1. From Duck-Walks to Human Trafficking
On August 25 in Corner, the Philippines, Paju city officials made over 300 local applicants perform group duck-walks without any physical test criteria. A private labor agency representative surnamed Hong was holding the microphone.
[Paju City Official: Just walk in a duck-walk, they said that. Spontaneously. There are no criteria for the physical test. We did that to show that we came here and took an interest, and that we visited.]
[Mr. Hong / Labor Agency Representative: There is only one thing I do. That is interpreting.]
Among the seasonal workers brought through Mr. Hong, eight were recognized as victims of human trafficking by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in November of last year. While Mr. Hong emphasized that he was cleared of charges such as human trafficking under the Criminal Act, the Mokpo Employment and Labor Office recently sent him to the prosecution on charges of intermediate exploitation under the Labor Standards Act.
2. Brokers Approach... Ministry of Justice Silent
When asked how Paju City verified Mr. Hong's agency, a Paju city official replied as follows.
[Paju City Official: Because we worked with them before. Before that.]
However, the official claimed to have heard for the first time that there were victims of human trafficking among the workers who came through Mr. Hong.
[Paju City Official: We didn't know about that. Human trafficking is being talked about?]
At the same time, the reason for continuing to work with Mr. Hong was clear.
[Paju City Official: What we consider most is actually the departure rate. But there is no departure rate. So, based on that excellent incentive from the Ministry of Justice, we are getting more manpower supplied.]
Paju City considered Mr. Hong a verified agency. They also said it was Mr. Hong who found and arranged the MOU with Corner.
[Paju City Official: This person said they want to actively participate this year in Corner as well and wants to sign an MOU, the mayor said. So that is how we ended up signing the MOU. Right now, not just this agency, but people from agencies come to us a lot asking us to do Vietnam, Bangladesh, and everywhere else.]
Local governments do not discover overseas local governments themselves. Labor agencies come to them claiming to know foreign local governments well. Local governments simply enjoyed the conveniences provided by labor agencies, while turning a blind eye to why the agencies provided such conveniences. While the Ministry of Justice tells local governments to contact overseas local governments on their own and directly select seasonal workers, local governments say they cannot select them directly. Paju City stated that because the Ministry of Justice, the competent ministry, does not take action, they have no choice but to use agencies.
[Paju City Official: It is not easy to sign an MOU for foreign seasonal workers and do it directly with foreign local governments. So an intermediate organization has to be involved. It would be nice if the Ministry of Justice did something, but because they do not move, local governments have a hard time.]
To block brokers, the Ministry of Justice implemented a bill early this year punishing intermediaries with up to three years in prison if they intervene in the recruitment process of seasonal workers, which the government or local governments should handle directly. We asked the Ministry of Justice about the number of punishments, physical test criteria, and victim countermeasures after the implementation of the revised law. After repeated requests, a response arrived three days later stating, "2 cases punished, 6 cases under investigation." Answers to the remaining 4 questions have not yet been received.
3. Local Governments Dependent on Agencies... Even Accompanied on Inspections
Haenam County, where Maria (pseudonym) from the Philippines worked as a seasonal worker, was investigated by the National Human Rights Commission in 2024. An official from Haenam County admitted what needed to be admitted, stating that they came to work with Mr. Hong because, like Paju City, the departure rate was low.
[Haenam County Official: Looking up news articles, I heard that Buyeo had zero departures. We wanted to sign an MOU with the Philippines as well, so we asked them to connect us and got the contact information through them. The agency called the broker in the middle solves a lot. At that time, there was just me and one staff member. Although it has decreased a bit now, back then there were about 800 (seasonal workers).]
Since two people could not manage 800 workers, they were introduced to Mr. Hong by Buyeo County to reduce the departure rate. However, Maria testified that she suffered wage exploitation in Buyeo County in her first year and in Haenam the following year, leading the government to confirm her as a victim of human trafficking. As local governments sought out word-of-mouth labor agencies, human trafficking victims spread nationwide. Regarding Maria's testimony that she had to change her answer from yes to no when asked if her passport or bankbook was confiscated because the employer was watching during the fact-finding investigation, Haenam County claimed such a thing could never have happened.
[Maria (pseudonym) / Victim of Human Trafficking: Because they were watching, I had no choice but to check no to everything.]
[Haenam County Official: The employer has never, not even once, been there. Neither have the employer's family.]
However, the 2024 National Human Rights Commission ruling confirmed two things regarding Haenam County. First, Haenam County went out for farm inspections at least 11 times in 2023, and accompanied Mr. Hong on at least 7 of those occasions. They took the very person who should be the subject of inspection along on the inspection. Second, a special inspection in January 2024 identified 49 cases of wage exploitation and 7 cases of bankbook confiscation out of 142 people. The ruling stated: "Haenam County partially confirmed the portion transferred from the workers' accounts to Mr. Hong, but took no separate measures to remedy the damage." This likely happened because the labor agency helped lower the departure rate by assisting with MOUs, interpretation, and workforce management. The price for that was mass human trafficking victim confirmation certificates for workers who could not speak Korean. Among the 92 human trafficking victims identified by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, 37 were seasonal workers. Migrant organizations state that at least 13 of them entered the country through Mr. Hong.
4. Human Trafficking, Victims Exist But No Perpetrators?
South Korea ratified the UN Protocol to Prevent Trafficking in Persons in 2015 and enacted the Act on Prevention of Trafficking in Persons as its implementing legislation. The protocol defines human trafficking as controlling and exploiting people by taking advantage of a vulnerable position, even if consent was given. The Act on Prevention of Trafficking in Persons uses the same definition. However, this act has no punishment provisions. While the Criminal Act has a crime of human trafficking, it only punishes cases where people are bought and sold or taken away through violence, intimidation, or deception. This is why seasonal workers like Maria, even though recognized by the government as human trafficking victims, cannot be held accountable under the Criminal Act.
[Ko Gi-bok / Representative, Migrant Rights and Culture Center for All: The problem is that the Act on Prevention of Trafficking in Persons has no punishment provisions. Then, when the police investigate these cases, they do not investigate them in accordance with human trafficking. If there is a contract, they dismiss it without indictment under the rationale of innocence, saying, what is the problem since this person signed a loan agreement?]
The competent ministry, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, points out the same thing.
[Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Official: Loan agreements, refusal to keep passports and bankbooks, and wage deductions are indicators for identifying victims of human trafficking. However, the current Act on Prevention of Trafficking in Persons only has victim identification and support systems, but no regulations to punish perpetrators. As this runs counter to the UN Protocol to Prevent Trafficking in Persons, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is pushing for research to introduce punishment regulations.]
The charge under which the Mokpo Employment and Labor Office referred Mr. Hong is not human trafficking, but intermediate exploitation under the Labor Standards Act. They bypassed it because human trafficking under the Criminal Act was not applicable.
[Ko Gi-bok / Representative, Migrant Rights and Culture Center for All: The government must establish a system that can properly match migrant workers to farms that need them. They should not pass the buck to basic local governments lacking international cooperation capacity, telling them to do it themselves. The government must establish a public institution to directly intervene and handle matching.]
In 2024, the National Human Rights Commission recommended to the Prime Minister to adjust the competent ministry and elevate the entity signing MOUs to the national or metropolitan government level. However, the structure leaving everything to basic local governments lacking capacity has not changed. Labor agencies still stand at selection sites, and human trafficking victims continue to emerge.
(Reported by Jeong Banseok | Produced by Shin Hee-sub | Video by Bae Moon-san | Video Editing by Hong Jin-young | Design by Lee Soo-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.