President calls for workplace safety on Labor Day

President Moon Jae-in greets an employee at a Korean food restaurant after having lunch with his aides, Friday, in Samcheong-dong, Seoul. The President's visit to the “gomtang” (beef bone soup) place was arranged to show support for small businesses struggling with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yonhap

By Do Je-hae

President Moon Jae-in vowed to employ stronger measures Friday, which was also Labor Day, to reduce industrial accidents, two days after a fire at a construction site in Gyeonggi Province took the lives of 38 workers.

In particular, he underlined the hardships of irregular workers excluded from the benefits and job security of regular employees. "Most of the victims of the Icheon fire were irregular workers," Moon said in an SNS message. "On Labor Day, I wish a peaceful rest to those who lost their lives. I would also like to pay tribute to all the efforts made by workers in our country."

"Industrial accidents occur in the course of sincere labor. Above all, I will do my best to reduce industrial accidents to create safer workplaces. On this Labor Day morning, I think of all the workers who were killed on the job while striving for a better world. I fully support the workers who come to their jobs every day and move the world toward a better place."

The President has also made a special mention about the three foreign workers who lost their lives in the fire ― two from Kazakhstan and one Chinese-Korean ― instructing the relevant authorities to contact their family members and provide assistance with their requests to visit Korea.

Moon underlined the role of workers in overcoming the job crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic. “Workers are the mainstream of our society, so they must become the center of solidarity and cooperation,” he said. “The government, in cooperation with workers and companies, will do its utmost to retain jobs. We will do or best to re-energize the economy through win-win cooperation and thus regain hope.”

The President renewed his efforts to heal the rising social divide. “Due to the efforts of workers, the minimum wage hike, transitioning irregular positions to regular ones and the 52-hour workweek have been implemented. Through these measures, our society is overcoming polarization.”

The Moon administration has been acting quickly to deal with the accident to ensure a thorough research in to the cause of the fire and help the families of the victims.

On Wednesday evening, Moon convened an emergency meeting with chief of staff Noh Young-min and national security adviser Chung Eui-yong to discuss necessary measures regarding the fire a few hours after it occurred, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

Moon held another meeting on the morning after the fire and instructed the relevant ministries to come up with measures to prevent such accidents from happening again. “The President stressed that the government needs to closely examine why such accidents keep on happening despite strengthened fire safety measures under our administration,” presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok said in a briefing, Thursday. “The President has also instructed that compensation issues be taken care of properly.”

Korea still has the highest rate of deaths from industrial accidents among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).