More than 4,000 cases of industrial accidents had not been reported in South Korea for the past five years, government data showed Thursday.
A total of 4,146 cases of non-reported industrial accidents had been found through supervision in recent five years, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor data unveiled by Noh Woong-rae, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party.
The number annually stayed above 700, with 922 in 2019, 750 in 2020, 1,283 in 2021, 853 in 2022, and 338 for the first eight months of 2023.
The corresponding businesses were fined 25.73 billion won (19.2 million U.S. dollars) in total for the past five years.
By law, employers are required to report an industrial accident within one month if the accident causes a death or an injury demanding treatment without working for at least three days.
Failure to do so results in imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won (7,460 U.S. dollars).
Including the hidden cases, the number of non-reported industrial accidents would have been higher than detected, the lawmaker office said.
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