Dieter Kursietis, Seoul
A demonstration by more than 100 members and supporters of the Equality Trade Union Migrants Branch (ETU-MB), South Korea's only migrant workers' trade union, was held on December 31 at the Mok-dong immigration office. The protest was in response to a justice ministry statement earlier in the day that officials would detain all of the ETU-MB's members.
Since November 15, more than 90 ETU-MB members and supporters have been camped out in the Myeongdong Cathedral compound in central Seoul, calling for an end to the crackdown on undocumented foreign workers, a stop to deportations and the legalisation of all migrant workers in the country. The cathedral has historically been a refuge for labour and political activists, as the police do not usually enter the compound.
"As the December 31 demonstration was wrapping up, approximately 40 immigration officers rushed the demonstrators, targeting ETU-MB leaders", said one Canadian observer, who asked not to be identified. "In the chaos that ensued, the migrant workers fled into a nearby street and eventually managed to board their bus, while union supporters, mainly student activists, fought the officers off."
Two Korean supporters were arrested and later released, she said.
Meanwhile, South Korean government officials the same day announced a grace period of two weeks, until January 15, to induce the roughly 120,000 "illegal aliens" to voluntarily leave the country, according to a report from the Yonhap News Agency. Those that do, provided they were not in the country more than four years, would be able to return six months later via certain government-instituted programs.
This new grace period follows one in the first two weeks of November. South Korea had originally given illegal foreign workers who have been in South Korea less than four years until October 31 to register with the authorities or voluntarily exit the country. All those who have been in South Korea for more than four years had to leave the country.
Since then, the government has conducted two 10-day intensive sweeps to search for illegal workers. The crackdown is to continue into the new year. The grace periods, deadlines and crackdowns are part of government measures to put into effect a new employment permit system (EPS) for procuring and managing migrant workers, mainly for so-called "3D" (dirty, dangerous and difficult) jobs in small- and medium-sized manufacturing factories.
The EPS legislation was originally intended to replace the much-disliked, by both migrant workers and employers, Industrial Training System (ITS). They will now run alongside each other. The demands of the ETU-MB sit-in at Myeongdong Cathedral are for the for abolition of the ITS, the introduction of a five-year work permit system, for the right of workers to choose their place of work, the release of all migrant workers held in detention centres and the guarantee of the three basic labour rights stipulated in South Korea's constitution: the rights to organise, to collectively bargain and to take collective action.
Approximately 120,000 undocumented migrant workers did not, or were not able, to register with the authorities. If deported, they will have to be replaced by workers who in four years' time will also become illegal, causing the government, migrant workers and Korean society to face the same conflict they face today, according to the ETU-MB's chief, Samar Thapa.
According to government figures, of the more than 300,000 undocumented workers in the country in 2003, some 27,000 have left and 184,000 have been legalised under the EPS legislation.
For more information, visit <http://migrant.nodong.net/ver2/index_e.html>.
From Green Left Weekly, January 14, 2004.
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