By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

A court ruled Thursday that an undocumented Egyptian worker should get compensation for a serious head injury he sustained during a workplace fight with a Korean colleague over his "poor" Korean proficiency.

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of the 29-year-old Egyptian man identified as Mostafa, overruling the decision of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (COMWEL) to reject his request for coverage of medical fees.

Even though the Labor Law stipulates any illegal immigrants injured in the workplace are subject to accident compensation, the case represents a rare legal victory for an undocumented worker.

"The accident took place while they were engaged in a fight that stemmed from the foreigner's poor understanding of an order handed down in Korean. Before it took place, their relationship was good," presiding judge Chung Chong-ryung said in the ruling. "Based on evidence and testimony, we judged the cause of the incident was connected with the working environment facing the plaintiff, meaning he is eligible for compensation."

The incident took place in July last year when Mostafa and his Korean colleague were lifting up piles of scrap using a crane in a small factory in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. Provoked by the Egyptian's repeated failure to understand instructions in Korean, the Korean worker hurled a piece of steel at him which hit him in the head. Mostafa collapsed and was taken to hospital, where it was later confirmed the attack caused internal bleeding.

He filed a petition for compensation with COMWEL, but the body rejected his request.

A lawyer for Mostafa was quoted as saying, "He planned to file a criminal suit against the Korean offender, but canceled it because he was undocumented."

The lawyer said the Egyptian returned to his mother country while the court proceedings were underway. "I want the media and Korean diplomats there (in Egypt) to distribute this story to let him know that he won this legal battle," the lawyer said.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr