Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Korea moves to stamp out wage theft as migrant workers remain vulnerable
Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon speaks during a meeting on the issue of unpaid wages at the Ministry of Employment and Labor's office in Seoul, Sept. 8, 2025. Courtesy of Ministry of Employment and Labor
By Jung Min-ho
Gov’t boosts inspections, legal protections for migrants, other vulnerable employees
Korean labor officials are intensifying their crackdown on employers who deliberately withhold wages, elevating such offenses to the level of a “grave social crime” that disproportionately targets the country’s vulnerable migrant workforce. The campaign reflects a growing urgency to protect basic livelihood rights as evidence emerges of systemic pay theft targeting foreign laborers.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on Tuesday that it opened investigations into 1,350 incidents in 2025, including 14 especially serious cases that resulted in the arrest of employers. Search operations rose by nearly 30 percent from the previous year, a surge officials said was necessary to expose those who intentionally exploit foreign staff often unfamiliar with local legal protections.
In one case, a pig farm owner in South Jeolla Province was arrested in April 2025 on charges of assaulting foreign workers and withholding 260 million won ($180,000) in wages and severance pay. Prosecutors allege that the owner systematically cheated 62 employees, leveraging their precarious immigration status to maintain a culture of silence and unpaid labor.
Authorities executed a search warrant, seizing the owner’s mobile phone and uncovering images that provided evidence of worker abuse.
It was one of many cases that underscored concerns about particularly vulnerable workers. In another incident, an employer with more than 100 employees, including some with intellectual disabilities, was arrested on charges of failing to pay a total of 910 million won in wages. Investigators found that the employer had also received about 60 million won by fraudulently exploiting the government’s substitute wage payment system.
Another employer of 10 older women working as cleaners was also arrested on charges of failing to pay 89 million won in wages and severance. Authorities said he made no effort whatsoever to compensate the victims and even continued to withhold wages from his other employees, which they viewed as highly aggravated conduct.
“For workers whose livelihoods are put at risk by unpaid wages, we will move quickly to protect them through the substitute wage payment system and hold employers criminally liable to the very end,” Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said. “We will continue to build and disclose cases of arrests so that a firm social consensus takes root that wage arrears are not acceptable under any circumstances.”
This comes as the government steps up efforts to protect noncitizen victims of unpaid wages. Since Dec. 29, 2025, labor inspectors have made regular visits to immigration detention facilities across Korea — including Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province; Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province; Yeosu, South Jeolla Province; Incheon; and Ulsan — to offer counseling sessions to such victims detained there.
When inspectors confirm that wages have been unpaid, the Ministry of Justice can approve temporary release to affected detainees so they can more quickly claim unpaid wages and pursue cases against law‑breaking employers.
In a related move, the Ministry of Justice revised rules under the Immigration Control Act to exempt foreign workers who are victims of unpaid wages from being reported to immigration authorities. Previously, public officials were required to report any undocumented foreign nationals they encountered in the line of duty — a rule that deterred many migrants from reporting unpaid wages or other abuses for fear of deportation.