South Korean workers fed up with bullying are being increasingly emboldened by a new tougher labor law to secretly record alleged abuse or harassment by their bosses, boosting sales of high-tech audio and video devices.
Gadgets disguised as leather belts, eyeglasses, pens and USB sticks are all proving popular with employees in a nation where abusive behavior by people in power is so pervasive that there is a word for it — gabjil.
Several incidents have made international headlines, most notoriously the 2014 Korean Air “nut rage” case in which the airline’s vice president Heather Cho assaulted a crew member over the way she was served macadamia nuts in first class.
Jang Sung-churl, chief executive of electronics firm Auto Jungbo Co Ltd, said that covert recording devices “have been selling like hotcakes” since the government flagged changes to the labor laws late last year.
Under the new legislation, which came into force on July 16, company owners who “unfairly demote or dismiss” workers who allege harassment can be imprisoned for three years or fined up to 30 million won (US$24,876).
Reuters spoke directly with a handful of employees using James Bond-like secret devices and observed about 100 others talking about their use in an online chat room created by lawyers, called Gabjil 119, to give free advice on bullying cases.
Auto Jungbo Co’s sales of voice recorders so far this year have doubled to 80 devices per day, Jang said as he forecast sales to also double this calendar year to 1.4 billion won.
Jang, whose company is one of about 20 across the country selling the devices directly and supplying other retailers, said that other popular devices included electronic car keys and cigarette lighters.
“You can make any shapes, honestly,” he said as he showed his range of devices. “This glasses frame is a camcorder. It’s useful in places you cannot carry some of these devices. The pen is the most popular, though.”
A 34-year-old aircraft engineer using the Gabjil 119 site shared an audio recording of a man he said was his boss using expletives to berate him for taking leave to care for a sick family member.
The engineer, who requested anonymity, made the recording on his phone, but the confrontation convinced him he needed something more discreet, so he bought a USB voice recorder “to carry it with me at all times.”
Gabjil culture in South Korea has been enabled by traditions of deference to status in all walks of life, from schools to family-owned conglomerates.
A few years after Cho ordered her Korean Air plane back to the gate over a bag of nuts, her sister, Emily Cho, an executive with the airline’s parent company, Hanjin Kal Corp, allegedly threw a drink at a business meeting attendee.
In another incident, a video showed Yang Jin-ho, chief executive of tech firm WeDisk, assaulting an employee over performance issues.
Heather Cho resigned from Korean Air’s board and was jailed for several months for obstructing aviation safety. Emily Co publicly apologized and resigned, before returning to Hanjin Kal’s board in June. Yang Jin-ho in December last year was arrested on charges of assault and coercion, and is on trial.
Those high-profile cases resulted in a public outcry that prompted a cultural rethink, leading local media to dub the new legislation the “Yang Jin-ho Prevention Law.”
The South Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor said that 572 employees had used the new law to file complaints against their workplace by Thursday last week, averaging 17.9 cases registered each day.
Gabjil 119 said that about 58 percent of the 1,844 inquiries in the chat room since the labor law related to workplace harassment, a much higher percentage than the 28 percent of the 11,938 inquiries over the previous six months.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
RSS