Six years ago, the late Jang Deok-jun, who had been working night shifts for a year and four months at a Coupang logistics center, passed away at his home after finishing work at 4:00 a.m.
Before his death, Jang never once received the special health checkup mandated for those working night shifts for six months or more.
[Park Mi-sook / Mother of the Late Jang Deok-jun : The doctor initially told me, "If he had just received this health checkup, he wouldn't have died like this." That made us even angrier.]
According to the results of an investigation by the Employment and Labor Office in 2020, Coupang failed to conduct special health checkups for 167 night-shift workers at the logistics center, including Jang.
Although a labor inspection was conducted on Coupang, it ended with a mere fine of 10 million won for failing to conduct the special health checkups.
From 2020 until last August, the number of workplaces caught for failing to conduct special health checkups totaled about 3,200.
However, the total fines amounted to approximately 3.6 billion won, averaging about 1.1 million won per workplace.
Even workplaces that did conduct special health checkups fell short on follow-up measures.
While the number of night-shift workers who received special health checkups increased by 26% from 1.01 million in 2016 to 1.28 million in 2024, workers showing signs of illness surged 2.4-fold from 120,000 to about 300,000.
However, 92% of the workers who received illness findings simply continued night shifts while receiving treatment, and only 0.3% were reassigned to day shifts or had their working hours reduced.
In particular, 72% of the workers in the highest-risk category—whom doctors judged "must not perform current work due to concerns of health deterioration or permanent disability"—were still continuing night work.
[Lee Yong-woo / Member, National Assembly Climate and Labor Committee (Democratic Party) : Even though doctors recommend permanent or temporary work suspension, employers tell them to "work while getting treated," driving workers into fatal danger.]
Furthermore, among the 140 workplaces that failed to implement follow-up measures, only 9 were criminally indicted, highlighting the need for supplementary measures.
[Exclusive] "Work Even If the Doctor Stops You"... Neglected Night Shift Workers (Oct. 12, 2026, 8 News)
(Reported by Jeon Hyung-woo, Produced by Choi Yoon-seo, Video Reporting by Lim Woo-shik, Video Editing by Kim Jong-mi, Design by Kim Han-gil, Data provided by the office of Representative Lee Yong-woo, Produced by SBS Digital News)
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