It has often been tricky for Korea to promote social dialogue. Defiant labor groups have long stood in the way of negotiations.

Korea introduced its first tripartite committee of labor, management and government in 1998 in the heat of the Asian foreign exchange crisis.

But the hard-line umbrella union group -- the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions -- bolted from the committee the following year, and has since shunned every proposal to rejoin.

The larger, but less militant group -- the Federation of Korean Trade Unions -- also walked out of the tripartite committee in 2016. Late last year, it expressed its intention to return to the committee.

The inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration, the first liberal government in nine years, laid the groundwork for the reopening of the three-way talks.

Moon has already tried to live up to his commitment to making Korean society one that “respects workers.” He installed labor activists to such key posts as labor minister and head of the tripartite committee.

Moon has also instituted several major pro-labor policies, including a radical increase of the legal hourly minimum wage, giving regular status to contingent workers and pushing to reduce working hours.

Then Moon’s Cheong Wa Dae meetings with the leaders of both the FKTU and KCTU on Friday further raised hopes for the tripartite committee to reinstate normal operations and pull off what Moon called a “grand social compromise.”

The optimism, of course, should be guarded. The fact that Moon had to meet the leaders of the two umbrella groups separately demonstrated the schism in labor activism, which has often impeded compromise.

Nevertheless, the meeting between Moon and KCTU leadership should be welcome. It was the first such meeting since 2007 when President Roh Moo-hyun, Moon’s former boss and mentor, invited KCTU leaders to the presidential mansion. The KCTU even snubbed Moon’s invitation last October, five months after he won the presidential election.

In his New Year’s address, Moon called for the revival of the tripartite committee to promote social dialogue. The government followed up on the president’s call by proposing a six-way meeting of the representatives of the two labor groups, Korea Employers Federation, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, labor minister and head of the tripartite committee.

The success of the proposed six-party talks, which the government hopes to make a stepping stone for the reopening of the tripartite committee, would be largely determined by the position the KCTU takes.

The KCTU, which sets the release of its former leader Han Sang-kyun who was jailed for leading violent anti-government protests as a top priority, has yet to make a full commitment to participating in the six-way meeting.

In fact, Cheong Wa Dae and the KCTU made different statements on the group’s intention. Cheong Wa Dae officials said after the Friday meeting that union leaders had agreed in principle to participate in the six-party meeting.

But KCTU officials insist they told Cheong Wa Dae officials they could not attend the meeting scheduled for Wednesday, the day proposed by the government, and that government officials suggested delaying the date.

At any rate, the KCTU now says it needs to obtain approval from its executive council, which would discuss the government proposal Thursday.

There are many reasons the KCTU leadership should make the right decision, including the urgent need to address many labor-related issues like the minimum wage, working hours and deteriorating unemployment problems faced by youths.