Naver—Naver's metaverse subsidiary Naver Z held first-ever full strike after management imposed wage freeze citing losses
Naver Z, operator of the Zepeto metaverse platform and majority-owned by Naver, saw about 70% of union members join a full one-day walkout on September 23, 2026 after two rounds of Labor Relations Commission mediation failed. Management cited a roughly 49.4 billion won ($36.1M) 2025 operating loss in refusing a proposed 5.3% wage increase, instead freezing wages; the union noted Naver affiliates had frozen wages only once before, in 2009, when executive pay rose 71% the same year. The union criticized CEO Kim Chang-wook for lack of transparency and threatened a five-day strike starting mid-October if talks stalled, amid a broader push by Naver's union for unified bargaining across 16 affiliated companies.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Compensation | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Worker Rights | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.153 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (low ×0.5) × confidence (0.55)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
Yonhap/Korea Times: Naver Z union stages full walkout over wage freeze, threatens further strikes
Yonhap and Korea Times reported that roughly 70% of Naver Z's union members joined a full-day walkout on September 23, 2026 after mediation over a management-imposed wage freeze failed, with the union threatening a five-day strike in October absent progress.