Minister of Employment and Labor: "Thorough Quarantine Management for Foreign Workers in Enclosed Workplaces"

On-site Visit Amid Omicron Spread... "All Available Personnel Mobilized"

Minister of Employment and Labor Ahn Kyung-duk. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] An Kyung-duk, Minister of Employment and Labor, stated on the 3rd that "all available personnel should be mobilized to thoroughly inspect workplaces with dense, close-contact, and enclosed environments such as call centers, and any workplaces violating quarantine rules should be immediately reported to local governments."

On the same day, Minister An held a 'Task Force (TF) Meeting for Employment and Labor Crisis Response' at the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office, saying, "As the COVID-19 quarantine situation is rapidly worsening, the Ministry of Employment and Labor must respond with the utmost vigilance and full effort." He added, "Special attention must be paid to ensure that similar cases do not occur at workplaces where cluster infections have happened," and urged, "Agency heads should personally visit sites to guide and inspect the quarantine status of workplaces." He also emphasized, "There must be no gaps in quarantine management for foreign workers whose entries are increasing," stating, "Vaccination status and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results must be thoroughly checked before entry, and meticulous management such as facility quarantine for 10 days after entry must be enforced."

Regarding the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which will be enforced from January 27 next year, Minister An said, "Efforts must be made to ensure the law is quickly established on-site," and added, "Whenever visiting workplaces to inspect quarantine, the preparation status for the law's enforcement and on-site difficulties should be reviewed together, and necessary support should be provided."

That afternoon, he visited the redevelopment construction site of Imun 1 District in Dongdaemun-gu and urged workers to comply with quarantine rules such as wearing masks and maintaining distance in smoking areas. Construction sites are known to be vulnerable to quarantine due to many workers concentrating intensively during short construction periods and often neglecting mask-wearing because of respiratory burdens from physical labor. The Ministry of Employment and Labor explained that special caution is required as workers often smoke together in enclosed spaces without masks or live collectively among foreign workers who have lower vaccination rates compared to Koreans.

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