Labor ministry orders unannounced follow-up inspections after repeat deaths

South Korea's labor ministry said Saturday it has ordered all 49 of its regional offices to carry out unannounced follow-up inspections of workplaces it has already examined. Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon issued the instruction at an emergency meeting of the heads of the regional offices.

Kim told the offices to verify without notice whether violations found in earlier inspections have actually been corrected, and to deal with confirmed breaches under a zero-tolerance standard. Supervision of companies where the same type of serious accident has recurred should be conducted with the same intensity as a special inspection, he said.

"If companies still put cost cutting ahead of safety even after a worker has died, we must make it clear that their responsibility is heavy," Kim said. "As the president has also stressed this point, I ask you to treat supervision of these companies as a special inspection."

The ministry reported that the number of accident deaths subject to investigation in the first three quarters of 2026 came to 366 people in 342 cases, down 91 people, or 19.9 percent, from 457 people in 440 cases a year earlier. The case count fell 98, or 22.3 percent, over the same period, the lowest cumulative tally for the period on record.

Kim said 366 lives is not a small number, and that he wants the decline in accident deaths to become an irreversible change rather than a temporary one. He also called on the regional offices to analyze regional economic conditions, industrial characteristics and serious accident trends to mount preventive action before accidents occur, and pressed for a shift in how companies view safety spending, saying active investment in safety must be made to generate profit rather than expense. The heads of the regional offices presented and discussed priority tasks for the rest of the year aimed at reducing accident deaths.

The ministry said Kim also asked the offices to prepare for the enforcement on Dec. 8 of a law governing labor inspectors, 73 years after the ministry was established. The headquarters should concentrate on budget and legislative work tied to national policy, while regional offices should focus on their capacity to supervise worksites, he added.

"I will retie my own safety boots first," Kim said.