Management of Foreign Entertainers is ¡®a Mess¡¯

Lee Mu-young, Kim Seung-hyun, and Namgung Uk

Lee Mu-young, Kim Seung-hyun, and Namgung Uk. 2002. ¡°Management of Foreign Entertainers is ¡®a Mess¡¯.¡± JoongAng Daily, December 13, 2002.


ecember 13, 2002 — The ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs and Trade earlier this year received what they thought was an odd request from the government of Uzbekistan: Stop issuing E-6 entertainment visas to Uzbek women. The Justice Ministry at first got upset saying, ¡°Uzbekistan is trying to interfere with Korea¡¯s sovereignty by influencing our visa issuance process.¡± Finally the ministries accepted Tashkent¡¯s demand, although they never said so formally.

The Uzbek government said it made the request because it cannot tolerate seeing its countrywomen suffer human rights abuses in Korea. Seoul did not want to make the case an international issue and tacitly relented. International relations experts say if Korea does not want to disgrace itself it should take serious steps to protect the so-called intergirls working here.

The JoongAng Ilbo special reporting team recently visited a club in Seoul recommended by the Korea Media Rating Board of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as a place to see performances by foreign entertainers. According to the board¡¯s recommendation, the performance was to be ¡°a traditional Russian farmer¡¯s dance.¡± When the show began 10 foreign dancers, mostly from Russia and Uzbekistan, stepped on stage wearing bikinis and began to writhe under dizzying lights. Some served liquor to the Korean customers, which is not allowed for workers¡¯ entering Korea on E-6 visas.

When asked about the clear mistake a board member said, ¡°It is not surprising. We just inspect the documents the clubs submit.¡± He said the board has not sent inspectors to any of the 1,200 performances it has recommended so far this year. Perhaps, he said, because the board has only one official who is in charge of the recommendation and inspection work.

Other officials involved with handling foreign entertainers acknowledged that the whole system is a mess. The Justice Ministry issues the E-6 visas; the Media Rating Board makes show recommendations; the Ministry of Labor monitors agencies that contract with foreign performers. When a problem ocurrs, the officials said, each government office shuffles the blame to another.

Some experts suggest that the government issue two kinds of E-6 visas, one for fine arts and another for entertainment workers. The entertainment workers, they say, should be closely monitored to prevent abuses. Seol Dong-Hoon, a sociology professor at Chonbuk National University, said, ¡°The intergirls should be separated in a legal sense from fine artists. They are laborers, not performers.¡±

Overseas experts expressed concern over this issue in Korea and offered options to alleviate the problem. In an e-mail interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, the International Organization for Migration said that the Korean government should immediately launch a thorough investigation into the trafficking of all women in and out of Korea. The Counter Trafficking Service of the organization further suggested that the E-6 visa issuance process and how traffickers have abused it have to be re-examined. The Counter Trafficking Service suggested that Korean embassies abroad interview each applicant and require document validation from foreign governments before issuing an E-6 visa.

Keiko Otsu, director of the Help Asian Women¡¯s Shelter in Japan, suggested that the Korean government ratify the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons. The protocol, which particularly emphasizes preventing trafficking in women and children, is a supplement to the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. The protocol declares the importance of protecting women victimized by human traffickers and the necessity to punish anyone who directly or indirectly supports human trafficking.

The second provision requires, Ms. Otsu said, the punishment of prostitutes¡¯ clients as well.

Survey shows a life full of rights abuses

The Sunflower, a Christian women¡¯s organization that aids female foreign workers in Korea, yesterday released its survey results on the so-called intergirls. It interviewed 70 female foreign workers in 31 nightclubs and bars in and around Seoul between July and November.

According to the Sunflower¡¯s report, 66 women entered Korea on E-6 visas. Twenty-one answered that they did not pay anything to an emigration broker upon entering Korea, which means they have debts to Korean employers for emigration fees. Among the 31 locations, 19 were engaged in prostitution. In those spots, the employers took 50 percent to 84 percent of the women¡¯s earnings. Most of the women in the poll said they have just one day off per month and were frequently confined and beaten. They also had to pay up to $200 fines if they were late to work or do not report for work.

The Sunflower urged laws that prohibit prostitution and human trafficking of women. by Special Reporting Team [Lee Mu-young, Kim Seung-hyun, and Namgung Uk]