Breakneck efforts to expand the economy is exacting an enormous human price in South Korea. Thousands of workers are killed or crippled every year in what critics claim is the world's highest industrial accident rate. The economic miracle has transformed South Korea in 30 years from a poor, backward nation into an industrial powerhouse, but little attention has been paid to the cost of the rapid growth. An average of five workers are killed and 390 are injured every day in accidents in every kind of workplace, from huge factories and shipyards to backstreet sweatshops employing two or three people. In 1987, 1,761 workers were killed in job accidents and 25,244 were maimed, according to government figures. In the three years from 1985 to 1987, 5,139 workers were killed and 66,991 were maimed, the figures show. The number of serious accidents is increasing as the economy grows. The accident rate rose from 654 deaths and 2,717 crippling accidents in 1972 to the 1987 total, the figures show. The Korean Federation of Labor Unions and academic experts, using figures from international labor sources, contend South Korea has the world's highest industrial accident rate. Safety standards are not enforced and the government and businesses are concerned only with economic growth, they claim. South Korea's accident rate is five times greater than neighboring Japan's or Taiwan and about 15 times higher than Western nations, officials said. Labor Ministry officials deny that South Korea has the world's worst accident rate, but said they did not know of a nation with a higher one. The International Labor Organization, an arm of the United Nations in Geneva, said it does not compile comparative figures on industrial accidents. Government officials acknowledge that little has been done to enforce safety and health regulations and many people work in dangerous conditions. The government wants to cut the accident rate in half by 1990, they say. ``It's shameful to have such a high industrial accident rate,'' said Kim Jung-kyu, who heads the Ministry of Labor's safety section. Labor union activists maintain that the main causes of accidents are poor working conditions and pressure on workers to meet production schedules at any price. Many factories have little or no safety gear, and workers spend up to 12 hours a day in deafening, poorly lit and overheated workspaces where they become fatigued and easily make mistakes that cause accidents, activists said. ``Many workers spend their days in terrible, dehumanizing conditions where they are considered virtually expendable. There are always more workers ready to work,'' said one activist. Past authoritarian governments played a major role in planning and directing South Korea's rapid economic and industrial expansion. The governments allowed businesses to ignore or scrimp on safety and helped suppress labor protests. The Labor Ministry's safety section, which is responsible for enforcing safety nationwide for more than 6 million industrial workers, has a staff of 13 people. While insisting that the government attitude has changed, Kim said safety still is ignored by many employers. Many companies save money by not installing safety devices or training workers to use equipment, he said. Park Sang-nak, a top safety official with the Korean Federation of Labor Unions, said it is cheaper for companies to pay compensation to injured workers than spend money on safety equipment. Employers pay marginal compensation for accident victims under Korean law. Maximum compensation for the family of a worker killed in an accident provides enough money to live on for just two or three years, officials said. The growing sophistication of Korean industry is adding to safety problems and accident rates, rather than cutting them as in other nations, officials say. Many companies eager to get ahead often introduce advanced equipment before their workers are capable of using it safely, government and labor officials said. ``Companies have gotten big by using new tools, advanced technology and dangerous chemicals,'' Park said. ``But workers have not been given adequate education or training.'' But Kim of the Labor Ministry said many workers are indifferent to safety and he claimed that carelessness is one of the main causes of accidents. ``Many workers do not wear helmets, goggles or heat-proof clothing even when it is provided.'' Labor unions and political parties are pressing the government to take drastic action to enforce safety regulations and cut accidents. Poor safety is the second main cause of strikes after wage demands. President Roh Tae-woo's administration, which took office in February, says it wants to drastically reduce industrial accidents as part of its efforts to improve life for the working classes. Roh hopes to attract more public support for his administration and defuse potential worker unrest. The government no longer automatically sides with management and has encouraged companies to give raises and other concessions. The Labor Ministry plans a major survey of businesses to ensure safety regulations are enforced and to cut accidents by more than half by 1990. But a government plan to increase safety spending by 280 percent in 1989 will still mean just $17.4 million is available _ far below the levels of most industrial nations. Plans for more safety inspectors will add just a few dozen personnel. Labor leaders call the plan inadequate.
