Abuse by those in power is so widespread that there is a word for it – ‘gabjil’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

New legislation has come into effect in South Korea that could see employers jailed if they unfairly dismiss employees harassed at work.

Employees in South Korea have traditionally been expected to turn a blind eye to abusive behaviour by those in power – a phenomenon so commonplace that there is a word for it, “gabjil”. A recent government survey found that two-thirds of workers had experienced harassment on the job, while 80% had witnessed it.

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Examples of harassment include staff being ordered to write essays for their manager’s children, perform “sexy dances” for executives or even pluck out their boss’s grey hairs, said labour rights group Workplace Gabjil 119 and other non-profit organisations.

The new law will subject owners of companies that “unfairly demote or dismiss” workers who allege harassment to three years imprisonment or a fine of up to 30m won ($25,000).

Rigid company hierarchies, intense competition for jobs and deference to status are all thought to have contributed to the problem in an economy dominated by family-run conglomerates.

In 2016, a university professor was jailed for abusing his former student and employee, beating him with a baseball bat for taking short breaks and forcing him to eat human faeces.

Nursing is notorious for its harsh training and so-called “burn-to-ashes” brutal work culture, with two recent suicides sparking debate about the sector.

And after the South Korean women’s curling team, nicknamed the “Garlic Girls”, stole the show at last year’s Winter Olympics, they too raised allegations of abuse and exploitation by their coaches.

Park Jeom-gyu, an activist at Workplace Gabjil 119,said that even with the new law, South Korea “still has a long way to go, since it does not directly criminalise the bullies”, only employers who penalise victims for speaking out.

“But it’s still a meaningful step towards change, as more will feel relatively safer to report when they face harassment at work,” he said.

Michael Hurt, a sociologist at the University of Seoul, said the obsession with hierarchy was a legacy of the wartime militarism of former colonial ruler Japan, later adopted by the South’s authoritarian leaders.