Planned inspection of Gyeonggi Province hospital begins Tuesday over workplace harassment allegations
All staff to be interviewed for additional victims; labor law violations including working hours also under review
Oversight to expand across small and midsize hospitals; organizational culture consulting to follow
The Ministry of Employment and Labor has launched a special labor inspection of a hospital where a nurse in her 20s died by suicide after enduring workplace harassment. The ministry is using the case as a catalyst to tackle the entrenched "taeum" — a term for the brutal hazing culture among nurses — across the broader hospital industry.
The ministry said Tuesday it had begun a planned inspection of a hospital in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, in connection with the nurse's death.
The deceased is believed to have suffered repeated verbal abuse and unfair treatment from senior nurses, constituting sustained workplace harassment. She resigned in April last year and filed a harassment complaint at the time. A labor office adjudication panel subsequently found some of the allegations substantiated and ordered the hospital to take corrective action.
The ministry said it plans to investigate the harassment allegations against the deceased through the Gyeonggi Regional Employment and Labor Office and its Seongnam branch, while also canvassing all current and former staff for additional victims. Inspectors will also examine the hospital's overall organizational culture and working-hour practices for labor law violations, with strict action to follow if any are confirmed.
The government views the case not as an isolated problem at one hospital but as a structural issue across the industry, and will expand its oversight accordingly. Additional planned inspections will focus on small and midsize hospitals that have repeatedly received workplace harassment complaints or anonymous tip-offs, with the taeum culture as the primary target.
The ministry is also preparing support measures to improve organizational culture. It will expand enrollment of hospitals nationwide in a workplace-innovation consulting program, through which participating hospitals will receive tailored assistance — including organizational culture assessments, harassment-prevention programs and worker-protection frameworks. A survey of harassment prevention and response practices at small and midsize hospitals is currently underway, and the findings will inform future policy reforms.
"I extend my deepest condolences over the tragic death of a nurse in her 20s," Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said. "It is deeply saddening that high-handed workplace harassment between senior and junior nurses still occurs in hospitals." He added that the ministry would "not only respond firmly to this case, but also actively pursue consulting, education and awareness campaigns so that organizational culture and attitudes can fundamentally change."
If you're thinking about self-harm or suicide, contact the Ministry of Health and Welfare's helpline 1393, available 24/7. Please request a translator for English-language services.
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