Workers wearing traditional Vietnamese hats on July 23, 2025, collect potatoes in a rural village of Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province. (Yonhap News)

By Koh Hyun Jeong

Stronger measures will seek to protect foreign workers from human rights violations and industrial accidents.

The Office for Government Policy Coordination on April 23 in a meeting with related ministries at Government Complex-Seoul came up with such actions.

They include proactive detection and intensive inspections of workplaces at risk of such violations and expansion of the exemption from the duty to report undocumented immigrants to protect victims of unpaid wages.

An overhaul of the seasonal worker system include new rules for punishing exploitation by brokers and making farms and fishing households that employ foreign labor to subscribe to insurance for guaranteeing back pay. The settlement of financial ties prior to a worker's return home will be mandatory, and the ban on illegal accommodations will be codified into law.

The support system for foreign workers will also be streamlined. Specialized agencies will be launched for such laborers, along with the expansion of related support centers and reinforced dissemination of multilingual safety guidelines and fire evacuation training.

hjkoh@korea.kr