Seven years on, half of workplace harassment victims still suffer in silence

Nearly seven years after South Korea enacted a law banning workplace harassment, about three in 10 workers still report experiencing it — and more than half of victims say they endured the abuse in silence rather than filing a complaint, a new survey shows.

While the number of complaints has risen sharply, cases resulting in actual punishment remain rare, prompting calls to strengthen enforcement.

According to a survey commissioned by civic group Workplace Harassment 119 and conducted by polling firm Global Research from June 1 to 9, 32.1 percent of 1,000 full-time workers aged 19 and older nationwide said they had experienced workplace harassment in the past year.

Among those who reported being harassed, 55.1 percent said they did nothing — either enduring the situation or pretending not to notice.

The most common reason for not filing a complaint was a belief that doing so would change nothing, cited by 49.0 percent of respondents. Another 30.1 percent said they feared retaliation at work. The findings suggest that despite the existence of a formal reporting system, concerns about reprisals and the law's limited effectiveness remain widespread.

The workplace harassment prohibition took effect in July 2019 under an amendment to the Labor Standards Act. Employers are required to investigate immediately upon receiving a complaint or becoming aware of harassment, protect victims and refrain from retaliating against those who report it.

Yet even as complaints have surged since the law took effect, actual punishment has remained limited, critics say.

According to Workplace Harassment 119, complaints filed with regional labor offices nearly tripled — from 5,823 in 2020 to 16,373 in 2025.

Of those, only 231 cases, or 1.4 percent, resulted in fines, and just 101 cases, or 0.6 percent, were referred to prosecutors with a recommendation for indictment.

Among the cases referred to prosecutors that have since been resolved, 26.7 percent received a suspended indictment — a disposition in which charges are acknowledged but prosecution is waived in light of mitigating circumstances.

"Behind the years of stagnation on workplace harassment lies passive law enforcement," Workplace Harassment 119 said, calling on the government to clearly define in law the scope of secondary harm that can follow a complaint and to toughen sanctions against retaliation.