Police criticized after closing case on foreign factory worker death without autopsy

A migrant worker in his 20s from Myanmar died suddenly after a night shift at a factory in Gimpo, Gyeonggi, earlier this month. Police have been criticized for closing the case without an autopsy.

Safety helmets and gloves are laid out at a construction site. [NEWS1]

A migrant worker in his 20s from Myanmar died suddenly after a night shift at a factory in Gimpo, Gyeonggi, earlier this month. Police have been criticized for closing the case without an autopsy even though his cause of death was not properly identified.

According to the Gimpo Police Precinct and migrant support center Gimpo Yiutsari Jesuit Center for Migrant Workers on Sunday, the 24-year-old died at 9:06 p.m. on July 18 at a hospital in Gimpo.

The worker had worked a night shift at a factory earlier that day and complained of extreme fatigue. He visited a local clinic that morning for a vitamin injection. However, his condition did not improve — his headache continued into the evening — and he lost consciousness in a taxi en route to a general hospital. He did not recover and was soon declared dead.

The hospital recorded the cause of death as “unknown,” but the police closed the case without an autopsy, citing a lack of suspicion of foul play based on witness interviews. The worker, who entered Korea last year under the E-9 employment permit system, was reportedly in good health beforehand.

He was cremated on July 26 without a confirmed cause of death.

The Gimpo migrant workers' organization criticized the police for failing to conduct an autopsy.

“We understand the worker was laboring during the heat wave without proper air conditioning,” a representative said. “We question whether the police would have responded so passively if the victim were not a foreigner.”

A police official responded that it "found no signs of foul play and received the family’s consent not to perform an autopsy,” adding that the case was handled in accordance with prosecutorial guidance.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff. BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]