South Koreans are shunning dangerous shipbuilding jobs envied by Trump

SEOUL – South Korea has promised to help “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again”, pitching its world-leading shipyards to President Donald Trump as a model to revive US manufacturing and create desirable blue-collar jobs.

But in reality, the sector is reliant on low-paid migrants and plagued by a high accident rate. Shipbuilding is among the country’s most dangerous industries, killing dozens of people each year and prompting more South Korean workers to shun those jobs – a growing problem for the country’s leader, Mr Lee Jae Myung.