It is also considering extending the right to refuse dangerous work to delivery riders, drivers and other platform workers who are not formally classified as employees.
The move follows the International Labour Organization (ILO)'s newly adopted convention, "the Decent Work in the Platform Economy Convention," last month, also known as "Convention No. 193." It is the first international labor standard specifically dedicated to work arranged through digital platforms.
"We are reviewing whether any provisions of the convention conflict with existing domestic laws before the National Assembly considers its ratification," a ministry official said. "Relevant provisions could also be reflected in the process."
The convention applies to both location-based services such as food delivery and ride-hailing, and work carried out online including freelance and remote assignments.
It does not require all platform workers to be classified as employees. Instead, governments that ratify the convention must ensure that employment status is determined by the actual circumstances of the work including how it is performed and compensated, rather than solely by the terms of a contract. Its protections apply to both employees and self-employed platform workers, although some rights including minimum-wage protections depend on employment status.
A central part of the convention deals with "algorithmic management," in which computer systems allocate assignments, evaluate performance, determine payments or restrict workers' access to jobs.
Under the convention, platforms must inform workers before they are hired or engaged about the use of automated systems to monitor or evaluate their work or make work-related decisions. They must also explain how such systems could affect working conditions or access to assignments.
Workers affected by significant adverse automated decisions must be able to request a written explanation. Decisions involving unpaid compensation, account suspension, deactivation or termination must also be subject to review with appropriate human involvement.
The government is considering using the country's so-called "AI Basic Act" as the legal basis for requiring labor platforms to disclose information about their algorithms and work-allocation systems.
The act, which took effect on Jan. 22, establishes the principle that people affected by an AI system should be able to receive a clear and meaningful explanation of the major criteria and principles used to produce its final result, within technically and reasonably feasible limits. Officials are examining whether that provision can be applied to algorithms that determine which delivery rider receives an order or how workers are ranked.
The proposed legal framework would provide broader protections for workers who fall outside conventional employer-employee relationships including freelancers, independent contractors and people working through digital platforms.
The Labor Ministry said in its policy plan for this year that about 1.44 million people working under special employment arrangements or through digital platforms remain outside significant parts of the country's labor protection system. The proposed legislation would establish rights such as fair contracts and safe and healthy working conditions, while allowing the government to mediate disputes over those rights.
The ILO convention also requires countries to protect a platform worker who withdraws from a work situation that the worker reasonably believes presents an imminent and serious danger to life or health.
Under South Korea's existing workplace-related laws, employees already have the right to stop work when they face an imminent risk of a serious industrial accident. That right, however, generally applies only where an employment relationship exists with a business owner. The government is examining ways to extend it to delivery riders and other platform workers classified as independent contractors.
Other provisions of the convention cover timely payment, transparent deductions, social security, data privacy, protection from violence and harassment and safeguards against discriminatory or otherwise unlawful account deactivation.
The convention also requires platforms to provide workers with written explanations for significant decisions generated by automated systems and calls for accessible dispute-resolution mechanisms.
The proposed changes are likely to face resistance from platform companies and small-business groups.
Business groups have argued that expanding protections for independent workers could impose additional labor and insurance costs on small businesses. Platform operators have also maintained that details of job-allocation and ranking algorithms are commercially sensitive information.
The ILO convention acknowledges those concerns. It requires governments to protect commercially sensitive platform information when introducing the convention into domestic law, suggesting that transparency rules would not necessarily compel companies to disclose complete source code or every technical detail of their systems.
South Korea would not be the first jurisdiction to regulate algorithmic management in platform work. The European Union adopted its "Platform Work Directive" in 2024, requiring greater transparency, human supervision of automated systems and a right to challenge automated decisions. It also requires decisions to suspend or terminate a worker's account to be made by a human being. EU member states were given two years to incorporate the rules into national law.
Convention No. 193 is binding only on ILO members that formally ratify it. As of Thursday, no country had completed ratification. The convention will enter into force 12 months after the ILO registers ratifications from two member states.
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