Foreign Workers Now Feel Relieved of Concerns

˝I feel relived. I will work hard to pay my debt.˝ Muyen Tantan, 32-year-old Vietnamese who has been in Korea for two years and ten months, said as he heard the news that the National Assembly passed the work permit system bill.

Working at a wood cutting factory in Incheon, he felt uneasy all the times worrying he could be expelled any time. To enter Korea, he borrowed 8 million won and has yet to pay out the debt. For him, it is a big money. It would take a decade to save 8 million won in Vietnam.

Working hard here in Korea, however, he reduced the amount of debt to 1 million won. ˝I hope I can earn enough money to pay my debt and get married, now that I can work for another two years,˝ said Tantan.

Alai Hussein, 34-year-old Bangladesh, was also wearing a smile. He recollected hard times when he had to sneak out of the factory and stayed with one civic organization after another during the police crackdown.

He went to Korea in May 1999 as an exchange trainee. Having extended his Visa once, however, he became an illegal migrant worker in 2001. And things were even tougher for him this year.

He worked hard for a glass factory from February through June this year, but the company did not pay his wages of 6.4 million won. It was a big money. It would have taken three years back in his country to earn that much money.

˝I was quite disappointed and frustrated. I worked hard for 10 hours a day and yet, I have no money with me. If the bill had not been passed at the National Assembly, I would be kicked out of this country in September without being paid,˝ said Hussein.

30-year-old Bangladesh Aarmi Hosen also welcomed the news, saying he will be able to work on an equal par with Koreans. He went to Korea two and a half years ago with his wife after managing to prepare 15 million won by selling his house and land back home.

˝I will learn Korean hard to become a valuable worker for my company,˝ said Muhamad Bobil, 31-year-old Uzbekistani who has been in Korea for two years and two months.

run-juno@donga.com