Exclusive: "Passports Confiscated and Wages Extorted"…Investigation Requested Over Suspected Human Trafficking

[Anchor]

We have been bringing you consecutive reports on how Jeongeup City in Jeollabuk-do confiscated a massive stack of passports from foreign seasonal workers. A Filipino seasonal worker who was unable to get her passport back for over four months has filed a request with the South Korean government to investigate Jeongeup City and her employer, alleging she fell victim to human trafficking.

Our exclusive report comes from reporter Jeong Banseok.

[Reporter]

This photo, taken in May, shows a Jeongeup City official together with seasonal workers who came from the Philippines.

A bundle of tied-up passports sits to one side.

Seasonal workers testified that Jeongeup City kept their passports, retrieving them when needed for paperwork and then taking them back afterward.

[Karen (Pseudonym) / Seasonal Worker: When we arrived here, they took all of our passports.]

Jeongeup City even provided instructions that workers were not allowed to leave without permission.

[Jeongeup City Official: We instruct the workers not to go out without permission when going somewhere, and to tell us even when going to the mart. If we don't know where they are going, don't we feel anxious?]

Karen, a seasonal worker, stayed in a rundown accommodation while paying 200,000 won every month for housing, and suffered from verbal abuse by her employer.

[Employer: Hey XXX humans, you call this work, you XXX!]

She stated that even on days when she worked 12 hours, she only received 90,000 won, which falls short of the minimum wage.

[Karen (Pseudonym) / Seasonal Worker: When I asked if we were only getting 90,000 won despite working 12 or 13 hours a day, they said that is just how it is and told me to go back if I didn't like it.]

Part of even this amount had to be paid toward loan repayments.

This was because a loan of 3 million won—money she had never even touched—had been taken out under her name in the Philippines before entering South Korea.

[Karen (Pseudonym) / Seasonal Worker: The loaned money went straight to the people on the Philippine side.]

Passport retention, debt agreements, falling short of the minimum wage, coupled with verbal abuse and restricting outings, are all key indicators used by the government to determine whether human trafficking has occurred.

Karen has applied to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to verify her victimization by human trafficking.

(Video Editing: Lee Sang-min, Design: Yang Gi-tae, VJ: Shin So-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.