Minister Kim Yun-duk of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 24th, "Because illegal subcontracting is directly linked not only to shoddy construction but also to construction workers' unpaid wages and safety issues, not a single case should be tolerated."
On this day, Minister Kim visited a construction site for new public sale housing by Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, with Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) to conduct a joint inspection for illegal subcontracting. The two ministers checked on site: ▲ direct construction and subcontracting status by work type ▲ qualifications of subcontractors ▲ whether illegal (re)subcontracting occurred ▲ payment status of subcontract fees and workers' wages ▲ compliance with safety measures.
At the site, the Minister said, "If it is a construction site ordered by a public institution, the ordering public institution must strictly manage subcontracting directly," adding, "If the public sector does not stand firm, the sites will not change."
The Minister continued, "All public institutions that order construction work should strengthen constant inspection and monitoring systems that can block illegal subcontracting in advance, such as LH's in-house 'unfair subcontracting resolution center,' and when problems are identified, take strict action without exception."
The Minister added, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), the lead ministry for construction sites, and the Ministry of Employment and Labor, which is responsible for workers' safety and wages, have jointly carried out on-site crackdowns, showing the government's clear resolve to eradicate illegality at construction sites," emphasizing, "Going forward, the two ministries will continue to join forces to create construction sites without illegality or wage arrears and safe sites where workers can work with confidence."
Minister Kim Young-hoon said, "From the standpoint that the public sector must be a model employer, at construction sites ordered by public institutions we must make special efforts to ensure that safety accidents and wage arrears do not occur," adding, "Next year as well, we will establish a close cooperation system (with MOLIT) and make active efforts to prevent people from dying or being injured at worksites they go to for work, and to prevent the unfair situation of not being paid even after working."
Following the president's directive, MOLIT and the labor ministry also carried out a sweeping crackdown on illegal subcontracting at 1,814 construction sites in August and September. At the time, among 1,228 public works sites, 16 sites (a detection rate of 1.3%) had 27 cases of illegal subcontracting, and among 585 private works sites, 79 sites (a detection rate of 13.5%) had 235 cases.