Controversy over Korean-language textbook for migrant workers

Textbook tells foreign worker who complained about rude speech: 'I misunderstood'

Teachers and academics say material normalizes authoritarian workplace culture

"Workplace Korean 2," a standard Korean-language textbook produced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea under the Employment Permit System. The book contains a dialogue explaining a supervisor's use of informal speech and shouting as signs of familiarity and safety concern — a framing that has stirred controversy. [Human Resources Development Service of Korea]
"Workplace Korean 2," a standard Korean-language textbook produced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea under the Employment Permit System. The book contains a dialogue explaining a supervisor's use of informal speech and shouting as signs of familiarity and safety concern — a framing that has stirred controversy. [Human Resources Development Service of Korea]

A Korean-language textbook produced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea is drawing criticism for content that in effect justifies a supervisor's use of informal speech and shouting toward a foreign worker — and frames the worker's discomfort as a misunderstanding, a stance critics say runs counter to the government's own labor rights commitments.

The textbook in question, "Workplace Korean 2," is a standard teaching resource under the Employment Permit System (EPS) and includes a dialogue on workplace communication.

In the dialogue, a migrant worker named Carlo complains that his manager keeps speaking to him informally. Another character explains that the manager uses informal speech because he considers Carlo a close acquaintance, adding that in Korea it is common to speak informally to people one is close to — some even speak that way to their parents.

When Carlo says the manager sometimes speaks in a frightening tone, the other character responds that the shouting during work is meant to prevent accidents. The exchange ends with Carlo concluding: "So the manager wasn't looking down on me" and "I misunderstood him."

The textbook follows the dialogue with comprehension questions asking learners whether the manager uses informal speech to disrespect Carlo, and why the manager raises his voice at work — with students directed to answer based on the dialogue.

Teachers working in the field say the material goes beyond language instruction and steers learners toward accepting an authoritarian workplace culture.

Lee Chang-yong, head of the Korean Language Teachers' Branch of the Workplace Harassment 119 Online Union, said on social media that learners are effectively left with no choice but to conclude that the manager was not disrespecting them and that they had misunderstood. "Korean language teachers are in effect required to teach that as the correct answer," Lee said. "I want to ask whether this can really be called labor rights education."

Other Korean language teachers joined the criticism. One said Carlo's final line should have been: "Then can I also shout while working? It's to prevent accidents, after all." Another said that while such a dialogue might make sense if designed to explain workplace harassment, the current version reads as a justification of informal speech and shouting.

A third teacher drew a pointed comparison: if a textbook noted that folding one's arms is a sign of respect in Myanmar, it would need to include a scene of a Korean employer saying "I misunderstood because I didn't know Myanmar culture" to qualify as intercultural education. "This textbook doesn't show a worker who misunderstood," the teacher said. "It looks like it's telling workers to accept a superior's verbal aggression by dressing it up as a reasonable explanation."

Academics also weighed in. Park No-ja — the Korean name of Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo in Norway — said on social media that the textbook reveals the Employment and Labor Ministry's level of sensitivity to human rights. "If domestic students were taught this way, it would have been a serious problem," Park said, adding that the textbook should be revised without delay.

At the heart of the controversy is the textbook's handling of a migrant worker's legitimate discomfort with informal speech and shouting. Rather than examining whether the supervisor's conduct was appropriate, the narrative steers the foreign worker toward revising his own perception. Critics say the material frames the issue as a cultural misunderstanding on the worker's part, not as conduct that warrants scrutiny.

Footage showing a Sri Lankan migrant worker being lifted while tied to forklift cargo at a brick production factory in Naju, South Jeolla Province, has been released, stirring controversy. [South Jeolla Migrant Workers Network]
Footage showing a Sri Lankan migrant worker being lifted while tied to forklift cargo at a brick production factory in Naju, South Jeolla Province, has been released, stirring controversy. [South Jeolla Migrant Workers Network]

Some critics note a contradiction at the heart of the ministry's approach: while the Employment and Labor Ministry publicly emphasizes the prevention of workplace harassment and the protection of labor rights, its migrant worker curriculum sends a message that tolerates authoritarian conduct by superiors. In actual industrial workplaces, repeated shouting or demeaning language can constitute grounds for a workplace harassment finding.

Meanwhile, the ministry has recently been running a "Respect Migrant Workers" campaign at industrial sites across the country, promoting the message: "Call them by name, not 'hey' or 'you.'" At a campaign event held in Gwangju last month, the ministry said it would work to reform entrenched naming practices and spread a culture of respect for fellow workers.


fact0514@heraldcorp.com