Dorm room capacity for foreign workers to be cut to 8 from 15

This photo taken on Jan. 20 shows the inside of a vinyl greenhouse used as accommodation to house migrant workers at a farm in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. A Cambodian migrant worker in her 30s was found dead there on Dec. 20, provoking criticism against poor conditions of accommodation provided to migrant workers. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon

By Jun Ji-hye

The government will cut the maximum number of migrant workers allowed to share a dormitory room to eight from the current 15 as part of efforts to improve their living conditions.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Thursday that it is planning to revise enforcement ordinances of the Labor Standards Act to amend the regulation.

The move comes amid growing criticism of poor accommodation provided to migrant workers by employers, following the death of a Cambodian woman in her 30s in December.

She was found dead in a “sandwich panel” structure built inside a vinyl greenhouse that was being used as accommodation to house foreign workers at a farm in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province.

Although the initial autopsy results showed the woman may have died of liver disease, the government has been facing mounting calls to take measures to improve basic living standards for foreign workers, considering that the woman died in substandard accommodation when an intense cold spell swept the region with temperatures plunging to nearly minus 20 degrees Celsius.

In 2019, the ministry revised the enforcement ordinances to set the maximum number of migrant workers allowed to stay in a dormitory space at 15.

The ministry will also work to revise relevant regulations to ban employers from installing accommodation for migrant workers in dangerous places such as mudslide-prone and contaminated areas, or areas with loud noises.

Earlier this month, the ministry said it would seek to revise relevant laws on the Employment Permit System (EPS) to allow migrant workers to change their workplace if they are provided with substandard accommodation. Employers found to be providing inappropriate accommodation will also be banned from hiring migrant workers.