1473 Illegal Foreign Workers Found in the First Round-Up Split Assessment

“Coercion was successful”: The government assessed the round-up as a success. It reached its original goal of discovering approximately 1,300 illegal foreign workers and has achieved a sufficient visible outcome of “coercion effect” so that the foreigners’ resident towns of Ansan, Gyoenggi, and Garibong-dong Guro-gu, Seoul have become somewhat inactive. There were no disputes regarding human rights suppression during the round-up process.

Director Moon Hwa-jun at the Korean Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice said, “It was our original goal to give impressions that ‘being illegal residents in Korea is difficult’.”

The Justice Ministry also said it has was successful before the round-up with about 13,000 illegal workers voluntarily leaving the country from September until the time of the round-up out of the total number of 116,000 foreign illegal workers who were set as the targets of deportation in late March.

A Korean Chinese, Cho Youn-huyn (50), who we met near the Yoengdeungpo Station on November 18 said, “I entered the country on October 10 with a visitor’s visa, and I do not dare to think of residing illegally in Korea because of the harsh control on the streets. I plan to leave in three months.”

“No real effects”: However, there are opposing views that the round-up was not effective to foreign illegal workers who thought they would be rounded up.

Head of Seoul Foreign Workers Center, Choi Ui-pal, insisted, “Among the more than 100,000 illegal foreign workers that are suspected to be in Korea, only 3,222 have voluntarily exited the country since the round-up. This means that the round-up was not effective for the foreign workers who have given up on the redemption application.”

It was said that the round-up plan to take only 1,300 into custody, in reality they were to arrest more than 100,000, has not encouraged voluntary exits.

Also Mr. Choi added, “The fact that there were four foreigners who killed themselves even though the sit-in area and their lodging were excluded from the round-up shows the enormous resistance to the strong round-up process. The government has to realize the shortcomings of the round-up.”

Some point out that frailness of the round-up has given an impression that “it is okay to stay as they have been” to employers and the foreign workers.

Head of Korea Migrant Workers Human Rights Center Yang Hye-woo said, “The government has exerted the round-up mainly around bars and entertainment areas, which made it seem like they were doing it only for “show” in order to meet their goal which they set according to the capacity in the public shelters for illegal workers. Therefore, foreign workers who were hiding out from the round-up are going back to their factories.”

There are hardly any cases where foreign workers’ vacancy is filled up by Korean workers. On October 14, there was a petition made by ten representatives of small- and medium-sized companies in Gyeongnam area saying, “We have to shut down our factories if we are without foreign workers.”

Any alternative? = Experts say, “The government has to demonstrate its strong will to round up and encourage voluntary exits. It also has to strengthen round-ups in the manufacturing industry and such, but at the same time, it has to give confidence that they can re-enter the country after they depart voluntarily.”

Ms. Yang said, “It is impossible to root out the problem of illegal residency as long as they exclude the manufacturing industry from the round-up. They have to change the established ideas with strengthened punishment for the employers and simultaneously execute policies that will drag the illegal foreign workers out in the sun.”

tesomiom@donga.com