Singer on 400kg stage dies after two years of illness
Oct 27, 2025
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The 'Net of Scholars and Experts for the Prevention of Major Disaster and the Realization of Safety Rights' held a press conference in front of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 24th, commemorating the late Ahn Young-jae, and calling for strengthening the safety of the performing industry and preparing measures for industrial accidents for artists.
According to the serious disaster expert Net, the late Ahn Young-jae was paralyzed from the waist down after being crushed by a stage device weighing more than 400kg during rehearsals for the performance of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in March 2023. The late Ahn Young-jae, who had been receiving treatment for a long time since then, passed away on the 21st due to side effects of pain treatment drugs.
At the time of the accident, the late Ahn Young-jae was a freelance artist and was not covered by industrial accident insurance, and was reportedly in the process of civil lawsuits for damages while directly paying hundreds of millions of won in hospital expenses.
Most performing arts workers work in the form of freelancers, short-term contracts, and service contracts and are excluded from industrial accident insurance. In response, Net, an expert on serious disasters, urged in a statement that `mandate industrial accident insurance for artists and apply industrial accident insurance in recognition of the worker nature of the deceased.' In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Performance Act should supplement the management regulations for preventing accidents of performing artists," he added.
The accident once again highlighted the problem of the lack of a safety net in the performance industry as a whole. Recently, similar accidents have been repeated, with two dancers falling at the Sejong City concert hall and one seriously injured. Civil society and the National Assembly are calling for practical measures.
Rep. Jin Jong-oh, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, said "In 2022, there was an accident in which a performer was injured due to a drop in a speaker"Concert hall safety accidents are repeated, but no effective safety measures have been taken", he pointed out.
According to government data, the industrial accident insurance coverage rate of domestic performing arts workers is only 2%. Although the status of K content is increasing, criticism continues that the safety of the performance site is virtually neglected.
In the wake of the accident, Net, a serious disaster expert, is calling for a cross-ministerial investigation committee to identify structural causes and strengthen the safety of performing artists.
tokkig@sportschosun.com
