Industrial accident fatalities in South Korea are on course to hit a record low in the third quarter, following a similar result in the first half of the year.
Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon, appearing on the YouTube program "Baek Un-gi's Jeongeori TV" on the 23rd, said recent trends showed a steep downward curve in the first half. "Not only is the first-half decline holding in the third quarter, it is being maintained at even lower levels," he said.
According to figures on fatal accidents subject to investigation, released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in July, 253 workers died in industrial accidents in the first half, down 11.8% from a year earlier. The number of accidents fell 16.5% to 232 over the same period. Both the death toll and the accident count were the lowest for any first half since the data series began in 2022. Preliminary third-quarter figures are due next month.
Alongside the drop in workplace deaths, Kim acknowledged that unpaid wages, another major labor issue, remained difficult. Unpaid wages totaled 924.8 billion won ($663 million) in the first half, down 10.7% from a year earlier. Still, the problem has been severe enough that annual unpaid wages topped 2 trillion won for two straight years.
"Part of the reason the total amount of unpaid wages has risen is that the scale of the wages themselves has grown, in line with minimum wage increases," Kim said. "Both the amount owed and the number of affected workers are declining."
