Over the past three years, roughly 660 workers have been officially recognized as having died from overwork-related occupational injuries. Labor advocates and lawmakers say the system needs reform because employers face virtually no penalties.
On the 24th, Rep. Lee Hak-young, the National Assembly’s deputy speaker and a member of the Democratic Party, released a report obtained from the Ministry of Employment and Labor titled “Detailed Status of Occupational-Accident Claims Presumed to Be Overwork.” The report shows that between 2023 and February of this year, workers filed 1,992 claims alleging deaths caused by overwork. The fatalities were primarily due to acute myocardial infarction and intracerebral hemorrhage — cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions strongly associated with excessive work and long hours.
Only 663 of those claims (33.3%) were approved as occupational accidents by the Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service — roughly one in three applicants.
Yet even when deaths were officially linked to overwork, employers who created harsh working conditions were left unpunished.
Among the 663 approved cases, officials did not refer a single employer to prosecutors with a recommendation for indictment, nor were any fines imposed.
The ministry said it closed those cases because the Occupational Safety and Health Act contains no provisions to regulate deaths from cardiovascular conditions.
Current law focuses investigations and penalties on physical accidents such as falls, crushes and collisions. The enforcement decree for the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which defines occupational diseases, also excludes cerebrovascular and cardiovascular conditions.
As a result, critics say employers lack incentives to improve working conditions even when workers die from excessive workloads and extended working hours.
Lee warned, “It is a clear institutional gap that no provision exists to regulate deaths from overwork even when they are recognized as occupational accidents. Investigations proceed only under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the current oversight system cannot address violations of the Labor Standards Act, such as long working hours.”
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