Issues surrounding the living conditions of foreign workers continue to persist, with recent cases of workers being provided with floating barges as accommodations. Despite it only being over three and a half years since the death of a migrant worker named Sokkheng in a greenhouse during a harsh cold snap of -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees Celsius) in Pocheon city in December 2020, the related laws remain inadequate.
According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in 2020, 99% of foreign workers live in accommodations provided by their employers. Among these accommodations, 70% are temporary structures such as containers and prefabricated panels.
The problem of foreign worker accommodations built as temporary structures continues to this day.
Between March and April, businesses were caught providing floating barge shelters as accommodations for foreign workers. The Ministry of Employment and Labor supervised 107 aquaculture businesses in Yeosu and Goheung areas in South Jeolla Province and found 10 of them providing substandard accommodations. Seven of them provided accommodations using floating barges, while the rest were containers.
There are no specific regulations for regular inspections or detections under the current law. The current law under the Foreign Worker Employment Law Article 22-2, only states that employers must comply with the standards set by the Labor Standards Act Article 100 for the accommodations they provide, and ensure the health and safety of the workers.
Jasmine Lee, a member of the Green Justice Party, proposed a partial amendment to the Foreign Worker Employment Law on the 17th. The main point of the amendment is to require employers to get a suitability check for the accommodations from the head of the Employment Stability Agency when receiving employment permits or special employment confirmations. It also allows the Minister of Employment and Labor to issue correction orders to those who provide substandard accommodations and promotes accommodation support projects.
However, experts still believe there is a long way to go.
Professor Kim Chun Soo of the Multicultural Research Institute at Daegu Catholic University suggested, “An inspection by a higher authority with more enforcement power than local governments would be more effective.”
He also pointed out that there are blind spots in the current law regarding legal accommodations. Professor Kim said, “Under the current law, greenhouses are not recognized as accommodations, but containers are,” and “So, there are cases where they put containers inside greenhouses to get legal recognition.”
