"Concealing Industrial Accident Evidence, Preventing Another Kim Beom-seok"... Seo Wangjin Sponsors the 'Coupang Kim Beom-seok Prevention Act'

Kim Beom-seok: "Make sure there is no record of the industrial accident victim working hard"
Bill seeks penalties for destroying, concealing, forging or altering evidence proving the work-relatedness of industrial accidents

Seo Wang-jin, a lawmaker from the Rebuilding Korea Party and a member of the National Assembly’s Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, announced on October 29 that he had sponsored an amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, dubbed the “Kim Beom-seok Prevention Act,” which would punish those who destroy evidence proving the connection between an industrial accident and work.

A Coupang logistics center in Seoul. Yonhap News Agency

The amendment would punish not only those who conceal the fact that an industrial accident occurred, but also those who destroy, conceal, forge or alter evidence needed to prove the connection between an industrial accident and work. Relevant evidence is essential to hold employers accountable for accidents and to conduct investigations into serious accidents and administer workers’ compensation, but current law has no provision punishing the destruction of such evidence.

According to the results of a labor inspection at Coupang announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on October 22, evidence was found that in October 2020, then-Coupang CEO Kim Beom-seok, now chairman of Coupang’s board of directors, instructed others to “make sure there is no record showing that he worked hard” in connection with the industrial accident death of the late Jang Deok-jun, who died while working at a Coupang logistics center. The instruction was reportedly aimed at having evidence proving the work-relatedness of the death “manipulated.”

However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor referred the case to the Public Prosecution Office with a recommendation not to indict, citing the absence of a provision for punishment under current law and, even if such a provision existed, the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations.

Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon also agreed that the law needs to be revised. Responding to a related question from Assemblyman Seo at the ministry’s comprehensive audit before the National Assembly’s Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee on October 27, Kim said, “I agree that the system needs to be improved,” adding, “We will actively cooperate if the National Assembly pursues legislation.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.