Sexual harassment at work in Korea: reporting, evidence, new job

It can be reported, the decision on your visa stays with immigration rather than your employer, and an E-9 worker can ask to move to another workplace without that move counting against the usual limit. Sexual comments, unwanted touching and pressure from a boss or coworker are unlawful in Korea whatever your nationality. Some of it is "sexual harassment" (성희롱), which the employer must investigate and stop. Some of it is also a crime, especially when someone with power over your job uses it to touch you. Which route fits depends on what happened, and you can use more than one.

Is what happened to me harassment or a crime?

What happened	Usually treated as	Where it goes
Sexual jokes, comments on your body, repeated requests for dates, showing sexual images	Sexual harassment at work	Your employer, the labor office (지방고용노동청)
Touching by force or threat	Indecent act by compulsion (강제추행), a crime	Police
Touching by a manager or anyone who supervises your work, using that position	Indecent act by abuse of occupational authority (업무상 위력 등에 의한 추행), a crime with up to 3 years in prison	Police
Sex obtained by abusing a position at work	A heavier crime, up to 7 years in prison	Police
Sexual texts, photos or videos sent to your phone	Obscene act through communication media, a crime	Police
Being filmed or photographed in a sexual way without consent	Illegal filming, a crime	Police

The table is a rough guide. A single incident often falls in two rows at once, and nobody expects you to pick the right label before asking for help.

Why is this harder for a foreign worker?

The person harassing you may also control your contract, your dormitory room and, in your mind at least, your visa. Many workers stay silent because they believe that complaining will get them sent home. Three facts help here:

• Your employer cannot cancel your visa. Only immigration decides your status. An employer who threatens to "report you" is making a threat, not stating a rule.
• Retaliation is unlawful. Korean law forbids dismissal or other unfavourable treatment of a worker who reports sexual harassment at work; the specific rules are in the Equal Employment Opportunity Act (남녀고용평등법). The Labor Standards Act gives the same protection to anyone who reports workplace bullying.
• A criminal case can keep you in Korea. Immigration may extend the stay of a foreigner whose sexual violence case is still being investigated or tried, until that case ends.

How do I keep evidence?

Start now, before you have made up your mind about reporting.

• Write down each incident: date, time, place, exact words, and who was nearby. Notes written on the day carry more weight than a summary written months later.
• Screenshot messages with the sender's name and the date visible, and back them up somewhere outside your work phone.
• Tell someone you trust, in a message, soon after an incident. That message shows what you said at the time.
• Recording a conversation you take part in is generally treated as lawful in Korea, while recording other people's private conversations is not (통신비밀보호법). Ask before you rely on a recording.

Where can I report?

1. Inside the company. Report in writing to the person or team named in your workplace rules, or to the owner if there is no one else. Keep a copy. 2. The labor office. If the company ignores your report, protects the harasser or punishes you, lodge a petition (진정) at the labor office that covers your workplace. Interpretation can be requested. 3. The police (112). For touching, coercion, filming or sexual messages, a criminal report is possible at the same time as the steps above. 4. The National Human Rights Commission (국가인권위원회) also accepts complaints about sexual harassment, in practice.

If your stay has expired, know that police handling sexual offences and the human rights commission may hold back from informing immigration about a victim without status where the victim's relief must come first. Each official weighs that case by case, so get advice before you report.

Can I move to another workplace?

Workers on the E-9 visa may ask to switch employers (사업장 변경) when they cannot reasonably keep working there for reasons that are not their fault, and unfair treatment by the employer is one of the reasons the law names. Sexual harassment or sexual violence by the employer is generally accepted as such a reason under the Ministry of Employment and Labor's notice (고시), and a change made on that ground does not count against your limit.

What the job centre (고용센터) needs to see is proof: a labor office finding, a police report receipt, or the evidence listed above. If the harasser is a coworker rather than the owner, ask the labor office or a lawyer how to frame the request, because the employer's failure to act is usually the key point.

What if I live in the company dormitory?

Sharing a building with the person harassing you is a safety question, not only a comfort question. Ask the employer in writing to move one of you during the investigation. If you leave the dormitory for safety, keep going to work or tell the employer in writing why you are absent; simply disappearing can be reported as leaving the workplace, which creates a separate visa problem.

Next step

Gather what you have, even if it is only your own notes, and check your contract end date and visa expiry. Bring both to a consultation so that the criminal route, the labor office route and a workplace change can be planned together. Consultations are paid; when you contact us, a staff member will call you back and explain the fee.

법무법인 대한중앙
1533-7377

Rules applied

Criminal Act (형법) Article 298 (indecent act by compulsion), Article 303(1) (sex by abuse of occupational authority, up to 7 years). Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한 특례법) Article 10(1) (indecent act by abuse of occupational authority, up to 3 years or a fine up to 15 million won), Article 13 (sexual messages through communication media), Article 14 (illegal filming). Labor Standards Act (근로기준법) Article 76-2 and Article 76-3(6) (workplace bullying; no unfavourable treatment of the reporter). Act on the Employment of Foreign Workers (외국인근로자의 고용 등에 관한 법률) Article 25(1) no. 2 and (4) (change for reasons not attributable to the worker; not counted). Immigration Act (출입국관리법) Article 25-2(1) no. 2 (extension during a sexual violence case); Enforcement Rule Article 70-2 nos. 1, 2 and 4 (investigations exempt from the reporting duty). Equal Employment Opportunity Act (남녀고용평등과 일ㆍ가정 양립 지원에 관한 법률) and Protection of Communications Secrets Act (통신비밀보호법) named without article numbers.

This is general information, not legal advice. Every case is different.