Filipino Seasonal Worker Files NHRC Complaint Against Jeongeup City Over Passport Confiscation

A Filipino seasonal worker, who was unable to get her passport back from Jeongeup City, North Jeolla Province, for over four months, has filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), alleging human trafficking and human rights violations by the city government and her employer.

Karen (a pseudonym), a Filipino seasonal worker, along with the National Association of Migrant Workers' Movements, held a press conference in front of the NHRC building in Jung-gu, Seoul, this afternoon (September 28) and submitted a petition calling for an investigation into Jeongeup City, the responsible officials, and her employer.

Karen, who filed the complaint, appealed for help, saying, "While working as a seasonal worker, my wages were deducted by a broker, and my employer did not pay me for overtime work. I hope that seasonal workers coming to work in South Korea in the future will not have to go through the same experience as me."

Ko Gi-bok, standing committee chairman of the National Association of Migrant Workers' Movements, said, "It is regrettable that no government agency has publicly stated its intention to investigate the case, even though Jeongeup City's illegal passport confiscation was exposed through media reports," and urged, "The NHRC and the Ministry of Justice must launch a swift investigation."

Migrant advocacy groups claimed that seasonal workers in Jeongeup City had their passports confiscated and suffered intermediate exploitation by brokers, arguing that this constitutes a violation of the Immigration Act and amounts to forced labor and human trafficking under UN and ILO standards.

They also criticized Jeongeup City for neglecting the intermediate exploitation structure involving illegal brokers, while calling on the NHRC to launch an ex officio investigation and demanding that the Ministry of Justice strip the city of its eligibility to receive seasonal workers.

On September 21, SBS reported that Jeongeup City had held a large batch of foreign seasonal workers' passports for a prolonged period without returning them.

At the time of the SBS reporting, Jeongeup City stated that it was "holding the passports to prevent workers from deserting," but following the reports, the city claimed that the withholding was due to "administrative inexperience" and returned all 59 passports it had been holding.

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