Korean security officer fired over incident with Indonesian factory workers

A video capture from an Instagram user shows a Korean security officer kicking a plastic bag with food and yelling at female workers at a shoe factory in Indonesia. Screen capture from Instagram

By Bahk Eun-ji

A video clip of a Korean security officer behaving aggressively toward local female workers at a Korean shoe factory in Indonesia has spread on social media.

According to some Indonesian news sources and social media posts, the video was filmed inside a shoe factory of Taekwang Industrial in Subang, West Java, Indonesia, March 4. In the clip, a Korean man wearing a mask rants at the women and points at the floor and kicks a bag of food where female factory workers were sitting.

The man then puts his hands on his waist and continues to shout at the workers.

Regarding the clip, criticism mounted among internet users in Indonesia, who said Korean staff at factories should not resort to violence against Indonesian employees in this way, and should be subject to discipline over the abuse.

False rumors also spread that the Korean man kicked one of the female workers.

Some workers there reportedly claimed the food he kicked splattered on them and one of them received a scratch on the back of her hand. Indonesian law enforcement authorities and local labor groups reportedly launched an investigation into the incident.

In response, an official at Taekwang explained that eating food inside the factory was prohibited for hygiene reasons, but the security officer found the female employees eating there.

"Even though he found a bag of food on the floor, the workers kept insisting that they didn't eat. Amid the argument, the security officer kicked the bag after losing his temper," the official told Yonhap News Agency.

The officer is a Korean national. The company said he was fired the morning after the incident.

"We immediately fired the man in accordance with the principle of zero tolerance for violence and harassment in the company," the company official said. "We apologized to the workers. We will make sure such incidents do not recur."

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