A salt farm operator and others who confined, assaulted, and controlled workers, including those with borderline intellectual functioning hired through employment agencies, have been handed over to the prosecution.

The criminal allegations against them came to light through a coincidental 112 emergency call, and labor authorities are conducting an additional investigation as there are indications that they failed to pay proper wages.

The Yeonggwang Police Station in South Jeolla Province announced today (June 25) that it has referred a total of three individuals to the prosecution, including a salt farm owner in his 60s, identified as A, and two employees in their 50s (a man and a woman), who were arrested on charges of assault, confinement, and quasi-fraud.

Operating and managing a salt farm in Yeonggwang County, they are accused of physically assaulting three employees or psychologically controlling (gaslighting) them to prevent them from leaving the workplace.

The three victims, men in their 50s and 60s, worked at the salt farm through employment agencies for as long as approximately three years (two victims) and as short as two and a half months.

The frequency of assault varied by victim, but the investigation revealed that each had been beaten at least once by either the owner or the employees.

Among the victims, B suffered from an acquired disease that left him with impaired intellectual judgment and communication skills, making it difficult for him to manage daily life on his own.

One of the referred employees is also accused of pocketing millions of won in basic livelihood security benefits paid to B.

Police launched an investigation into the case based on a 112 call in late last month reporting that a "vagrant was wandering the streets."

The vagrant reported by the citizen was B, and during an interview, police realized he had been subjected to unfair treatment at the salt farm.

As there are also signs that wages were not paid properly, the special judicial police of the Gwangju Regional Employment and Labor Administration are conducting a separate investigation into potential violations of the Labor Standards Act.

The labor office is focusing on identifying financial transaction records between the owner and the victims, as well as whether employment contracts were signed.

One of the suspects in this case has reportedly been punished in the past for committing similar crimes at a salt farm in another area along the west coast of South Jeolla Province.

Despite public outrage, the so-called "salt farm slave" cases—where vulnerable groups such as the intellectually disabled or the homeless are confined in harsh environments and forced to work without proper compensation like wages—continue to recur.

The issue was brought to light more than 20 years ago through an investigative program by a broadcasting station, which was followed by apologies from local government heads and a massive government-wide comprehensive investigation.

Despite this, human rights abuses and labor exploitation have not been eradicated, and the detection of similar cases and subsequent measures in 2014 repeated like a carbon copy.

Triggered by the 2014 incident, police caught 129 human rights abusers in the island areas of South Jeolla Province, and a sea salt producers' association even held a "self-purification resolution rally."

However, in 2021, another case came to light where an intellectually disabled person escaped after suffering labor exploitation and assault while sleeping only one to two hours a day for seven years.

Last year, it was revealed during a National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee audit of a local prosecutors' office that an intellectually disabled person with an IQ of 42 had been brutally exploited for a long period, suffering from salt toxicity to the extent that most of their teeth and toenails fell out.

Local labor groups, including the Gwangju-Jeonnam Occupational Safety and Health Guard, recently held a press conference to urge institutional improvements, stating, "The limitations of formal investigations by administrative agencies are clear. We must establish a labor rights promotion governance system involving labor groups to devise countermeasures."