labor
Undocumented Workers: International Students As South Korea's Migrant Labor
One day in his elective class, Cương just couldn’t stay awake. Whenever the professor started talking, Cương’s eyelids started to feel heavy. His head dropped down to his desk, seemingly on its own. The professor noticed. After class, Cương, an international student from Vietnam, explained to her that
Dear Customer, I Love You: Emotional Labor at South Korean Call Centers
One call center is bringing back its old greeting: “Dear customer, I love you.” The needlessly romantic phrase appeared in mid 2006, but was put to an end in little more than two years after accusations that forcing call center workers to address callers “with love” constituted “emotional
Misfortunes of South Korean Security Guards
A few years ago, I saw a notice up in the elevator of my apartment in Seoul. It was about replacing security guards — at least fifty in all seven buildings of the compound — with machines. The resident representative announced that a “new security system” would curtail management expenses.
"A Day Without Women" on the Streets of South Korea
Today was International Women’s Day, and South Korean women took this celebration to another level. Korean Women Workers Association (KWWA) held a “Day Without Women” march in downtown Seoul and other cities nationwide, calling out for women to fight against the gender wage gap.
What Happened at Samsung Factory in Vietnam?
Samsung is having a terrible week. First its de facto head Lee Jae-yong was charged on Tuesday with multiple crimes in connection with the Choi Soon-sil scandal. He is accused of, among other things, embezzling company funds to bribe Choi, to get favorable treatment from the government. That same day,