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Lee urges strict punishment of foreign laborer abuse, calls for workplace human rights training

Published: 30 Apr. 2026, 18:24

SARAH KIM
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President Lee Jae Myung, right, speaks during a meeting with senior presidential aides at the Blue House in central Seoul on April 30. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Lee Jae Myung said Thursday that the infringement of foreign workers' rights is a matter of national dignity and called for strict punishment to prevent such acts.

"President Lee ordered that the issue of foreign workers' human rights be resolved unconditionally and quickly, stating that such matters are not subject to debate," Kang Yu-jung, senior presidential spokesperson for the Blue House, said in a press briefing regarding Lee's meeting with senior presidential aides earlier that day.

Lee told aides that "human rights education must be conducted at every workplace, and strict and rigorous punishment must be imposed upon detection to prevent recurrence."

The remarks came after the office of the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs reported to the president its plans to strengthen the protection of foreign workers' human rights. The meeting focused on respecting workers and on measures to create jobs ahead of Labor Day on Friday.

Lee's remarks come after a Korean factory manager came under investigation for allegedly assaulting a Bangladeshi worker at a textile plant in Incheon on Friday. He is accused of abusing other migrant workers as well. A video showing a Bangladeshi worker being assaulted was released online, sparking public outrage and calls for government action.

The workers have indicated they felt powerless to retaliate against the abuse out of fear of losing their jobs and being deported.

On Friday, police launched an investigation into another Korean manager at a factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, for assaulting a Vietnamese worker, allegedly beating him 22 times at a dormitory of a cosmetics container manufacturer.

"Violence committed against foreign workers goes beyond a violation of labor rights to constitute a serious human rights violation and a criminal act," Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said Sunday after the Incheon incident. "We will thoroughly investigate the facts of the incident, take strict measures against legal violations and do our utmost to protect the victims."

BY SARAH KIM [[email protected]]