[Initial Moment] The Nation in Crisis, Delivery Workers

On the 21st, members of the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee visited the parcel sorting workplace at CJ Logistics Gangnam 2 Branch Terminal in Seocho-gu, Seoul, to listen to the difficulties faced by delivery workers in order to identify the causes and prepare countermeasures for the recent series of presumed overwork-related deaths among delivery workers. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] How will history record the year 2020? The sight of the entire nation covering their faces with masks and living daily life is something hardly imaginable. Sometimes, it feels as if we have stepped into a scene from a novel or movie depicting a bleak dystopia. Although human history is long, it is understood in specific segments. Could it be that we are a generation living through such a decisive period of great transformation?

While treatments and vaccines will emerge, the shockwave brought by COVID-19 will last a long time. Amid these changes, a different way of life may take root. The delivery packages left at the door, which started arriving at dawn at some point, often elicited exclamations of how convenient the world has become. It was considered an indispensable service, especially when non-face-to-face interactions became inevitable.

However, what is visible is always just a part. The saying that the elegance of a swan cannot appear without the desperate paddling beneath the water came to mind. This is due to the successive tragic news about delivery workers.

"It's too hard," might have been dismissed as a common complaint. But when hearing specifics like "I went out carrying 420 packages today," "I get home at 5 PM, eat, wash up, and then head straight to the terminal without a moment's rest," his 'hardship' hits more painfully. The convenient delivery service was based on grueling labor beneath the surface, so intense it could break ankles.

COVID-19 has brought suffering not only to the infected but also to many others like this. There is also an aspect stemming from the unwillingness to properly bear the costs accompanying fundamental social changes.

While reducing working hours is the trend, the fact that about ten delivery workers have died from overwork this year starkly reveals a significant gap in our society. The task force composed of representatives from labor, religious sectors, and others asserted that this cannot be called anything but "structural murder."

Attitudes toward death can be seen as an indicator of a society's level. Anthropologists sometimes use traces of ancient peoples' funeral cultures as a means to gauge civilization.

Politics must fundamentally function in addressing such issues. It must resolve various problems arising from the lack of systems and awareness suited to this era of change. If it cannot help the citizens in greatest crisis, it does not deserve to utter the word "citizen" at all.

Yeouido is overflowing with political controversies. Following the Minister of Justice's son, suspicions of involvement in a notorious financial fraud case are enveloping the National Assembly like clouds. Of course, this may include tasks to resolve structural problems within not only the political sphere but also the prosecution. However, if we become fixated only on this and fail to focus on preventing immediate tragedies, wouldn't that be problematic? It is urgent to establish a vision fitting the era of "post-COVID" and to provide support and measures for those suffering in the process.

The task force demanded, "Let us definitely break this horrific chain of deaths," calling for the separate deployment of sorting personnel, reduction of working hours, effective government measures to prevent delivery workers' deaths from overwork, and the promotion of social discussions for social monitoring.