How South Korea is transforming way it bids farewell to migrants killed at workplace

AdvertisementSouth KoreaAsiaEast AsiaHow South Korea is transforming way it bids farewell to migrants killed at workplace

Foreign workers, who comprise roughly 3.5 per cent of the workforce, account for over 10 per cent of annual workplace fatalities

3-MIN READ3-MIN Listen

The Korea TimesPublished: 9:53am, 4 May 2026

On a quiet March morning at Incheon International Airport, the head of a government agency responsible for administering industrial accident insurance stood before a memorial adorned with flowers and a photo of Nguyen Van Tuan.

The 23-year-old Vietnamese worker had died 10 days earlier in a conveyor belt accident at a gravel factory in Icheon, Gyeonggi province.

Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service (K-Comwel) President Park Jong-kil bowed deeply, offered flowers and placed his hand on the shoulder of Tuan’s friend who was there to escort his remains home.

AdvertisementIn halting words bridged by interpreters, Park delivered a letter expressing gratitude for Tuan’s contributions to South Korea and offering sympathy.

“The language was different, but the grief was the same,” he recalled in an interview at the agency’s Seoul office.

That airport farewell marked the debut of the country’s first pilot scheme expanding funeral support for deceased foreign workers, a benefit the agency is now working to institutionalise through reforms.

AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:001.00x