Neoliberal government policies, the collapse of self-employed entrepreneurs and the malfunctioning of the social welfare system have led to expanding low-income and a rising incidence of extreme poverty. While the informal work has a woman’s face – two thirds of female workers are non-regular workers – and there are abuses to the human rights of illegal-immigrant workers, the de-regularization of labour is depriving workers of any protection. For informal workers in South Korea being fired is comparable to receiving the death penalty