Lee Jae-myung seeks to curb workplace fatal accidents

President Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday said, “Taking someone’s life to save costs is murder by willful negligence, a form of social killing.”

Presiding over a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Lee said, “I have been stressing this repeatedly. Nothing is more important than a human life. A workplace where people go to earn a living must never become a place of death.”

During his first vacation since taking office, Lee ordered reviews of measures including revoking construction licenses, banning public bidding, and imposing punitive damages against builders involved in industrial accidents. Upon returning from vacation, his first directive was to require direct reporting of workplace fatality cases, underscoring his firm stance.

As a solution, Lee said, “We need to make people think that skimping on safety measures to save costs is foolish. We must make it cause greater losses instead.”

At the meeting, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reported on ongoing crackdowns on illegal subcontracting to improve construction site safety. Observers say the introduction of the Construction Safety Special Act, considered a tough regulation, could move forward in earnest. The bill would allow authorities to impose a suspension of at least one year or a fine of up to 3 percent of revenue on construction companies responsible for sites where fatal accidents occur.


Hoon-Sang Park tigermask@donga.com