S. Korea Takes Step to Clean Up Image as Illegal Workers’ Hotbed
Lee Chi-dong
Lee Chi-dong. 2004. “S. Korea Takes Step to Clean Up Image as Illegal Workers’ Hotbed.” Yonhap News, August 15, 2004.
EOUL, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) — South Korea looks set for one of the most significant shifts in its traditionally stringent immigration policy.
An employment permit system for selected foreign workers is to take effect on Tuesday, under which they will be given more rights, and legal protection equivalent to their Korean peers for up to three years from the date of contract.
The system will be used to bring in 25,000 workers from six countries this year alone, with the annual quota to be raised gradually, government officials said. The six are Thailand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Mongolia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Seoul is also in talks with Beijing to forge a memorandum of understanding on the supply of unskilled workers, they added.
Analysts said the country’s unprecedented move highlights a major change in its status from “labor exporter” to importer.
A century ago, about 8,000 South Koreans left for Hawaii’s sugar plantations, followed by some 20,000 miners and nurses who migrated to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s.
Of late, a steady number of Chinese and Southeast Asian workers has been flocking to South Korea, which has rapidly industrialized and is suffering a labor shortage in the “3D jobs” — jobs that are dirty, difficult and dangerous.
There are more than 410,000 overseas workers are here currently, including roughly 160,000 undocumented workers, according to Justice Ministry statistics.
The issue of guest workers has been a hot potato for the country, which has one of the world’s most homogenous populations.
The intake of foreign workers has helped Asia’s fourth largest economy ease the labor shortage at small- and medium-sized firms and reduce labor costs amid cutthroat competition with China.
Simultaneously, it has produced various discriminations and human rights violations against migrant workers, especially on the job. South Koreans have been often criticized for being too heavy-handed with foreign workers.
Some local businesspeople have misused the existing industrial trainee system as a tool to exploit cheaper foreign labor.
Government officials expect the new employment permit system to help make the country’s abuse-ridden immigration rules more fair and transparent, as well as enhancing its international image.
“It is true that the industrial trainee system, an abnormal mixture of labor and training, has many loopholes,” Kwon Ki-seop, a director of Labor Ministry’s foreign human resources policy department, said.
“For the time being, however, we will keep the industrial trainee system, along with the employment permit system, to cushion the impact of the new rule,” he added.
Still, activists supporting foreign laborers argue the new program leaves much to be desired.
“The effectiveness of the work permit system remains a question,” Choi Hyun-ja, policy director of the Bucheon Migrant Worker’s House, said.
“Chances are high that foreign workers will overstay their visa after the end of their three-year contracts under the employment permit system.”
Virtually, migrant workers have no choice of workplace, as they are allowed to change it only when employers terminate contracts or go out of business.
Businesspeople here are likely to prefer illegal workers to whom they can pay lower wages in a bid to maintain their competitiveness against their Chinese rivals.
“Hiring illegal workers is much cheaper, as they are not eligible for various welfare services such as medical insurance and overtime payment,” Choi said.
She stressed that the employment permit system can’t be successful without resolving the problem of illegal workers staying in Korea, whose foreign labor market is nearing a saturation point.
The government says that its yearlong crackdown on illegal immigrants will start to see tangible results later this year.
“They (illegal workers) have been here for years or decades,” the Labor Ministry official said. “It is impossible to deport all of them overnight.”
He also spurned the demand for the introduction of a work permit system that would allow foreigners to choose their own workplace.
“It is still premature to adopt the program,” he said. “The basic purpose of taking foreign workers is to fill the labor shortage in those jobs shunned by locals. Foreign workers will also try to avoid difficult jobs with lower pay if they are allowed to choose jobs freely.”
Experts point out that a change in South Koreans’ mind set about migrant workers should be accompanied by a change in the system.
“If employers continue to hire illegal workers, even a good system won’t work,” Seol Dong-hoon, professor of sociology at Chonbuk National University, said. “It is important for the public to acknowledge foreign workers’ role in our economy.”
The government should inflict severe punishment on those employing illegal workers or abusing foreign employees, he added. By Lee Chi-dong <lcd@yna.co.kr>
