President Moon Jae-in called for additional efforts to ensure safety at workplaces Monday, offering his personal condolences to the bereaved family of a young worker who died at his job late last year.

In the emotional meeting held at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, the president insisted the lives and safety of workers must come before the profit of any given firm.


"We must build a system so (everyone) will regard lives and safety more important than profit," the president told the bereaved family of Kim Yong-gyun, a 24-year-old subcontract worker who died in a conveyor belt accident at a state-run power plant in Taean, 150 kilometers southwest of Seoul.

"The government will also make safety the No. 1 point in evaluating state firms," the president added, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom.

The president had initially offered to meet the family of the deceased late last year, but the family said they would only meet the president after the government and the National Assembly legislate necessary legal revisions to prevent the recurrence of any industrial accidents that they say could have been prevented.

Monday's meeting came after the National Assembly passed a revision to the law on industrial safety that, once enacted, will prohibit companies from outsourcing jobs with any significant safety risks.(Yonhap)

President Moon Jae-in (2nd from R) hugs the mother of a young subcontract worker, Kim Yong-gyun, who was killed in a tragic accident late last year while working at a state-run power plant. The president offered his personal condolences to Kim's family in a meeting at his office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Feb. 18, 2019.
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