No future for industries that bind people's feet

Home > Opinion > Columns

No future for industries that bind people's feet

Published: 02 Feb. 2026, 00:03

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Won Ok-kum

The author is a representative of the Migrant Center Donghaeng and is originally from Vietnam.

A recent survey by the Korea Federation of SMEs of 310 companies employing foreign workers found that 48.7 percent favored maintaining the current rule that bars migrant workers from switching jobs for three years. Business owners argue that job mobility would worsen labor shortages at small firms and quickly turn into a management crisis. Behind this view lies a pervasive fear of attrition: After investing time and money recruiting and training workers, employers worry they will leave for better conditions elsewhere. That anxiety has come to dominate policy debate and decision-making.

Foreign workers head to their night shifts in the multicultural food market district of Danwon District, Ansan, Gyeonggi, in this undated file photo. [JOONGANG ILBO]

But the discussion may be proceeding without addressing the most important question of all: Why do those workers want to leave in the first place? Mobility is not a matter of caprice; it is often a plea for survival.

A Vietnamese man I counseled, whom I will call Minh, worked at a metal processing factory in Gyeonggi. For two years after arriving in Korea, he said, he never once considered changing jobs. When he finally came to see me, his hands were covered in cuts, and his voice trembled as he spoke. Promised allowances had been repeatedly delayed. The sandwich panel dormitory where he lived was riddled with mold and offered no protection against the winter cold. He told me he had been placed in front of dangerous machinery without receiving even a single proper safety briefing. What Minh wanted was not more money. He wanted only the minimum conditions required to work with dignity. Under the current Employment Permit System, however, he remains bound to that workplace unless the employer consents to his departure. Behind companies’ claims of worsening labor shortages lie the silenced voices of people collapsing from exhaustion. For them, changing jobs is not a whim but a last resort.

The reasons Korean youth avoid so-called 3-D jobs, or dirty, dangerous and difficult manual work, and the reasons migrant workers seek to leave their workplaces are not fundamentally different. Low wages, poor welfare and a lack of opportunities to advance their career drive people away. The logic that “there are not enough workers, so mobility must be banned” applies only to migrant workers in Korea, a grim exception in a democratic country and neither a fair nor effective method of solving labor shortages.

Imagine if the government announced that Korean workers will also be barred from changing jobs for three years because small- and medium-sized enterprises are struggling with labor shortages. The country would erupt in protest. Freedom of occupational choice is one of the most basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea and the International Labour Organization have repeatedly warned that the Employment Permit System risks forced labor. Migrant workers, as human beings, have the right to preserve their dignity, and the ability to leave an abusive workplace is the minimum safeguard of that dignity. Yet Korea’s laws and institutions apply this value to people differently based on their nationality.

None of this negates the hardships faced by small businesses. But forcibly tying people to their jobs will never raise their skill levels or productivity. A worker whose body is trapped in a factory while their mind has already left cannot produce quality goods with care. Expecting innovation or growth from workplaces filled with conflict and distrust is wishful thinking.

Foreign workers and farmers are seen harvesting radishes in fields in Goryeong County, North Gyeongsang, on Nov. 24, 2025. [NEWS1]

The real solution lies in having corporations create reasons for foreign workers to stay. That means paying fair wages, ensuring safe working environments and fostering a culture that respects them as members of society.

Migrant workers are not disposable stopgaps in the Korean economy. The cries of “I can’t endure this any longer” heard on factory floors must be transformed into the hope of “I want to keep working here.” What Korea needs is not a system that binds feet but policies that win hearts. Workplaces where people stay because they want to, where sweat is respected regardless of nationality, should become the future of Korean small businesses. On land where people cannot remain, neither industry nor the future can endure.

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.