I finally have an appointment with the Labor Office (노동청) for unpaid wages from a former employer?

Great that you filed a complaint. For your appointment at the Labor Office, bring as much documentation as possible. The essentials are your employment contract, pay stubs or bank statements showing what you were paid (and when payments stopped), your passport, and your ARC. If you communicated with your employer about the unpaid wages via KakaoTalk, text, or email, bring screenshots or printouts of those conversations as evidence.

Also bring a written timeline of when you worked and what you should have been paid versus what you actually received. If you have a work schedule, attendance records, or any other proof of hours worked, bring those too. The Labor Office will likely assign a mediator who will contact your employer and try to negotiate payment. This process usually takes 2 to 4 weeks. If your employer still refuses, the case can be escalated to a formal investigation. You can request an interpreter through the Foreign Workers Consultation Center at 1644-0644 if you need language assistance during the meeting. Many labor complaints from foreigners are resolved successfully through this process, so stay patient and organized.