Chosun Ilbo reported on the 9th that a recent US government report raises forced labor in South Korea, citing physically and intellectually disabled people made to work on salt farms. The issue has already spilled into US import controls and tariff disputes.
In its international pages on the 9th, Chosun Ilbo said the United States had pointed to forced labor in South Korea, with disabled people compelled to work on salt farms as the central example. This article is based on that headline and on publicly available background; the report's exact wording and figures should be checked against the original.
광고 문의 · 300×250Not a new problem but an old one
The so-called salt farm slavery in Sinan, South Jeolla, in which disabled workers labored with little or no pay, came to light in 2014 when Seoul police began an undercover inquiry after a missing-person report. Dozens of disabled people were rescued and dozens of farm owners and job brokers were indicted, but police and officials responsible for oversight went unpunished, drawing heavy criticism.
In 2019 the Supreme Court upheld a ruling that the state must compensate three men exploited on island salt farms, finding that local officials and police had failed to monitor conditions. Yet in 2021 about a dozen workers at Taepyung salt farm on Jeungdo were found to have suffered forced labor and wage theft, and in 2022 lawyers and activists petitioned US Customs to act.
US Customs and Border Protection issued a withhold release order on Taepyung products in early April 2025, citing indicators such as abuse of vulnerability, deception, restricted movement, retention of identity documents, debt bondage, withheld wages, excessive overtime and physical violence. The farm reportedly produces about 16,000 tons a year, roughly 6 percent of Korea's sun-dried salt. Seoul's Foreign Ministry then said agencies had been working on improvements since 2021 and that it did not believe the salt now produced was made with forced labor.
From labor abuse to trade dispute
Last December the Mokpo branch of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office indicted and detained salt farm owners accused of exploiting an intellectually disabled worker and taking his money. Seoul Shinmun reported that the victim lost more than 96 million won in wages over about ten years from 2014. In June this year the US Trade Representative included Taepyung in its trade barriers report and noted that Korea does not restrict imports of forced-labor goods.
From July 24 the United States imposed 10 to 12.5 percent forced-labor tariffs on 60 countries, replacing reciprocal tariffs the Supreme Court had ruled unconstitutional. Korea was set at 12.5 percent and Taiwan at 10 percent. Australia, Japan and others rejected the premise that they have forced labor, and lawsuits challenging the tariffs' legal basis are under way in the United States.
A domestic human-rights failure is thus also being used as grounds in a trade dispute. Seoul will gain credibility abroad only by showing real inspections of salt farm labor, protection for victims, punishment of offenders and stronger oversight. For foreign workers and the Chinese community in Korea as well, working conditions and employment contracts remain a shared social concern.
