South Korea’s ‘pali-pali’ spirit keeps killing its workers

2026-03-23 - 05:22

South Korea builds fast. It always has. The pali-pali (hurry, hurry) spirit turned a war-ravaged nation into an industrial titan in a single generation. It also has a habit of killing factory workers, safety experts say. Those deadly consequences were on full display in Friday’s fire at Anjun Industrial, an car parts supplier in Daejeon. The warning signs were impossible to miss. Oil vapour so thick it coated the lenses of workers’ glasses with a greasy film. Grease caking the ceilings, the...