Rising numbers of workplace bullying reported in South Korea

Nearly 40,000 cases of verbal abuse, bullying and other forms of workplace harassment have been reported in South Korea in the last five years. However, less than 5% of the cases resulted in any serious repercussions.

This is according to South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labour, which is seeking to improve the system’s effectiveness.

Despite the revision of the Labour Standards Act, which calls for workplace harassment to be punishable by law in 2019, the number of bullying reports has been steadily increasing each year totalling around 39,316 cases up to May this year. Out of these cases, 38,732 have been processed, with 4,005 cases where corrective guidance was given, 501 cases resulting in fines and 709 cases referred to the prosecution for further investigation, of which only 302 or 0.78% of the total processed cases, were indicted.

In 11,998 of the cases, the victims withdrew the reports, while in 11,301 cases, the ministry or the police concluded there were no legal violations.

Few cases resulted in any sort of indictment because only one law clause stipulates a criminal penalty: an employer should not fire or treat any employee who reports workplace bullying badly. Employers who violate this are subject to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won (US$21,800).

Last year, only 4.3% of reported cases resulted in relatively strong measures of fines or prosecution referrals, highlighting the need for improvements to enhance the system’s effectiveness, reported The Korea Times.

READ MORE: Few report workplace bullying in S. Korea despite legal protections 

In response, the government is working on improving the system, including clarifying the criteria for bullying. For instance, countries like France, Norway, and Australia have in place the term “persistence or repetition” in the definition of bullying.