Photo: Lee Jae-myung (right) questions Heo Yeong-in (foreground left), CEO of the SPC Group. Credit: Yonhap News.
On July 24, President Lee Jae-myung 이재명 대통령 wrote a blunt statement on social media linking to a YouTube video showing a construction worker, a Sri Lankan migrant, being tied to a forklift as others laughed: “The Ministry of Labor and Employment 고용노동부 and other relevant offices will respond actively to prevent human rights abuse and labor exploitation against those with unstable immigration status.”
Lee followed up the next day with a visit to a commercial baking facility belonging to the SPC Group, a company that saw three deaths in industrial accidents at its factories over the past four years. Noting that his brother used to work at one of SPC’s factories, Lee asked pointed questions about SPC’s labor practices, such as the late-night, 12-hour shifts that leave workers exhausted and prone to accidents. After Lee’s visit, SPC Group abolished 12-hour shifts, changing to a schedule of three 8-hour shifts instead.
South Korea has one of the OECD’s highest rates of fatal industrial accidents. (See previous coverage, “Serious Disasters Act Takes Effect.”) Lee, a labor attorney before becoming president, has been especially outspoken about issues of workplace safety and working conditions. As a child laborer, Lee became disabled in an industrial accident when a machine injured his left arm.
