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Opera singer who was paralyzed on stage dies, advocacy group demands better safety rights and insurance

Published: 25 Oct. 2025, 11:40 Updated: 26 Oct. 2025, 16:13

Members of a civic group for safety rights hold a press conference in central Seoul on Oct. 24 to pay tribute to late opera singer Ahn Young-jae, who was paralyzed after being hit by a stage prop two years ago and died earlier this week. [YONHAP]

An opera singer who was paralyzed from the waist down after being hit by a stage prop weighing more than 880 pounds at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts two years ago died earlier this week, according to a civic group on Friday.

The civic organization representing scholars and experts striving to prevent major serious accidents and to uphold safety rights held a press conference in front of the Sejong Center in central Seoul to commemorate the singer, Ahn Young-jae, 30, who died after a long battle with their injury. The group called for stronger measures to protect performing artists from workplace accidents.

According to the group, Ahn was severely injured in March 2023 when a large stage prop collapsed on them during a rehearsal at the Sejong Center, leaving them paralyzed from the waist down.

On Oct. 21, Ahn died due to complications related to medication side effects, the group said.

Ahn was reportedly not covered by industrial accident insurance at the time of the incident and had to pay their own medical bills amounting to hundreds of millions of won. The singer was also involved in a lawsuit seeking compensation for damages.

Most performing artists in Korea are classified as freelancers or short-term contract workers — employment types that exclude them from industrial accident insurance coverage under current labor laws.

In a statement, the advocacy group urged the government to “mandate industrial accident insurance for artists and recognize the late Ahn’s status as a worker.” It also called for revisions to the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Public Performance Act to strengthen safety management regulations to prevent artists and performers from accidents.

The group further demanded the government investigate the structural causes behind Ahn’s accident.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]