Buddha's Birthday and Christmas Day to follow alternative holiday system

Buddha’s Birthday and Christmas Day have been given the greenlight to follow the alternative holiday system — that allows people a day off when the holiday falls on a weekend.

People participate in a lighting ceremony commemorating Buddha's Birthday at Gwanghwamun Square, central Seoul, on April 26. [NEWS1]

Buddha’s Birthday and Christmas have been given the green light to follow the alternative holiday system that allows people a day off when the holiday falls on a weekend.

The Ministry of Personnel Management announced that a revision to the Rules on Holidays of Public Agencies, a presidential decree, to include the two days into the alternative holiday system passed during a Cabinet meeting presided by President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The revision will come into effect as early as this week.

Korea’s holiday law allows the government to designate a weekday to be a day off in return for a holiday that falls on a weekend or coincides with another holiday.

The Lunar New Year holiday, Chuseok holiday and Children’s Day became the first public holidays to receive a day off to compensate for their “loss” in 2013.

The Independence Movement holiday, Liberation Day, National Foundation Day and Hangul Day were included on the list in 2021.

With the addition of Buddha’s Birthday and Christmas, there are now only two public holidays that have not been granted a day off: New Year’s Day and Memorial Day on June 6.

“We hope this inclusion will vitalize the domestic market in line with the government’s efforts to improve domestic tourism and consumption,” Personnel Management Minister Kim Seung-ho said.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]