Kimchi factory owner gets prison time for not paying disabled employee for 16 years

Social Affairs

Published: 28 Nov. 2023, 18:25

Kimchi factory owner gets prison time for not paying disabled employee for 16 years

A kimchi factor unrelated to the story. [YONHAP]

A 71-year-old kimchi factory owner has been sentenced to three years in prison for making a disabled person work for more than 16 years without pay.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower-court ruling that found the employer, identified by their family name of Park, guilty of fraud, embezzlement and violations of the labor law and disability act.

The 68-year-old victim, who has learning disabilities, first met the employer at a kimchi factory where they both worked in 1999.

The employer hired the victim when the former opened a kimchi factory in Yeongdong County, North Chungcheong, in 2005.

The employee worked 10 hours a day and six days a week until September 2021.

The job included moving Nappa cabbages, soaking the kimchi and cleaning the factory.

However, not only was the employee never paid, but the employer even took out 16.2 million won ($12,400) from the employee’s national pension fund for three years from 2017.

The employer also abused the employee, including stripping the person naked and forcing them to walk around the factory for 30 minutes for waking up late.

The issue came to light after the employee demanded unpaid wages in 2021.

The court said the employer owed the employee roughly 250 million won.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]