23-Year-Old Late Lee Seonho, Crushed by 300kg: "My Hope" to Father

Song Young-gil, Leader of the Democratic Party
"My Father is 'My Hope'"
"Can't Stop Tears... Backward Economic System"
Worked Part-time to Earn Tuition at Father's Workplace
Tragic Accident While Handling Containers Under Principal's Orders

The funeral hall of the late Lee Seon-ho set up at Anjung Baek Hospital in Pyeongtaek City (Captured from Yonhap News TV broadcast)

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 10th regarding the death of the late Lee Seon-ho, who died while loading cargo containers at Pyeongtaek Port pier, “When I was shown Lee Seon-ho’s father’s KakaoTalk profile where his son’s name was set as ‘My Hope,’ I couldn’t stop my tears.”

At the 'Solidarity and Symbiosis' policy symposium held at the Baekbeom Kim Koo Memorial Hall in Seoul that day, Representative Song mentioned his condolence visit and said this. He added, “Even now, our sons and daughters are being sacrificed at industrial accident sites,” and said, “A backward economic system that grows at the expense of someone’s sacrifice can no longer be maintained. This is a time that requires wisdom.”

Lee Seon-ho died on the 22nd of last month at Pyeongtaek Port pier in Pyeongtaek City, Gyeonggi Province, when a 300kg support collapsed and crushed him underneath. It is known that after being discharged from the military, Seon-ho had been working part-time for over a year at a subcontractor of the container quarantine office where his father worked to earn pocket money. While organizing wooden plywood pieces of FRC (foldable open-type container), the container support collapsed, and he was crushed by the FRC steel plate wing weighing about 300kg, resulting in his death.

Open container where the accident occurred. (Photo by Lee Seon-ho, Industrial Accident Death Countermeasures Committee)

Seon-ho worked as a daily worker at a subcontractor responsible for customs inspection at Pyeongtaek Port, but on the day of the accident, he was suddenly assigned by the primary contractor to assist with container-related tasks and suffered the tragedy. At the time of the accident, he was placed at a site without a safety manager or signal person, and it was investigated that he was not provided with safety equipment.

Lee Jae-hoon, Seon-ho’s father, said on CBS Radio’s 'Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show' about the day of the accident, “He was trying to help foreign workers when this happened,” and added, “Even I, having worked for 8 years, have never been assigned to container dismantling work, but (my son was assigned as an assistant for the first time).”