Korea to deport illegal workers

BBC ^ | 14 November, 2003

[traumer]

Thousands of foreign workers have gone into hiding in South Korea to avoid being deported by the government.

Seoul has set a Saturday deadline for guest workers without the proper documentation to leave the country or be thrown out.

The plan has already cost two lives, after a 31-year-old Sri Lankan man jumped in front of a train and another, from Bangladesh, hanged himself.

The crackdown affects 120,000 of the 230,000 guest workers in South Korea.

Cheap labour

Workers from across Asia have flocked to South Korea since 1987.

Analysts say the then government opened up the country to cheap foreign labour in response to the growing union militancy in the Korean workforce.

Most of the inrush, to which the authorities turned a blind eye, came from Asian countries including China - which accounts for more than half the total - Thailand, the Philippines and even South Asian countries such as Pakistan.

Illegal immigrants are generally paid less than half what a South Korean would earn, and the work is often dirty, dangerous or degrading.

But their earnings are still often many times what they could make at home, and often constitute an important part of their native country's economy.

President Roh Moo-hyun faces high unemployment and strikes The new clampdown affects those workers who have stayed in South Korea illegally for more than four years.

Documentation

Shorter term illegal workers will be able to apply for retrospective documentation.

The South Korean Justice Ministry said 50 special 'squads' would being rounding up the effected workers on Monday, immediately expelling those who had air tickets and passports.

It added that it would work with home country embassies to repatriate those without the right papers.

The government's action comes at a time when it faces yet more violent labour disputes, high unemployment, and criticism of the low human rights that many guest workers have to endure.

Its move has been attacked by South Korean civil rights activists, who have taken to the streets in protest.

In a combined statement, the said: "Stop right away deporting foreign migrant workers, which forces them to nowhere but death."

[traumer]

if only....

[upchuck]

Thousands Millions of foreign workers have gone into hiding in South Korea the United States to avoid being deported by the government.

Seoul Washington has set a Saturday deadline for guest workers without the proper documentation to leave the country or be thrown out.

======================================

Sorry, just some wishful thinking...

[traumer]

Also
"the government opened up the country to cheap foreign labour in response to the growing union militancy in the Korean workforce... "

[GatekeeperBookman]

I fear we may accept them. Raelly-bet some goofy org has tried to file a suit...