- F-4 holders made up 31.3% of reported deaths among foreign workers in South Korea in 2025.
- Employers reported 2,182 nonfatal injuries involving F-4 workers, 30.0% of foreign-worker cases.
- F-4 workers accounted for 1,387 cases in early 2026, or 28.6% of reported foreign-worker accidents.
F-4 visa holders were involved in 35 of 112 reported foreign worker deaths in 2025, accounting for 31.3%, according to figures from the South Korean Labor Ministry.
The same employer reports recorded 2,182 nonfatal injury cases involving F-4 workers among 7,271 cases involving foreign workers. That was 30.0% of the total.
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The figures were supplied to Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yong-woo’s office and disclosed on September 28, 2026. They show F-4 workers made up nearly the same share of fatal and nonfatal reports.
The numbers cover reported cases. They do not, by themselves, show the likelihood of injury or death for an individual worker.
The ministry figures count employer reports, not compensation approvals
The Ministry of Employment and Labor data came from industrial accident reports submitted by employers, organized by visa category. F-4 is a visa for overseas ethnic Koreans.
An employer report is not necessarily the final determination on a compensation claim. The figures may differ from cases approved after review by the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service.
That distinction sets the limits of the totals. They describe incidents employers reported, rather than a count of claims ultimately accepted by the compensation agency.
The figures are counts, not rates adjusted for the number of workers in each visa category. They establish how many reported cases involved F-4 workers, but do not compare risk per worker across visa groups.
The same limitation applies when comparing fatal and nonfatal cases. The percentages show F-4 workers’ share of the reported totals; they do not identify why those incidents occurred.
F-4 cases led the foreign-worker totals across five years
The pattern extended beyond 2025. From 2021 through 2025, F-4 workers formed the largest group among foreign-worker industrial accident cases and deaths in each year.
Injury cases involving F-4 workers rose from 859 in 2021 to 2,182 in 2025. Reported deaths in the group increased from 9 to 35 over the same period.
The first-quarter 2026 figures continued to place F-4 workers at the top of the foreign-worker accident count. They accounted for 1,387 cases, or 28.6%, during those three months.
That quarterly share was below the 30.0% recorded for F-4 workers in 2025’s nonfatal cases. The figures cover different periods, however, and do not establish what the full-year 2026 total will be.
The data sharpen calls to include F-4 workers in safety education
The reporting identified a gap in access to some government-run safety training programs: F-4 workers are outside some of them despite their large share of reported accidents and deaths.
The legislative discussion accompanying the figures called for basic safety education to cover a broader range of visa categories, including F-4 workers. The proposal addresses who receives training; the figures themselves do not establish whether training access caused the recorded outcomes.
Lee’s office received the data from the ministry. The same day, reporting also referred to related fatality figures involving Rep. Choi Ki-sang of the Democratic Party of Korea, placing migrant-worker safety among the issues raised in the National Assembly.
The first-quarter count provides the latest measure in the figures: 1,387 reported cases involving F-4 workers, equal to 28.6% of foreign-worker industrial accidents.
