On November 13, 1970, Jeon Taeil self-immolated himself. He worked to protect the rights of workers when he was alive. However, there were a lot of problems. So, he self-immolated himself to notice the seriousness. Since that time, the movement to protect the rights of workers has started. Lots of laws were made. Now, Severe Disaster Law is made.

▲ a photograph of Jeon Taeil burning himself

National Assembly passed the bill of the law, obtaining 164 votes of law makers, while 44 dissented and 58 abstained. According to the Severe Disaster Law, if a serious disaster or accident occurs, the employer will be imprisoned in jail minimum of a year and will be imposed the maximum fine of a billion won. Moreover, the company will be imposed a maximum fine of 5 billion won. Some people say that this is a strong law. Also, they say that this will protect the rights of workers since the company will not be willing to pay a lot of fines.

▲ Korean National Assembly

However, there are loopholes in the law. For a company with more than 50 employees, the law works a year from the law was made. However, for a company with less than 50 employees, the law works three years from the law was made. What is more serious, the company with less than five employees, the law does not work at all. In 2019, 855 people died from industrial accidents, the company with less than five employees accounted for 4.9 percent. Moreover, the company with less than 50 employees accounted for 19.1 percent. It means one of five cannot be protected for three years, and one of 20 people cannot be protected at all. The Federation of Construction Associations issued a statement, after the parliamentary legislative committee passed the bill, saying that it is "helpless". Moreover, KEF asserted severe industrial accidents should be defined in more detail. Also, the standard of duty of safety measures is not certain.

It is true that the punishment of the law is strong. However, it does not work well in the case of SMEs. Moreover, the standard is not certain which can lead to unreasonable punishments. So, lawmakers should trim the law. They should make the standards more certain and make countermeasures in the case of SMEs.

January 16th, 2021

By Jun Woo Seo