YESAN, SOUTH KOREA - South Korea has stepped up heat protections for foreign seasonal workers after two foreign workers died while working in extreme heat.
Vice Minister for Disaster and Safety Management Kim Gwang-yong visited farms in Yesan County on Aug. 9 to inspect conditions for foreign seasonal workers, including whether rest periods were being observed.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said the visit followed deaths of foreign workers while working in hot conditions in Haenam and Hongseong counties.
Officials distributed heat-illness prevention material in 18 languages and cooling supplies while emphasizing access to water, shade and rest. Farm operators and local authorities were also urged to keep workers away from outdoor work during the hottest hours and ensure they can move to cooler areas when conditions become dangerous.
Some protections are legally binding and apply to workers generally, rather than only migrants. Under occupational-safety rules in force since July 2025, employers generally must provide at least 20 minutes of rest within every two-hour period for heat-wave work when apparent temperature reaches 33 C or higher.
A limited exception applies where taking rest is extremely difficult because of the nature of the work and specified personal cooling measures are provided.
Separate staged outdoor-work measures are government recommendations rather than a blanket statutory work-stoppage requirement. At an apparent temperature of 33 C, employers are urged to adjust working hours or shorten outdoor work.
At 35 C, the Labor Ministry recommends stopping outdoor work between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.; at 38 C, it strongly recommends stopping non-emergency outdoor work.
“The most important thing amid the continuing heat is the lives and safety of workers in the field,” Kim said, calling on farm owners and local governments to ensure foreign seasonal workers and other agricultural workers receive sufficient rest and avoid the most dangerous working hours.
Separately, the Labor Ministry is carrying out a wider heat-safety enforcement campaign. Concentrated inspections at 1,000 high-risk workplaces are running from Aug. 3 through Aug. 14, covering heat-exposed and confined-space work in industries including construction, shipbuilding, logistics and manufacturing.
The Interior Ministry said joint inspections with central and local authorities would continue while heat alerts remain, with particular attention to workers and other groups considered vulnerable to heat-related illness.
The Labor Ministry’s special heat-safety inspection and supervision effort is scheduled to continue through Sept. 30.
