Company that made employees do 'updeureo ppeotchyeo' and beat them with sticks... Hit hard by Ministry of Labor sanctions

Ministry of Labor Conducts Special Labor Inspection on The K-Tech
17 Violations of Labor Relations Laws Detected

It has been confirmed that the assault and workplace harassment by the founder of the manpower dispatch company The K-Tech, as reported in the media, are true.

On the 10th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that it had uncovered 17 violations of labor-related laws during a special labor inspection conducted on The K-Tech from May to August. Among these, the Ministry filed criminal charges for 9 cases and imposed fines totaling 21.9 million KRW.

At The K-Tech, it was the founder, Mr. Lee, not the CEO, who led the assault and harassment of employees. The inspection revealed that Mr. Lee forced employees to perform tasks unrelated to their work, such as driving for personal reasons or enforcing dieting. Additionally, employees who did not follow his instructions were required to write self-criticism reports or received warnings. Disciplinary actions were also taken for reasons such as improper care of flowerpots or poor attire and attitude, as well as for not responding to contact outside working hours. Due to these reasons, the salaries of 38 employees were reduced by a total of 6.74 million KRW.

In particular, the founder ordered all headquarters employees to obtain two certifications each. When some employees failed to acquire the certifications, he forced 16 employees to do push-ups three times and verbally abused them with phrases like "You can't even take care of your own damn kids," and even struck their buttocks with a stick.

It was also confirmed that discrimination occurred during hiring based on gender and age. Mr. Lee instructed, "Give extra points to women born in 1996 or later and encourage them to participate in interviews," and openly posted age-discriminatory job advertisements such as "Women in their early 20s" and "Preference given to ages 40-65." Furthermore, the founder made hateful and discriminatory remarks such as "Those over 190 cm tall are not smart," and "It's easier to scold male employees."

The Act on Equal Employment and Support for Work-Family Reconciliation and the Act on Employment of Older Persons prohibit discrimination based on gender during hiring and personnel management, and forbid requiring physical conditions such as appearance, height, or weight that are not necessary for job performance. They also prohibit age discrimination without reasonable grounds.

Additionally, The K-Tech was found to have withheld wages amounting to 79.7 million KRW and exceeded the overtime work limit (12 hours) 1,770 times. The workplace harassment and discrimination cases at The K-Tech caused a major social uproar after the founder’s recorded audio was publicly released on a major broadcast in May.

Minister of Labor Lee Jeong-sik stated, "It has been revealed that the employer committed very serious illegal acts infringing on the basic human rights of workers in the workplace," and added, "We will use all means to strictly punish such illegal acts so that they never occur again in industrial sites."

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