Deportation Postponed for a Year

The deportation of illegal foreign laborers, which was scheduled in next March, is to be put in respite for one year maximum. Five thousand Korean-ethnic Chinese and other Korean ethnic foreigners are permitted employment in the service sector. To prevent foreign industrial trainees from walkouts, the old policy, which consists of security deposit of US$300 per each trainee was abolished. Instead obligation of employers for management and return of foreign trainees has been reinforced.

The government has come up with this contingency measure to prevent shortage of labor during the mass deportation of foreign workers. This contingency measure was presented to President Kim Dae-jung on November 22nd.

According to this measure among 256,000 voluntary reported illegal foreign workers who are scheduled for deportation, 107,000 workers who have stayed less than three years in Korea are allowed to postpone their deportation date till March 2004. However 149,000 workers who have stayed more than three years in Korea get deported in next March according to schedule.

In separation to this respite measures, the government plans to crackdown about 12,000 illegal entrants and estimated thousands of illegal aliens in the amusement sector during next January and February and deport all of them before March.

Also the Government has restricted the numbers of employment by the Korean-ethnic foreigners to 50,000 in the service sectors such as restaurants, hotels, cleaning, nursing, housekeeping, and social services area. The quota is set for △35,000 in restaurants and hotels, △5,000 in cleaning and social services, △10,000 in housekeeping and miscellaneous businesses.

“Among those, house keeping employees are not subject to Labor Relation Act therefore employers must subscribe accident insurance and wage arrears guarantee insurance.” said an anonymous government official.

In together with these measures, in response to labor shortage in the small and medium manufacturing industries after deportation of foreign laborers, the government plans to admit 20,000 industrial trainees in advance before end of next January and additional 20,000 before next March. In separation 5,000 industrial trainees for each agricultural and construction sectors will be admitted next year.

ysmo@donga.com esprit@donga.com