Jeon's mother begged in Manni-dong while his father worked, together making enough for the family to live in a monthly rental room.

Jeon did not finish elementary school and had an underprivileged childhood with little formal education; he began peddling on the street to survive.

In March 1963, he entered Cheong-ok High School in Daegu, but his father forced him to drop out to do sewing work at home.

Such conditions included rampant tuberculosis due to poor ventilation (or the lack thereof) in the sweatshops, and the enforced injections of amphetamines to keep sleep-deprived workers awake and to work them overtime without proper compensation.

While studying the contents of the act, he grew angry at the reality that even the minimum working conditions prescribed by law were not observed.

Although Jeon succeeded in briefly creating awareness, he was soon met with resistance from the government, which ignored labor regulations and frequently sided with employers who were accused of exploitation.

Scornful Labor Department officials told Jeon and his colleagues they were unpatriotic for complaining, and their employers simply cracked down harder.

In order to garner more attention on the issue, Jeon ultimately decided to set himself on fire and ran through the streets of downtown Seoul shouting slogans such as "We workers are human beings too!

"[5] Doctors told Jeon's mother that the injection to relieve her son's burns would cost 15,000 won, but she replied that she could not pay that amount.

[8] On 22 November, about 40 university students at Saemoonan Church held a fasting prayer for the Atonement, saying that society was responsible for the death of Jeon and that they are also co-conspirators.

[9] Kim Dae-jung, a presidential candidate of the New Democratic Party, pledged at a press conference on 23 January 1971 that as president he would "implement the spirit of Jeon Tae-il".

His death also became a catalyst for uniting many university students, some religious officials, and the news media, which continuously silenced their support for the cause of the workers.

In April 2012, his younger sister, Jeon Soon-ok, was elected to the National Assembly of South Korea, as a member of the Democratic United Party.

After the June Struggle in 1987, labor groups gathered and held workers' meetings from July to August of that year.

"[16] On 12 November 2020, the South Korean government celebrated the 50th anniversary of Jeon Tae-il's death, commemorating his sacrifice and expressing its commitment toward a labor-respecting society by posthumously awarding the Mugungwha Medal of the Order of Civil Merit for the first time in the category of labor.