“”””All claws and teeth lost””””. Missing intellectually disabled person found as slave in Shinan salt farm

It was revealed that a salt farm in Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do had been exploiting intellectually disabled people for decades. The victim, who went missing in her 20s, returned to her family in her mid-60s.

20th

SBS

According to , Mr. A, who runs a salt farm in Sinui Island, Shinan-gun, was indicted on charges of violating the Labor Standards Act by failing to properly pay 66 million won in wages to his intellectual lover, his mother-in-law, for four and a half years starting in 2019. He was recently sentenced to a fine of 3 million won and a one-year suspended sentence.

Previously, during the salt farm slavery incident in 2014, Mr. A was punished with eight months in prison and two years of probation for exploiting another intellectually disabled person whom his father had lured without paying him wages.

IQ

42 Mr. Jang, who was severely intellectually disabled, disappeared from Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do in 1988 when he was in his late 20s. The family thought that Jang was dead and even held a memorial service, but last July, they confirmed that Jang was alive through a mail from the court asking if they agreed to the adult guardianship procedure applied for by a nursing hospital in Gwangju.

The family quickly visited a nursing hospital in Gwangju and reunited with Mr. Jang, now in his mid-60s, after 40 years, but they could not help but be shocked by Mr. Jang’s appearance, with all his toenails and teeth missing due to salt.

It was revealed that Mr. Jang suffered labor exploitation at Mr. A’s salt farm, which closed in October last year. He went to the salt farm at 4 a.m. every day to collect salt and farm, but when the salt farm closed, he was moved to a nursing hospital.

It was revealed that not only Mr. A but also his father had exploited Mr. Jang for at least 20 years for two generations. In particular, it was confirmed that while the police were investigating Mr. A and his father on charges of luring and exploiting Mr. B, another intellectually disabled person, in 2014, Mr. Jang was also recognized as a victim.

Mr. Jang was included in the list of victims of forced labor in salt farms consulted by the Center for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, but no rescue occurred at the time. Then, in 2021, as the salt farm slave incident arose again, an inspection was conducted by the relevant authorities, and in 2023, Shinan-gun confirmed the reality of Mr. Jang and requested an investigation from the police.

However, Mr. Jang was investigated without being separated from the perpetrator, Mr. A, and was left in the salt farm during this period.

https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/052/0002262161