The government will begin joint public-private inspections to curb unpaid wages and overdue equipment payments at construction sites.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Gyeonggi Province and the Korea Construction Equipment Association will start inspections on May 11 at 108 major construction sites in the Seoul area. Targets include 96 sites suspected of illegal subcontracting and 12 sites where payment-arrears complaints have been filed.
The inspections are the first activity of a newly formed joint support team aimed at resolving payment arrears at construction sites. The team will be led by the first vice minister of land. The land ministry said it has conducted ongoing checks since November 2023 with five regional land management offices and local governments, but those efforts had limits in raising awareness in the field.
Inspectors will check for illegal subcontracting and for overdue construction payments, equipment fees and wages. The land ministry, Seoul and Gyeonggi will focus on illegal subcontracting. If violations are confirmed, authorities plan administrative penalties such as business suspensions and fines, and will pursue criminal complaints in serious cases.
The land ministry and the Korea Construction Equipment Association will jointly review whether equipment payments are overdue, cross-checking site records to identify harm to small equipment operators. The review will also cover alleged unfair practices related to monthly payments to tower crane operators.
The labor ministry will deploy labor inspectors for surprise on-site checks, focusing on contractors with worksites where serious accidents have been frequent and on sites with multiple past wage-arrears cases. It said sites with illegal subcontracting are more likely to see serious accidents or wage theft.
Authorities will also verify compliance with safety measures in higher-risk subcontracted work such as structural framing, civil engineering and plastering. They will check whether wages are overdue and whether wages are being paid directly, and will take action under relevant laws if violations are found.
Kim I-tak, first vice minister of land, said disputes between construction companies and workers are increasing as “worsening domestic and external conditions” lead to unpaid construction bills and wage arrears. “We will work with relevant agencies to support resolving arrears and normalizing worksites,” he said.
Kwon Chang-jun, vice minister of employment and labor, said illegal subcontracting at construction sites is a serious issue that can lead to wage arrears and industrial safety problems. “We will thoroughly check compliance with occupational safety and health measures and violations of labor-related laws,” he said.
In September last year, President Lee Jae-myung said at a Cabinet meeting that wage arrears are a “serious crime,” adding that penalties have been too weak and that violators should be punished severely. Late last year, he said the problem remained serious and called for a policy approach that goes beyond existing methods.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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