Police form task force, investigate foreign worker injury on presidential orders
Published: 07 Apr. 2026, 20:28
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- KIM JI-YE
- [email protected]
![The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Dec. 13, 2024. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/04/07/dd067805-dd3c-4643-8970-d846986602ad.jpg)
The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Dec. 13, 2024. [YONHAP]
Police have launched an investigation into the head of a manufacturing company, who allegedly injured a foreign worker by spraying an air gun at the worker’s anus, authorities said Tuesday.
According to a Hankyoreh report, the head of a metal cleaning company in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, approached a Thai worker when they were working, bent over at a workbench, and sprayed high-pressure air directly at the worker’s anus using an air gun on Feb. 20.
The worker reportedly suffered abdominal swelling and difficulty breathing and remains under treatment after undergoing surgery at a hospital.
The injured worker is reported to have entered Korea around 2011 under the Employment Permit System, E-9 visa, and worked in the country for nine years, but their visa has expired.
“The worker appears to have been unable to respond properly after the incident due to limited Korean language ability,” attorney Cho Young-kwan of law firm Duksu, who is assisting the worker, said. “A second surgery is needed for a full recovery, but the worker is facing a double burden of high medical costs and unstable immigration status, making it difficult to access industrial accident compensation.”
Police saw the case as serious and formed a dedicated task force to investigate the injury involving the Thai worker, according to the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency.
It plans to conduct a joint on-site investigation with the Ministry of Employment and Labor to check for similar cases.
They also said measures will be taken to protect the victim, including psychological counseling and support for medical expenses.
“We became aware of the case through the media report, so we will first meet the victim and hear their statement,” a police official said. “After determining the course of events, we will decide what charges to apply to the perpetrator.”
President Lee Jae Myung also ordered the police and the labor ministry to conduct a thorough investigation and take strict action involving the case, stating that “violence against the socially vulnerable is a serious crime.”
President Lee also instructed relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Employment and Labor, to take active measures to ensure that the migrant worker injured at industrial sites can remain in the country for treatment regardless of their immigration status, said Lee Kyu-youn, public communications secretary, in a statement.
“Violence and discrimination against migrant workers are serious crimes that can never be tolerated,” President Lee said. “Following this incident, we should take it as an opportunity to examine broader human rights violations against foreign workers.”
“Migrant workers are partners in building our future together and individuals whose dignity must be protected. Such barbaric human rights violations is an act of harming the future of society and require a firm response.”
BY KIM JI-YE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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