Illegal Activities at Construction Sites to Be Strictly Cracked Down Starting Next Month

The government will begin cracking down on illegal and unfair practices at construction sites starting next month.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and the National Police Agency discussed measures to eradicate illegal and unfair practices at construction sites during a relay meeting with the construction industry held at the Seoul Specialized Construction Hall on the 28th. The meeting was attended by public institutions and related organizations including the Korea Construction Association, the Korea Specialty Construction Association, the Specialty Construction Mutual Aid Association, Korea Land and Housing Corporation, the Tower Crane Cooperative, labor attorneys, and construction companies.

The Hwaseong International Theme Park Complex Development Project is a plan to build a futuristic advanced complex city on a 4,189,000㎡ (1,270,000 pyeong) site within Songsan Green City, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi Province. The photo shows the construction site of the international theme park residential complex within Songsan Green City. (The photo is unrelated to the article) Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

At the meeting, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and the National Police Agency announced that they will conduct a survey on illegal activities and carry out on-site guidance and inspections until March 19. Based on these results, they will crack down on illegal activities by type from March 22 to May 31.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will conduct a full survey of illegal activities at construction sites through related associations by the 29th. Afterwards, they plan to intensively inspect illegal activities through a working-level consultative body. This consultative body consists of five regional local land offices, the employment offices of the respective areas, and the provincial police agencies.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor will focus on workplaces where illegal activities have been reported, providing on-site guidance from March 20 to April 19, followed by inspections and crackdowns from April 22 to May 31. The workplaces targeted for on-site guidance by the Ministry include construction sites of entities fined last year for forced recruitment, workplaces that received corrective orders or recommendations for improvement due to violations such as forced recruitment, reported workplaces, construction companies with complaints, and workplaces identified through media reports as having recruitment conflicts.

The National Police Agency stated that since the 14th, it has entered a system of "intelligence gathering and strengthened crackdowns on violent acts at construction sites." The agency will first conduct "pinpoint crackdowns" and, if necessary, proceed with a second special crackdown.

On the same day, Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) also decided to regularize quarterly comprehensive investigations into illegal activities, committing to eradicating illegal and unfair practices at construction sites.

A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport official said, "While illegal practices such as monthly fees have mostly disappeared since the government began efforts to eradicate illegal activities at construction sites from 2022 to 2023, recently, issues have re-emerged where tower crane operators are forced to work excessive overtime and make excessive overtime pay demands, and so-called 'weakness-grabbing reports' are being made to coerce recruitment."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to continue pushing for legislation on the "Five Laws for Construction Normalization" (Construction Industry Act, Construction Machinery Management Act, Judicial Police Duties Act, Labor Union Act, Fair Recruitment Act). These laws aim to strengthen penalties for substandard construction and grant special judicial police investigative authority over illegal activities at construction sites.

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