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By Jun Ji-hye
A Cambodian migrant worker in her 30s was found dead in a vinyl greenhouse that was being used as accommodation to house foreign workers at a farm in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, according to local police, Thursday.
Police said they have been investigating the case since her colleagues reported her death, Sunday, noting that there were no signs of foul play.
"We have questioned the owner of the farm and carried out an autopsy," a police official said, noting that the interim results of the autopsy showed the woman may have died of liver disease.
The woman entered Korea on a work visa four years ago, and had been working on the farm planting and reaping vegetables.
Five foreign workers including the woman lived together in the vinyl greenhouse, but she was alone on the day she died.
Pastor Kim Dal-sung who heads the migrant workers support center in the region, and the woman's colleagues have raised the possibility that she may have frozen to death, citing the greenhouse's heating system did not work during an intense cold spell that swept the region when temperatures plunged to nearly minus 20 degrees Celsius. However, police said there was no evidence to indicate this.
Separately, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced a decision, later Thursday, not to issue the employment permits to employers who offer temporary constructions such as vinyl greenhouses as accommodation for foreign workers, in order to protect the safety of the workers and guarantee their human rights.
