KakaoBank Union Launches First Internet Bank Strike

On January 31, KakaoBank's labor union staged the online bank's first-ever strike, demanding a revised performance‑pay system and predictable bonus criteria. About 700 of roughly 1,000 union members participated by taking annual leave, avoiding public demonstrations. The Regional Labor Commission had halted mediation earlier in the month, and wage negotiations remained deadlocked. KakaoBank said no service outages had been reported and that its business‑continuity plan would keep core operations running, minimizing customer inconvenience. The strike marks the first labor action at a South Korean internet‑only bank, highlighting tensions over compensation structures in the fintech sector.