Eight seasonal workers from the Philippines have filed a criminal complaint against the head of a private human resources agency who brought them to Korea, charging them with abduction and enticement for the purpose of labor exploitation.
Migrant human rights organizations, including the Emergency Committee for Comprehensive Improvement of Seasonal Labor, held a press conference in front of the Jeollanam-do Provincial Police Agency this afternoon (September 9) to urge a thorough investigation and punishment regarding human trafficking victims among seasonal workers, and subsequently submitted the complaint against the agency head, surnamed Hong.
The complainants entered Korea and worked as seasonal workers in areas such as Haenam between 2022 and 2024.
Park Young-ah, an attorney at the Public Interest Law Foundation Gonggam representing the workers, stated, "Although no money was lent, the accused forced them to sign high-interest false loan agreements and entered into massive penalty contracts that listed family members as guarantors."
The complainants also claim that their passports were confiscated after entering the country, 750,000 won was deducted from their monthly wages, and they did not receive overtime pay despite working 12 hours a day.
According to SBS reporting, out of a total of 92 cases confirmed as human trafficking victims by the Central Center for Rights Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking and Others since the Act on the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons went into effect in 2023, seasonal workers account for 37 cases, or 40 percent.
The Anti-Human Trafficking Act implemented in 2023 contains only provisions for identifying and protecting victims, with no clauses for punishing perpetrators.
The crime of human trafficking under the Criminal Act is difficult to apply because it requires proving the act of "trafficking," meaning buying and selling human beings.
This is why the legal representation team filed the complaint under Article 288, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Act concerning abduction and enticement for the purpose of labor exploitation.
Migrant organizations pointed out that the current seasonal worker system, which relies on MOUs between local governments, is the structural cause for broker intervention, and demanded that state institutions directly manage the entire process, including the recruitment and selection of seasonal workers.
Ko Gi-bok, steering committee chairman of the Korea Migrant Workers' Trade Union and associated solidarity groups, criticized, "Local governments are blinding themselves to the performance metric of labor supply and effectively conniving at broker arrangement and exploitation, while the Ministry of Justice, the department in charge of the system, has abandoned its responsibility for management and supervision, viewing migrant workers solely as targets for crackdown and control."
Previously, SBS exclusively reported that during a selection process for Paju City seasonal workers held last month in Koronadal, Philippines, local applicants were made to walk like ducks in a group in the presence of agency head Hong, and that eight seasonal workers who testified they came to Korea through Hong were confirmed as human trafficking victims late last year.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family plans to visit Paju City tomorrow to check the reality of broker intervention.
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