When Ajit Roy first arrived in Korea in 2011, he was already overqualified with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and aspired to become a medical doctor. But he needed money to support himself and his girlfriend back home in Bangladesh.

He went back in 2016 only to be devastated by the news that his girlfriend had left him. In 2018, he came back to Korea to work again. His plan was to return home after two years and find a job there as a civil servant. But with the outbreak of COVID-19, he had to change his plan.

In February 2021, Roy started to work at an agricultural machinery factory in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. What was supposed to be his last job in Korea, however, hit him hard and in unexpected ways, and now he’s sick with a permanent lung problem.

Roy is one of many recruited by the Korean government through the Employment Permit System on the E-9 visa, under which workers usually work in 스포츠 factories or farms that are considered dangerous and dirty and often shunned by Koreans.

Almost 1 million workers have arrived in Korea through the scheme during the last 20 years

At the company, workers assembled parts into finished agricultural machinery. Roy’s main task was polishing metal parts with a grinder.

“I started working at 8:30 a.m. and stayed on until 9-10 p.m.,” Roy said. “I also worked on Saturdays.”

Exposure to dust and metal particles was unavoidable, yet the company provided only a single cotton mask, rather than a dustproof one, for protection.

About four to five months into his job, he began noticing that he was frequently coughing. He also had more sputum and it was black. Concerned about his health, Roy asked for dustproof masks, but his boss accused him of asking for too much.

Roy asked for a day off to see a doctor, but his boss didn’t allow him, adding that Roy was being a hypochondriac.