KILSH’s Newsletter in February 2025

Letter from the Editor

Recently, there has been controversy over the Special Act on the Semiconductor Industry, which provides extensive support for the semiconductor industry, including water and land. There are also serious concerns that the climate crisis will worsen around factories and that the environment will be polluted with chemicals and groundwater resources will be depleted in the name of fostering the semiconductor industry.

The bill proposed by the ruling party, the People Power Party, includes an exception to the 52-hour workweek limit for semiconductor industry R&D workers. This means that they can work long hours when necessary.

Korea’s Labor Standards Act stipulates that workers should work 40 hours a week and that overtime work should not exceed 12 hours a week, but this bill allows workers to work more than 52 hours a week.

It was pointed out that politicians cited the laws of Japan and Taiwan, but did not include in the bill that the laws would hold companies accountable for their social responsibilities.

As the ruling party and the business community tried to push the bill through solely for the sake of corporate profits, labor unions and civic groups have come together to jointly respond.

After the joint response, the opposition party has fortunately begun to oppose the exclusion of the upper limit on working hours. Korean labor and civil society will continue to keep a close eye on the attempts of companies, governments and conservative parties.

We hope that you will continue to be interested in our activities. Please pass it on to others.

If you have any questions, please reply to this email.

Thank you.

In-depth review

Fatal accidents Our challenge is not to repeat them(Jul. 2022)

There is a famous line from Jung Hyun-jong’s poem, “The Visitor” that says, “When a person comes, it is indeed a tremendous thing, for he comes with his past, his present, and his future.” When a person dies, it is also a tremendous event, because his past, present, and future are closed off all at once. It is even more devastating when the death is due to a preventable disaster. That is why our tasks after a fatal accident are so important so that it is not repeated.

The Kim Yong-gyun Foundation is publishing a guidebook called “Establishing Memory,” that introduces the location and meaning of memorial sculptures for workers who have died in occupational accidents. “Remembering and not forgetting is the key to preventing the next accident,” emphasizes Kwon Mi-jeong, Secretary General of the Foundation. “It is urgently necessary for our society to remember not only the event or accident, but also why and how it happened, and the struggle that was necessary to reveal the truth of the accident.”

Read more: https://kilsh.or.kr/?p=36217

In KILSH’s studies

Mental Health Survey of Student Research Workers(2023)

Since most graduate students do not sign labor contracts in South Korea, and because of their status as students, the provision of labor is often viewed by society as a learning process. It is necessary to take a closer look and hear first-hand accounts of graduate students who are on the borderline between learning and labor to see what kind of work they are doing, whether they are being paid fairly for their labor, and what the research and academic environment is like.

Mental health problems among graduate students have been reported repeatedly over the years and are likely to be higher than in the general population or other industry groups. While some aspects of mental health have been investigated using simplified mental health questionnaires, no studies have been conducted using a structured mental health questionnaire. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the mental health status and prevalence of problems among student research workers using specific general health and mental health indicators.

The lack of identification of organizational causes of mental health has resulted in counseling interventions that focus on individual factors, and only solutions such as operating counseling centers are provided. It is necessary to explore the organizational causes that may affect the deterioration of mental health of student research workers and seek ways to protect mental health through the process of linking cause and effect.

Read more: https://kilsh.or.kr/?p=35498

About Kilsh(Korea Institute of Labor Safety and Health)

KILSH is a public interest civil society group focusing on workers’ health and safety. We are working for healthy working conditions for all workers, and for workers to have greater autonomy in their workplaces. We meet and educate workers and trade unions on how to prevent occupational injuries and describe how to get involved in changing the working environment. 

We have worked on important issues such as musculoskeletal disorders, long working hours, overwork and mental illness. We have continued our work on workers’ health rights at small-sized businesses, female workers’ health, the climate crisis, the right to stop dangerous work and how risk assessment is conducted and used. These issues are described in our monthly magazine on occupational safety and health with different topics every month. Our translation team provides information about our activities in English.

Our webpage: https://kilsh.or.kr/en/