"Accident Caused by Simple Mistake" Yoon Seok-yeol's Remark... Ruling Party Criticizes "Distorted View of Labor"

Yoon Visits Site of Accident Killing 3 Workers
Clarifies "Emphasized Importance of Supervision" Amid Growing Controversy
Flood of Criticism from Ruling Party: "Prosecutor's True Face Shows Lack of Understanding of Labor Value"

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, made an urgent visit on the 2nd to a road paving construction site in Anyang City, Gyeonggi Province, where three workers died in an accident, and is inspecting the site. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, sparked controversy by visiting the site where three workers died in an accident during work and stating that "a mistake caused the accident." Critics pointed out that this claim seems to blame the cause of the construction site accident solely on the workers' personal mistakes, reflecting an 'anti-labor' stance.

On the 2nd, Candidate Yoon visited a road paving construction site in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province.

Previously, on the afternoon of the 1st, three workers laying electrical communication conduits were crushed to death by a nearby roller at this site. The roller driver, Mr. A, got off the roller briefly to remove a safety cone (lava cone) stuck in the roller's wheel. At that moment, the roller started moving again and ran over the three workers working nearby.

In the police investigation, Mr. A stated, "I put the gear lever in neutral to stop the vehicle, but during the process of getting off, my clothes got caught on the gear lever. Then the gear shifted to drive mode, causing the roller to move forward." The police have booked Mr. A on charges of professional negligence causing death and are investigating the specific circumstances of the accident.

Regarding this, Candidate Yoon expressed regret at the accident site, saying, "If only the simple ignition device had been turned off and he had gotten off. That one simple mistake caused a terribly tragic accident."

He added, "The Serious Accident Punishment Act is not about assigning responsibility and handling the aftermath after an accident, but focuses on fundamentally preventing accidents so that they do not occur, which is important."

However, the ruling party strongly opposed Candidate Yoon's remarks. Criticism arose that the accident at the work site was being blamed solely on the individual workers.

At around 6:40 PM on the 1st, three workers were crushed to death by a heavy equipment machine, a floor compaction roller, at a road paving construction site in Manan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi Province. / Photo by Yonhap News

Shin Hyun-young, spokesperson for the Democratic Party's election campaign committee, released a statement on the 2nd saying, "I was horrified by Candidate Yoon's remarks. No matter how much he advocates for 120-hour workweeks and reveals a distorted view of labor, he unnecessarily blamed the workers entirely for the industrial accident at the site he visited."

On the same day, Jeon Yong-gi, spokesperson for the same party's campaign committee, wrote on Facebook, "He blamed the roller vehicle operator, not the company, for the accident responsibility and did not even mention the structural causes or institutional measures to prevent such accidents in industrial sites. This is the true face of a prosecutor who has never personally experienced the value of labor."

Criticism also came from the Justice Party. Kim Chang-in, spokesperson for the Justice Party's campaign committee, said in a briefing, "The police have not yet completed the investigation of the case," and "A presidential candidate defined the deaths of the deceased as 'mistakes,' which is problematic."

Amid growing controversy, Candidate Yoon explained that his remarks were intended to emphasize the importance of supervision at construction sites.

On the afternoon of the same day, after attending a startup policy talk at Signature Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul, Candidate Yoon met with reporters and explained, "The direct cause of the accident was the negligence of the roller driver, but I was saying that the employer should have sufficiently educated, directed, and supervised to prevent such negligence, and the Labor Office should also have properly conducted education and supervision." He added, "Since it is difficult to verify the facts (such as the accident circumstances), I spoke generally."