Inside a greenhouse in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, the temperature surpassed 38 degrees Celsius on August 6, when a severe heat wave warning was in effect across the region.

A Nepali migrant worker in his 30s, identified only as A, bent at the waist to pull weeds among rows of chives at 2:10 p.m. — the hottest part of the day. His face and blue cotton T-shirt were soaked in sweat.

"It's hot," he said. When asked whether he could take a break, he replied, "My employer says I need to keep working."

No cooling measures, not even a fan, were visible inside the greenhouse. A, who arrived in Korea three years ago, said he works 10-hour shifts starting at 6:30 a.m.

"When it becomes too unbearable, I go to a workstation next to the greenhouse for water," he said.

Government-issued guidelines recommend suspending all nonessential outdoor work and granting workers a break every two hours when a severe heat wave warning is in effect. At the farm that day, however, the guidelines appeared to be largely disregarded.

Other migrant workers encountered during a two-hour field reporting period recounted similar conditions. A Malaysian worker in his 20s tending a young napa cabbage field said he was unaware of any heat wave safety guidelines, including mandated break times.

"There is no such thing," he said. He added that he could not rest even on weekends due to the volume of work. When asked how he copes with the heat, he said he simply endures it by drinking water.

At another greenhouse roughly a 10-minute drive away, three female migrant workers in their 20s and 30s were harvesting zucchini and placing the vegetables into baskets.

"It's hot," "It's hard," they repeated, sweating heavily. They pointed to the cooling vests fitted with small fans that they were wearing. "Still, this makes it better," they said, though they declined to say whether the farm owner had supplied the vests or they had purchased them personally.

The daytime temperature in Pocheon soared to 39 degrees Celsius that day.

Under the Rules on Occupational Safety and Health Standards, employers are required to give workers at least a 20-minute break every two hours at worksites where the apparent temperature reaches 33 degrees or higher. The Ministry of Employment and Labor also recommends suspending outdoor work between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. when the apparent temperature reaches 35 degrees or higher, and halting all outdoor work except emergency operations at 38 degrees or above.

Yet across the farms visited, it was difficult to find workers receiving the legally mandated breaks. The work-stoppage thresholds remain recommendations rather than enforceable mandates, making it difficult to penalize farm owners who fail to comply.

"Stopping work for just one day would cost us millions of won," one farm owner said when asked why operations were continuing despite the heat wave. "How can they tell us simply to stop working without offering any support?"

South Korea's agricultural sector has grown increasingly dependent on migrant labor under the Employment Permit System as the country's rural population ages and its overall fertility rate remains the lowest among OECD nations. Workers like those in Pocheon, employed on non-professional (E-9) visas, are typically tied to a single employer, limiting their ability to raise safety concerns or change jobs without risking their legal status.

As labor continued in the sweltering conditions, heat-related illnesses mounted nationwide. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, 2,665 cases of heat-related illness were reported across the country between May 15 and August 5, with 23 people estimated to have died. Gyeonggi Province recorded 612 cases, including two deaths — the highest figure among the 16 cities and provinces tallied.

Fatalities among migrant workers have continued to mount. On July 4, a Vietnamese worker in his 20s collapsed and died while cutting grass in Goesan, North Chungcheong Province. On July 25, a Thai worker in his 30s died after complaining of dizziness while working in a field in Haenam, South Jeolla Province. On August 8, a migrant worker was found dead in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, a day after she left work complaining of feeling unwell.

"The government has drawn up heat wave safety guidelines, but at migrant labor sites, they might as well be talking about another world," said Kim Dal-sung, head of the Pocheon Migrant Workers Center, who accompanied the reporting team. "Workers are being forced to work even under heat wave warnings, sometimes at the cost of their lives. Safety regulations to protect workers must be made enforceable."

This article was originally published by the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, and was translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.

Source: The Korea Times