Courtesy the English edition of the Chosun Ilbo:
The Ansan Migrant Center has released drawings by foreign workers now in their 40th day of a sit-in, in which they express their feelings about their lives in Korea. The sit-in at the center began in response to the government’s forced expulsion of foreign nationals illegally staying in Korea, which began November 15.
Many of the drawings are, at least for Korea, portraits of shame. When the sit-in entered its 30th day, the roughly 70 participating foreigners drew pictures of “their most memorable event while living in Korea.”One worker, from Bangladesh, drew a scene in crayon where a Korean yells, according to the Bangladeshi, “Shika palipali ill hay,” or “You bastard, work faster!” but he nevertheless feels he has to answer “Yes, Sir.”
There’s more (with pictures). As the title of this post suggests, I really do cringe at things like this. I tend to be rather ambivalent about much of the griping some Westerners do about life in Korea. On the other hand, tales of abuse coming from (mostly) undocumented workers, most of whom come from China, developing countries in South and Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet Union, usually evoke quite a different response, given that a) I lived in a factory district for about two years and b) married a Mongolian, and hence I’m privy to more horror stories concerning Mongolian laborers in Korea than I really care to be. What makes these tales even sadder is that you’d think that Koreans would understand better than most what it’s like to be a guest worker - during the 70s, many Koreans were sent abroad - mostly to the Middle East - to earn hard currency for their country. Luckily, judging from the number of articles and TV shows I’ve seen on this issue as of late (a phenomenon no doubt assisted by greater activism on the part of Korean NGOs and the foreign workers themselves), consciousness levels seem to be on the rise.
Still, there’s much work that needs to be done.
6 Comments
My bro-in-law and I have discussed this situation quite a bit. He owns a small trucking company in Korea and uses illegals as the “second person” in his trucks. They are to help with the loading and unloading, doing the dirty work and such. He provides shelter, food and clothing for them and, what I considered, an appallingly low wage. Yet, after meeting some of them, they consider him a true humanitarian because of what he provides. Also, and this is a big point for them, he treats them like human beings.
According to my bro-in-law, they are the hardest workers around.
Hearing some of their stories before they went to work for him cause me to cringe. Their working conditions and the way they are treated is abhorrent at best.
These people are in a country illegally. What do they expect? I wish the USA would have the balls to expel their illegals too, but some Mexican would probably call it some form of racism. What the hell does the law matter anyway?! Just because things are shitty in your country and you can’t get a job, isn’t justification to for immigration; legal or illegal. Korea is doing the right thing of getting the foreigners out, especially the Moslem ones.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. I don’t favor giving legal breaks to illegal immigrants like is sometimes found in the US — like giving driver’s permits. I think some of the Chinese immigrants should be an exception, because some have been in Korea for a generation or more, but Korea’s closed citizenship rules screw them.
However, there is absoutely no excuse for the owners and managers who abuse the illegal immigrants. The, “what did they expect?” argument falls flat as a stone to me. There is no green light for abusing people.
We don’t kick out illegal immigrants because all the cheap Mexican migrant farm labor means that we get our apples real cheap at the supermarket (which I’m all for). Koreans can blow me on this issue cause they are the first ones to scream bloody murder about how Korean illegal immigrants are being treated in the U.S. after 9/11. Finally I agree with USinKorea, you don’t like illegal immigrants then don’t hire them. Someone being an illegal immigrant is not a justification for hiring them and treating them inhumanely.
Every nation has the right to guard it’s borders and protect it’s citizens from foreign invasion. Regardless of how that invasion is carried out; either by war or sneaky infiltration. Those that hire illegal labor should be punished too.
Regardless of one’s views on illegal immigration (I certainly don’t condone it, but then again, I don’t condone South Korea’s irrational immigration laws, either), the legal sojourn status of many 3D workers in Korea does not justify the kind of abuse that some of them suffer. And to be frank, it was thanks to their labor that many small and mid-sized factories in Korea were able to pull through the tough times after 1997; certainly, given their contributions to this society, they deserve a lot better than to be rounded up and deported.