The Blind Spot of a Society That Doesn't Count Workers Who Die on the Job
A total of 366 workers died from workplace accidents between January and September this year, down 91 from a year earlier. This is the first time since the statistics were first released in 2022 that cumulative deaths over three quarters have fallen into the 300s.
By sector, deaths at workplaces with fewer than five employees and at construction sites with project costs under 500 million won fell by 34 (24.8%), from a cumulative 137 in the first three quarters of last year to 103 this year. Deaths in the construction industry as a whole dropped from 210 to 150, a decrease of 60 (28.6%), while fall-related deaths declined from 199 to 124, down 75 (37.7%). In contrast, manufacturing deaths rose by 13 (10.9%), from a cumulative 119 in the first three quarters of last year to 132 this year. Major disasters also occurred, including a fire at Anseon Gongup in March that killed 14 people and an explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon plant in June that killed 5.
However, these occupational accident statistics exclude deaths outside the Ministry of Employment and Labor's jurisdiction, such as those of subcontracted workers and workers in special forms of employment, leaving intact a blind spot of people who die on the job but are not counted as workers. On Oct. 20, at the Songgang-dong intersection on Mirae-ro in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, a delivery motorcycle collided with a taxi, and delivery worker A, in his 30s, was rushed to a hospital in cardiac arrest but died. Though his death while making a delivery was work-related, the accident was classified as a 'traffic accident' and thus excluded from the occupational accident statistics. When a migrant worker dies at a dormitory after a 12-hour workday, it is treated as 'sudden death'; when a truck driver dies on the road after loading cargo, it is counted as a 'traffic accident'—even deaths that occur during work are divided by different criteria for inclusion in the statistics.
The scale of this statistical blind spot is borne out by the numbers. Traffic accident casualties among delivery riders have continued to rise over the past three years, reaching 6,745 last year. Of the 277 migrant workers confirmed dead under foreigner injury insurance, 23.8% died of sudden death. Of the 137 labor providers recognized as having died of work-related causes in 2025, 96 (70.1%) died in traffic accidents off work premises.
Minister Kim Young-hoon said at the Cabinet meeting that he would do his utmost with the determination to protect even a single citizen.
