New guidelines established to protect courier workers' health

Courier firms, delivery agencies and couriers agreed early Friday on four guiding principles aimed at preventing deaths linked to overwork, including a cap on weekly working hours for couriers handling early-morning deliveries.

The Coupang logo is seen on a delivery truck at the company's logistics center in Seoul on Jan. 23, 2026. [YONHAP]

Courier firms, delivery agencies and couriers agreed early Friday on four guiding principles aimed at preventing deaths linked to overwork, including a cap on weekly working hours for couriers handling early-morning deliveries.

Representative Kim Nam-geun of the liberal Democratic Party (DP) said the three parties broadly accepted four recommendations proposed by an occupational medicine team led by Kim Hyoung-ryoul, a professor at the Catholic University of Korea.

Companies participating in the talks include Coupang Logistics Services, CJ Logistics, Hanjin, Lotte Global Logistics and Logen.

Under the agreement, couriers handling early-morning deliveries would be subject to a weekly ceiling on total working hours. The parties view 46 to 50 hours a week as an appropriate target range, Rep. Kim said.

“It looks like they will set a trial period, as a kind of transition, and move toward limiting working hours,” he said.

The agreement also sets an eight-hour limit on daily overtime in principle, though the parties will hold further discussions on whether to allow flexibility depending on circumstances. The accord bans pressure to meet dawn-delivery cutoff times and prohibits penalties for missing them.

Rep. Kim also said the parties agreed to exclude couriers from sorting work and to guarantee mandatory time off after consecutive workdays.

The DP said it plans to fine-tune details and conclude a broader social agreement before the Lunar New Year holiday. Issues still to be discussed include staffing levels and who should bear the additional costs.

Rep. Kim said the parties would first calculate how many replacement workers are needed and how much it would cost, then continue talks on how much shippers’ groups and consumers should share the burden.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY LEE CHAN-KYU, OH SO-YEONG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]