The collapse of Samsung Electronics’ government-mediated wage talks this week and the Lee Jae Myung administration’s increasingly public efforts to prevent a strike are exposing both South Korea’s deep dependence on the electronics giant and the political constraints facing a labor-friendly government during an increasingly unforgiving global semiconductor race.

With an 18-day strike scheduled to begin on May 21, the dispute has evolved into a broader test of how Seoul intends to balance labor rights, industrial competitiveness and financial stability at a moment when semiconductors sit at the center of the country’s economic and strategic ambitions.

The level of state