The South Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor recently reported a decrease in the number of wage arrears cases for 2025 compared to the previous year; however, the total amount of unpaid wages has reached a record high. President Lee Jae-myung praised the efforts of Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon and the ministry, attributing the reduction of wage arrears to their diligent work. Despite the reported clearance rate improvement of 90.2%, this has been achieved largely through significant government disbursements, illustrating a reliance on taxpayer money to remedy systemic failures in addressing wage theft.

Over the past decade, wage arrears in South Korea have reached a staggering 16.3 trillion won, affecting nearly 2.95 million workers, with 5.3 trillion won allocated from taxpayer funds to address these issues. The construction industry, faced with a sharp decline in housing starts, has seen wage arrears rise nearly doubled from 2015 to projections for 2024. The article argues that South Korea, despite being the sixth-largest exporter, is failing to protect its workers from wage theft, branding it not as a developed nation but as a "wage arrear republic" due to its disproportionately high rates of unpaid wages compared to countries like the United States and Japan.

The article further emphasizes the plight of special employment workers such as freelance writers and delivery workers, who find themselves without adequate support or recourse when wage arrears occur. It ultimately calls for the South Korean government to develop and institutionalize fundamental solutions to eradicate wage theft, rather than merely administering short-term fixes funded by taxpayer money, which undermines the pursuit of sustainable labor rights and protections.