Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
London Bagel Museum employee dies after working 80 hours a week
Bagels sold at London Bagel Museum / Korea Times file
By Kim Bo-eun
A man in his 20s working for one of Korea's most popular bakery cafes, London Bagel Museum, died in July after working nearly 80 hours a week, the minor progressive Justice Party said.
The death, which has raised questions about overwork, came 14 months after the employee joined the company in May 2024.
The Justice Party stated Monday the employee had arrived at work at 9 a.m. and left around midnight the day before he died. Five days before his death he worked 21 hours in a single day.
"Chronic overwork combined with acute overwork may have led to his death," the party said in a statement.
The worker's employment contract contained 14 hours of overtime per week, violating the 52-hour workweek limit, according to the party.
Seen in this graphic is a recreation of the messages sent by the London Bagel Museum employee to his girlfriend before his death. The following chat logs were obtained by news site Labor Today, with permission from the employee's family. This graphic translates the original Korean text to English. Korea Times graphic by Youn Ye-jin
The Justice Party said the bereaved family applied for the death to be classified as resulting from work, but LBM, the company running the bakery cafe, has refused to provide data on the employee's working hours, stating that “the work records confirmed by the company differ from the family’s claims.”
London Bagel Museum opened its first store in Anguk-dong in central Seoul in September 2021. It currently operates seven stores nationwide.
In July, local private equity firm JKL Partners acquired LBM for over 200 billion won ($140 million).
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly described the deceased employee as a woman. The article has since been corrected.