Some 20 Workers Lured to Ulsan by False Corporate Job Promises Left Stranded for Six Months

Some 20 workers who came to Ulsan believing they had been offered jobs as deputy managers at a major corporation have spent more than six months unable to find work and are struggling financially. KBS reporting has confirmed that the person who claimed to be a company official was not an employee of the company in question.

In August of last year, the workers were offered jobs at a petrochemical plant construction site in Ulsan through social media and gathered there from across the country. Told the positions were long-term, they moved their homes and even completed safety training for handling hazardous materials, but they were never deployed to the site. The work, which was supposed to begin in early February, was repeatedly postponed due to alleged internal circumstances. The workers even handed over documents containing their personal information after being told they were needed for employment. Victim Choi Un-yong said he was told that the temporary site access card, which was supposed to be issued by the Ulsan branch of the plant workers' union, kept being delayed, and he was never allowed onto the site.

The person who arranged the job introductions is known to have presented himself as an official of the major corporation. However, when KBS checked with the company, no employee by that name had ever worked there.

Choi Geum-seop, secretary-general of the Ulsan branch of the National Plant Construction Workers' Union, said that job placement schemes that recruit large numbers of people at once through social media or group chats are highly likely to be scams. He urged special caution regarding cases of large-scale recruitment via Band or KakaoTalk.

The affected workers said they plan to pursue legal action, including filing police reports, against the man who recruited them and others involved.