April 28^th International Workers’ Memorial Day is officially recognized for the first time (Apr. 2025)

Jinwoo Son, Chair

Korea Institute of Labor Safety and Health

Translated by Michelle Jang

The history of April 28^th International Workers’ Memorial Day

This April 28th is International Workers’ Memorial Day (hereafter referred to as 4.28). 4.28 was triggered by the fire disaster at the Kader Toy Factory in Thailand on May 10th, 1993, in which 188 workers died. The Kader Factory fire disaster was a tragic incident in which many workers were unable to escape when a fire broke out because the factory that made famous American character dolls locked the entrance from the outside for fear that the female workers would steal the dolls that were more expensive than their daily wages. Three years later, labor union representatives from around the world attending the UN Commission on Sustainable Development meeting held candlelight vigils in front of the UN conference hall, saying that “the toys of children in developed countries contain the blood and tears of workers in the Third World,” and the International Labor Organization (ILO) designated April 28^th as Workers’ Memorial Day and the World Day for Safety and Health. Already, 19 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, have designated April 28^th as a national Memorial Day and are holding memorial services, and more than 110 countries around the world are carrying out various events and direct actions on this day.

4.28 International Workers’ Memorial Day to be commemorated nationally

In South Korea, 4.28 has had the meaning of a day when labor unions of all levels, including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, occupational safety and health movement groups, and civil society organizations come together to announce their demands for the year, and declare their struggle for the safety and health of workers. This is also the reason April was designated as the ‘Month to Struggle for Workers’ Right to Health.’ Using the government’s occupational fatalities statistics announced every year as basic data, a ‘Killer Company Selection Ceremony’ is held to select and announce companies with occupational fatalities nationwide or by region, and commemoration and struggle are held in parallel. Through this, the responsibility for safety and health management by companies has been publicized, while calling for institutional change along with urgent demands for safety and health.

The government’s occupational fatality statistics are limited because they are based solely on workers’ compensation statistics provided by the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service. The work-related deaths of many workers are excluded from the scope of workers’ compensation insurance, for example those covered by other insurance laws such as civil servants, school employees, and military personnel. Workers’ compensation for persons in special types of employment only applies to 14 occupations, so workers at workplaces with less than 5 employees, platform workers, freelancers, and specially employed workers are not covered and not included in workers’ compensation statistics. As a result, there are limitations on official statistics for occupational fatalities at the national level. This is why every year on April 28^th, labor and civil society groups announce and mention occupational fatality estimates that are higher than the government’s official occupational fatality statistics.

April 28^th is a day to commemorate workers who lost their lives at work around the world, but in South Korea, 4.28, which has been promoted independently by labor and civil society, has changed its status starting in 2025. This is because 4.28 has become a legal commemorative day. On September 26, 2024, the National Assembly plenary session passed an amendment to the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, creating Article 9-2 (Industrial Accident Workers’ Day). The bill designates April 28^th every year as ‘Industrial Accident Workers’ Day’ and stipulates that the week starting from April 28^th be a memorial week. In addition, the bill includes a provision that the government should make efforts to implement events appropriate to the purpose of Industrial Accident Workers’ Day, such as education for prevention, and support for injured workers. This means that April 28, 2025 will be the first ‘International Workers’ Memorial Day’ in South Korea as a statutory commemoration day.

4.28 should not be an empty tradition

Although the name, ‘Industrial Accident Workers’ Day,’ is a bit of a misnomer,  making it a legal commemorative day is welcome. This is because it is an opportunity to reflect on the issue of occupational fatalities together at a national level, beyond a unique event of the labor movement.

In particular, the fire disaster at the Kader factory in Thailand, which became the origin of 4.28, reminds us of the fire disaster at the Aricel factory in South Korea that occurred on June 24, 2024, which killed 23 people, and the Banyan Tree fire disaster on February 14, 2025, which killed 6 people. These tragedies indicate that the problem of occupational fatalities is ongoing. This suggests that our society cannot stop at commemorating and honoring workers who died at work to reduce occupational fatalities.

