SEOUL • Some 2,500 South Koreans marched through Seoul yesterday to honour a worker who was crushed to death at a coal plant, fuelling an outcry which led to a landmark amendment of the nation’s industrial safety laws..
SEOUL • Some 2,500 South Koreans marched through Seoul yesterday to honour a worker who was crushed to death at a coal plant, fuelling an outcry which led to a landmark amendment of the nation’s industrial safety laws.
Mr Kim Yong-kyun, 24, died last month after being sucked into a coal conveyor belt.
He was working as a contractor at a power plant 110km south of Seoul.
His death triggered an uproar in South Korea, where critics say work safety is compromised for temporary or contract workers – despite being a wealthy, developed economy and the fourth biggest in Asia.
Activists say if Mr Kim had not been working unaccompanied, another person could have saved his life by turning off the conveyor belt.
Mr Kim was the ninth subcontracted worker to have died from work-related injuries at the Chungnam plant in Taean since 2010.
