Workplace deaths becoming persistent issue at Coupang

A Coupang delivery worker sorts parcels inside his truck before making deliveries in Seoul’s Gangnam District, June 4. Korea Times file

By Ko Dong-hwan

• Published Nov 25, 2025 3:47 PM KST
• Updated Nov 25, 2025 6:26 PM KST

Founder Bom Kim faces backlash for remaining aloof

A Coupang employee in his 30s collapsed from cardiac arrest at the canteen of the company’s logistics base in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, at around 10:30 p.m. Friday. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. The worker had been working overnight shifts from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. since September last year.

Coupang came under heavy criticism after stating — before the police had determined an exact cause of death — that the employee had a chronic illness, prompting accusations that the country’s largest e-commerce platform operator was attempting to deflect responsibility.

The death in Hwaseong came just days after another fatal accident involving a Coupang worker. On Nov. 10 at around 2 a.m., a delivery truck driver on Jeju Island, identified only by his surname Oh, crashed into a street utility pole while working an overnight shift. He died after being transported to a hospital. In the week before his death, the 33-year-old had worked 83.4 hours without a single day off and handled as many as 354 deliveries per day.

His working conditions exceeded the International Labour Organization’s recommended 48-hour maximum and Korea’s 52-hour legal standard. Jeju Dongbu Police Station said on Nov. 18 that it found no evidence of alcohol involvement in the crash.

Three Coupang logistics center workers on overnight shifts have died while on duty this year. Since 2020, a total of 27 Coupang workers have died while working, according to the Taekbae Union, which represents couriers under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). Most of the deaths were among night-shift workers, with cardiac arrest, stroke and myocardial infarction cited as leading causes in news reports.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies night-shift work as probably carcinogenic, highlighting its severe health impact. Overnight labor remains central to Coupang’s business model, anchoring its signature Rocket Delivery service, which promises delivery by 7 a.m. for orders placed before 11:59 p.m.

To sustain the system, workers at Coupang Fulfillment Service, a Coupang subsidiary, often endure relentless, difficult shifts under subpar conditions. One employee there said he and his colleagues “grind their souls,” working six hours straight without rest.

During a press conference at the KCTU office in Seoul on Nov. 18, employees explained that Coupang enforces no effective safeguards against occupational hazards like the ones that contributed to Oh’s death. Coupang’s logistics subsidiary, Coupang Logistics Service, officially prohibits truck drivers from logging into their online clock-in platform for seven consecutive days to prevent excessive work.

However, employees said supervisors pushed them to use other workers’ IDs to bypass the system, allowing them to work seven days or more without a day off. The workers claimed that the use of these practices enabled the company to require night shifts for up to 19 consecutive days.

The delivery union accused Coupang of “maliciously spreading unproven claims that employees’ deaths were caused by alcohol or chronic illness,” adding that the company must stop defaming the victims with baseless rumors.

Oh’s family said Coupang made him work 12 hours a day for six days every week, describing it as the “worst labor conditions,” and held the company responsible for his death.

“Coupang must meet with us in person, apologize and propose ways to make restitution. We will file for this to be counted as an industrial accident and continue pursuing accountability until the company admits responsibility," the family said in a statement.

On Saturday, the delivery workers’ union proposed measures to improve working conditions, including banning deliveries between midnight and 5 a.m.

“Coupang’s seven-day work ban is being ignored through the use of structural loopholes. The company is also forcing delivery drivers to sort parcels — work meant for other employees — increasing their burden,” the union said.

“We demand that Coupang admit malpractice, guarantee the right to rest for workers on night shifts, limit night shift hours to 46 per week and call on the Ministry of Employment and Labor to launch a special investigation into the company’s illegal workplace practices.”

Legal blind spot

Many of Coupang’s roughly 20,000 short-term overnight delivery drivers are classified under “special types of employment,” a designation that prevents them from reporting industrial accidents under Korea’s Labor Standards Act. This legal loophole allows Coupang to evade the country’s Serious Accidents Punishment Act and avoid providing some forms of legally required benefits, such as the major social insurance required for regular employees.

Bom Kim, the Korean American founder and CEO of Coupang Inc., which wholly owns Coupang Corp. in Korea and controls its operations, has remained silent as the number of employee deaths has risen, drawing public criticism. Coupang Corp. CEO Park Dae-jun also has not announced any countermeasures.

Before listing Coupang Inc. on the NYSE in 2021, Kim resigned from all registered titles under Coupang Corp., removing himself from direct legal liability tied to registered executive positions in Korea. Despite this, he still holds over 70 percent of voting rights in Coupang Inc., giving himself critical influence over the company’s operations. The National Assembly summoned Kim for national audits on workplace deaths twice in October and several times in previous years, but he has never attended, citing his overseas residence.

Coupang told The Korea Times on Monday that it has taken steps to address employee health issues.

Last month, the company brought medical experts to its logistics base in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to provide consultations. In June, Coupang Fulfillment Service launched a nationwide campaign to check temperature control conditions at local bases as temperatures rose over the summer. Psychological consultations were offered to employees in May, and in the previous year, Coupang Logistics Service provided medical checkups for its staff.

However, the company declined to outline any future plans to address the growing crisis of workplace deaths.

“As to the latest death of our employee in Hwaseong, the police investigation is still in progress. We do not have any official comment on broader labor issues at this point,” a Coupang official said.