The Aricel disaster is no different from the Kader factory fire disaster in that many of the victims were Chinese female workers; that only regular workers were provided with access cards to open emergency exits; that there was virtually no safety and health management; and that the victims were workers at the bottom of the supply chain.

However, now that April 28^th, which has become a legal Memorial Day, is just a month away, it is hard to find any trace of a national review and diagnosis of the progress of the plan to reduce occupational fatalities at a national level. This is partly due to the unstable political situation from the end of 2024 to March 2025, when former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law and subsequent removal had not yet been confirmed. On the other hand, one cannot help but wonder whether the important task of reducing occupational fatalities is still being left to each level of workplaces and businesses under the pretext of ‘establishing a self-discipline prevention system.’

Furthermore, it appears that a government-wide national event to mark ‘Industrial Accident Workers’ Day’ has not been clearly prepared or planned. What can be confirmed is that the Ministry of Employment and Labor has been receiving recommendations for the first awardees since early this year to award those who have contributed to the social rehabilitation of industrial accident workers, and that a public verification process has been conducted for the recommended candidates accordingly, and that an event related to this will be held. It may be an overinterpretation, but I am concerned that, rather than focusing on the task of preventing workplace injuries, which should be given the highest priority, more weight is being given to improving the treatment of injured workers and their social rehabilitation, which are follow-up measures following the results of workplace injuries.

4.28 should be an opportunity to spark a national social discussion about how to reduce workplace fatalities!

The reason for concern over the empty nature of April 28^th, which has been designated as a national Memorial Day beginning this year is this; South Korea still has the highest rate of workplace fatalities among OECD member countries. The urgent consensus of members of society regarding this has led to the supplementation and improvement of legal systems, such as the complete revision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the enactment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, in recent years. Nevertheless, the current reality in which we hear news of someone dying at work every day strongly suggests the need for a societal deliberation process to review and discuss what shortcomings there are in the prevention and response to workplace injuries.

To this end, we must first look back at the reasons why the reduction of workplace injuries and deaths is stagnant despite the continuous improvement of the legal system. Although the Serious Accidents Punishment Act has been passed, we must examine whether there is a tendency toward lenient punishment in the legal application of workplace deaths through the courts, and whether this is sending the wrong signal to companies and business owners.

We also need to reexamine the national level workplace injury reduction policy priorities and the administrative will to execute them. The fact that the majority of industrial accidents we witness in South Korean society are still ‘traditional accidents’ that are referred to as ‘underdeveloped country’-type accidents is very painful in that they can be prevented. If there are limitations to the policy direction contained in the roadmap for reducing serious accidents, these should be supplemented, and if there is a lack of administrative power to implement and support the policy, personnel and budget allocation to supplement and secure administrative power should be included. In addition, whether the administrative will to implement the policy actually existed can also be reviewed. In particular, as the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is on the verge of being removed, the government to be formed in the future should pay attention to the voices continuously calling for a safe workplace in the public square and reduce workplace injuries by accepting these demands. In this way, democracy in the public square should be realized in the workplace.

Furthermore, we need to examine why the self-discipline prevention system and risk assessment, which are emphasized as key links in establishing workplace safety and health activities and preventing major accidents, are being criticized as being nominal. We also need to examine whether the government/state has been avoiding responsibility for national-level hazard and risk management due to the limitations of the current law that places the responsibility for managing workplace hazards on the employer. This is because we can no longer ignore the reality that traditional employment relationships are becoming perfunctory. Workers’ deaths at the low end of the supply chain are amplified by ‘outsourcing of risk’ and ‘migration of risk,’ and risks are concentrated in small businesses with the weakest safety and health capabilities, leaving all these problems to individual companies. I sincerely hope that 4.28 will become an opportunity to face the reality of workplace injuries in South Korean society and once again recall the nation’s responsibility for workplace injuries, beyond the meaning of a legal anniversary. That is probably why we not only remember but also commemorate and act.