 of his paid vacation days.
In recent years, South Korea has become famous for its long work weeks, with up to 68 (official) working hours allowed per week. At the same time, few Koreans were taking their allowed breaks — according to a 2017 survey, 23.9 percent of respondents didn’t take any vacation at all the previous year, and the average amount of used vacation time was just 5.
