The reported plan to allow an exception to the 52-hour workweek for research and development (R&D) and other high-income personnel at the megaprojects announced by the government in late June has the Trade Minister Kim Jung-kwan and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon at odds. Speaking Thursday at Kwanhun Club, a journalists' association based in Seoul, the trade minister said that while the 52-hour workweek should be upheld, there is a need for flexibility in the implementation of the system in the proposed megaproject zones. "The system should not stand in the way of young people's willingness to work," he noted. The labor minister has been less inclined to support an exemption, noting that the country's major companies have made profits even with the 52-hour workweek in place. In June, President Lee Jae Myung unveiled his flagship megaprojects in a bid to elevate Korea as a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) by spreading AI-related sectors throughout the nation. The initiative includes semiconductor fabrication plants in the southwestern city of Gwangju and the surrounding Jeolla provin