South Korean factories replace workers with robots to avoid lawsuits

Kim told Rest of World that \”we’ve had to always find ways to keep ahead\” throughout our history. \”Automation represents the next step of that process.\”

Speefox’s factory is automated to 75%, a sign of South Korea’s ongoing push away from manual labor. South Korea’s minimum wages have risen by 5% in just one year.

The most recent motivation is the legal liability of worker deaths or injuries. In January, a new law called the Serious Disasters Penalty Act came into force. It states that, if workers are killed or suffer serious injuries at work, courts can determine that the company failed to adhere to safety standards. The CEO or senior managers may be fined, or even sent to prison.

Source:
https://restofworld.org/2022/korea-factories-replace-humans-with-robots/