A group of 1,000 intellectuals issued a statement earlier this week to appeal to political parties to accelerate work to follow up on the recent labor reform agreement reached by the tripartite committee of government, labor and employers.

The statement, signed by economists, professors, former government ministers, attorneys and journalists, was addressed to the floor leaders of the ruling and the main opposition parties and the chairman of the National Assembly Environment-Labor Committee.

Pointing to the importance of, among other things, raising flexibility of the labor market, fostering the wage peak system and creating more jobs for young workers, the statement urged the parties to pass bills related to the labor reform agreement within the current session.

Professor Park Jae-wan of Sungkyunkwan University, who served as the finance and labor minister, said that participants agreed to write the statement because they could not overlook the problems of the youth unemployment and sliding growth potential, which may cause an economic and social crisis.

The statement was timely, given that the dynamism of the labor reform generated by the tripartite panel’s agreement on Sept. 13 has been losing momentum.

By and large, political parties are to blame for the lack of progress, with the ruling party embroiled in internal infighting over nomination rules for parliamentary candidates and the opposition party rejecting the tripartite panel’s agreement.

Moon Jae-in, leader of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, even called the five bills to revise labor-related laws “evil bills.” A stance like this emboldens radical labor groups to raise their opposing voices.

What’s disappointing is that even the leader of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, which had participated in the tripartite talks, is now saying that “Our struggles are still going on.” Some major members of the umbrella group are demanding the annulment of the tripartite committee’s agreement. 

These developments raise worries that legislative work could not be completed within this year. The intellectuals’ statement rightly pointed out that the government and political parties should not fall into what it called labor groups’ foot-dragging tactics.

The World Economic Forum ranked Korea’s labor market efficiency in 83rd place out of 140 countries surveyed. In the sub-category for labor-employer relations, Korea is placed at 132nd.

Things like this mirror the reality of the country’s labor market. All relevant parties -- from government to political parties to labor -- should pay heed to the appeal of the intellectuals.