Kakao Stages First-Ever Strike: Will KakaoTalk Go Offline on the 29th?

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The Kakao labor union launched a partial strike today (June 10), the first of its kind since the company's founding. While major services such as KakaoTalk and Kakao Pay operated normally, the union is intensifying pressure by announcing an additional strike on the 29th.

Reporter Choi Seung-hoon has the story.

[Reporter]

Kakao union members wearing black shirts gathered at Pangyo Station Square to chant slogans.

[Management must step down, step down! Struggle!]

The labor unions of five corporate entities, including Kakao headquarters and Kakao Pay, held a strike for the first time since the company was founded in 2006.

The partial strike lasted four hours, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., excluding lunch hours.

The union stated that approximately 1,500 employees across all entities, including about 1,000 from the headquarters, participated in the strike.

The core issue of the labor-management conflict is the performance-based compensation structure.

The union has been demanding a performance bonus of approximately 10 million won, along with an additional 5 million won in Restricted Stock Units (RSU).

On the other hand, the company reportedly proposed a plan that includes the RSU within the 10 million won bonus, citing significant management burdens.

Because this was a partial strike and most service operations are automated, there were no disruptions to major services such as KakaoTalk and Kakao Pay.

The union has announced a second strike for the 29th.

[Seo Seung-wook / Head of Kakao Labor Union Branch: We are preparing for a 'Log-off Day' on the 29th. It will involve logging off or signing out of the various work tools we currently use.]

The union plans to increase the number of participants compared to this strike by having members use annual leave or take time off to step away from their duties.

The company stated that it is continuing dialogue with the union while operating a real-time response system to ensure stable service operations.

Both labor and management agree on the need to maintain essential personnel, so there are no immediate major issues. However, concerns are rising that if the conflict prolongs and leads to a full-scale strike, it could cause setbacks in service updates or responses to unexpected situations.

(Video reporting: Kim Hak-mo | Video editing: Park Ji-in | Design: Kang Yoon-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.