POSCO Faces First Strike in 58 Years as Talks Near Deadline

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

1. POSCO Union Sets September 9 as Final Deadline for Talks: "48-Hour Partial Strike if Negotiations Collapse"

Key points: The POSCO labor union is demanding a 7.1% increase in base pay, incentive payments equal to 600% of monthly salary and 50 shares under the employee stock ownership program, and is pressing management to accept the terms by September 9. Beyond wages, the union has put improvements in working conditions at the top of its list, including the creation of a special committee on self-sustaining safety, an end to staffing shortages and guarantees for workers' health. Management has balked, saying that meeting all of the union's demands would cost about 1.4 trillion won ($1 billion), and the two sides remain at odds over the format of negotiations even after mediation broke down. With 92.17% of members voting in favor of industrial action in a ballot held last month, a strike would break a 58-year record without a labor dispute.

2. ASML Korea to Recruit Outside Chip Sector: More Than 100 Hires in Second Half

Key points: ASML Korea will hold open recruitment for the second half of 2026 from September 1 to 8, and plans to select more than 100 people in total, including new graduates and experienced hires. Openings cover customer support engineers, requiring at least a bachelor's degree in science or engineering, and technical support and field application engineers, requiring a master's degree or higher. Experienced candidates may come from advanced and precision manufacturing as well as from the semiconductor industry. Korea accounted for 43% of ASML's global equipment revenue in the second quarter of this year, a strategic weight that has grown enough to support large-scale hiring at major chip production hubs including Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek, Cheongju and Icheon. Depending on the role, the process includes presentation interviews and role-playing interviews, and the company offers a structured engineer development track through its global training center.

3. Personal Data of 330 CJ Employees Posted to Telegram; Former Worker Referred to Prosecutors

Key points: A former CJ Group employee identified as A has been referred to the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office on charges of accessing an internal management system while still employed and distributing the personal data of 330 employees through a Telegram channel. The channel had 2,800 subscribers, and most of the victims were women in their 20s and 30s. A is understood to have continued the offenses even after leaving the company at the end of a contract, and police shut down the channel through international cooperation. Because the leak came from an insider, the case has drawn attention to gaps in how companies manage system access rights and handle security for departing employees.

4. Living in Busan, Working for Clients Nationwide: First Results From "Settlement-Based Remote Work"

Key points: Through a settlement-based remote work support program launched this year for the first time, the city of Busan has documented cases of developers, designers and artificial intelligence specialists living in Busan while working on projects for companies in the Seoul metropolitan area and abroad. The cases include a student at a university in the capital region who took part in planning and AI development projects for a Seoul company while based in Busan, and a specialist returning to work after a career break through remote projects. The program was funded with 130 million won in incentives awarded when Busan won the top metropolitan prize at the Ministry of Employment and Labor's 2025 National Local Government Jobs Awards. As a new employment model that allows workers to build careers in the regions without relocating to the capital area, it is a trend worth watching for young employees weighing where to live alongside career growth.

5. A Turnaround in Seoul, the City With the Lowest Fertility Rate: No. 1 Nationwide in Birth Growth

Key points: Seoul recorded 26,924 births in the first half of this year, up 18.7% from a year earlier and the highest growth rate among the country's 17 metropolitan cities and provinces. The total fertility rate has also risen for two consecutive years, from a record low of 0.55 in 2023 to 0.58 in 2024 and 0.63 last year. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has expanded support at each stage of marriage and childbirth, opening public spaces for wedding ceremonies, providing newlyweds with up to 1 million won for wedding and household expenses, and supplying long-term public rental housing under the Mirinae House program. For employees preparing to marry or have children, the city's benefits — including fertility treatment subsidies with income requirements removed, transportation allowances for expectant mothers and postpartum care expenses — are directly available.

6. A Different Kind of Commute for Isolated Young Adults: A "Virtual Company" Opens in Seodaemun

Key points: Seodaemun District is running the Seodaemun branch of NEET Company from August 24 to October 19 for 33 young adults who are socially isolated, withdrawn or not in education, employment or training, helping them return to daily routines. Participants verify online and offline attendance five days a week, report to a physical workspace once a week, and pursue goals they set for themselves, such as self-development and career exploration. The program is designed as a buffer zone focused on restoring regular routines and social relationships rather than on performance or evaluation, and the district plans to track changes in participants before and after the program with the nonprofit NEET Saenghwalja and reflect the findings in future policy. The case illustrates the reality facing young people caught between employment and social reintegration, and draws attention to a step-by-step approach to restoring the rhythm of daily life without psychological pressure.