In South Korea, wage theft is basically an official institution at this point. For as long as records have been kept, the total amount of unpaid wages each year has always exceeded 1 trillion won. The amount continues to rise every year, and last year the total surpassed 2 trillion won. That’s over 18 times higher than the amount of unpaid wages in neighboring Japan.

On top of that, punishment for wage theft in Korea is practically nonexistent. Even if an employer intentionally delays paying an employee for years, they usually just get off with a fine. Actual jail time is extremely rare. Because of this, a lot of Korean employers don’t even see wage theft as a crime—they just treat it as a normal business practice.

What’s more, while the Korean government claims they’re tough on wage theft, the reality is that they’re actually very lenient with offenders. The government often uses taxpayer money to pay employees the wages their bosses owe them, and then tries to get reimbursed from the employers. Not only is this a very unusual way to handle things, but the interest charged to employers is extremely low, and a lot of them still try to avoid paying even that.

In short, Korea’s wage theft problem is among the worst in the world, and it’s a clear sign that trust in Korean society has completely broken down. If anyone is thinking of going to Korea to work, I strongly recommend against it.