Unmasking the Shadows: Examining Workplace Violence in South Korea

Abstract

Workplace violence has been an emerging issue in South Korea, garnering both social and scholarly interest over the past decades. Since the early 2000s, the country has witnessed thousands of cases of workplace violence in various sectors of work that range from big, high-profile cases to smaller-scale incidents. In fact, this issue already seems to be deeply ingrained in South Korean society as one in four workers reported having experienced workplace violence in the last year (Lee, 2023). Therefore, reflecting the rapidly growing recognition of and attention on workplace violence, this paper examines the historical background, causes, different types of violence in various sectors of work, consequences, and past attempted solutions of workplace violence. A lack of studies and resolutions was identified in the process of research. Therefore, active government intervention and social involvement in combating workplace violence as well as promoting a healthy workplace environment seems vital.