President Lee Jae Myung holds a meeting on industrial disasters at an SPC Samlip Co. factory in Siheung, some 30 kilometers southwest of Seoul, on July 25, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 25 (Korea Bizwire) – President Lee Jae Myung on Friday visited a factory where a worker was killed after getting caught in a machine, saying he will stop industrial accidents from repeating themselves.
The plant in Siheung, some 30 kilometers southwest of Seoul, is where a woman in her 50s was killed in May after her upper body got caught in a conveyor belt during lubrication work.
It belongs to SPC Samlip Co., a confectionery unit under SPC Group.
“I pray for the souls of all the workers who passed away at industrial sites,” Lee said while presiding over a meeting at the plant on industrial disasters. “I will create without fail a society where people do not die, a society where workplaces are happy and a society that is safe.”
Lee referred to his own experience working as a child laborer at a baseball glove factory, which left him with a disabled arm.
“I too am a former laborer and a victim of industrial disaster, but several decades later, there are still too many workers dying at labor sites,” he said.
Lee called for drawing up “realistic and detailed” measures to reduce the fatality rate from industrial accidents, noting the country has posted the highest rate among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
“If industrial disasters occur inevitably and accidentally in an unforeseeable situation, that is understandable,” he said. “But if the same accident repeats itself at the same site and in the same way, there is a problem.”
In response, SPC Samlip announced a plan to invest an additional 62.4 billion won (US$45.2 million) by 2027 to improve worker safety.
The investment will focus on upgrading safety equipment, automating hazardous tasks, enhancing the working environment and strengthening the safety of machinery, according to CEO Kim Beom-soo.
The company also pledged to spend more than 8 billion won to increase safety personnel and establish a stronger safety culture.
In 2022, SPC Group previously committed to investing 100 billion won over three years to enhance workplace safety.
(Yonhap)
