One year after the government declared war on industrial accidents, workplace fatalities in the first half hit an all-time low, the Kyunghyang Shinmun reported.

Authorities expanded special inspections of accident-prone sites and intensive checks of hazardous processes, while pressing construction and manufacturing employers to invest in safety.

Analysts credit a mix of tougher oversight, economic factors and automation of dangerous tasks for the decline.

Yet critics say the structure that shifts risk onto subcontracted and gig workers persists, and platform workers remain a statistical blind spot.

Safety training and interpretation support at small workplaces with many foreign workers are also unfinished business — an issue that lands directly on migrant communities, including ethnic Chinese.