CORRECTION: Actually, I didn’t notice this story was actually written by a Chosun Ilbo READER (NOT the Chosun Ilbo) when I posted it. Sorry about that — happens sometimes, especially when I’m posting late at night. The post has now been corrected. Apologies to my readers and, of course, the Chosun Ilbo (not that Korea’s paper of record reads this humble blog), and thanks to the commenters, especially bumfromkorea and slim, for pointing out the serious error.
The Chosun Ilbo — actually, a Yongin City cop writing in the Chosun — gives us our regular warning that foreign crime is on the rise. Or in the cop’s words, “It’s not just native English teachers without degrees; throughout the entire society, foreigner crime is surpassing the imagination.”
And check out that cool graphic — run, little Korean girl, run!
The cop — Ji Yeong-hwan, the head of the investigation support team of Yongin Police Station — notes that there about 1 million ferners in the Republic — over 500,000 migrant workers, plus diplomats, tourists and short-term residents. There was also an 18% jump international marriages last year. Korea has become a multi-racial and multi-cultural society (Marmot’s Note: as another blogger said to me recently, the fact that 1 million foreigners makes Korea a multi-racial and multi-cultural society shows just how much it’s not). This human, material and cultural exchange is a stepping stone to the wider world, but it also has ill effects on national development by creating threats to public security and social insecurity as illegal immigrants and foreign criminals enter the country.
Recently, foreigner crimes have been sharply rising, including the murder/dismemberment of a Korean woman by a Chinese in Ansan, the “French Freezer Baby” in Seoul’s Seorae Village, and the 2003 hit on a Russian mobster in Busan.
In Busan alone, foreign crime has skyrocketed 250% over the last three years. Law enforcement agencies say some 27 foreign criminal organizations are operating in the port city, including the Russian mafia, Japanese yakuza, Chinese triads, and Thai and Bengali gangs.
Ji says the first step in preventing foreigner crime is effective control and punishment of illegal migrant workers.
To do this, Korea’s paper of record calls for cooperation between immigration authorities and police. Prosecutors, the Immigration Bureau, police, customs, NIS and Labor Ministry need to work together. But most importantly, Korea needs information on illegal immigrants. Like the United States or Europe, where airports and other ports of entry are collecting biometric data on people entering the country, Korea needs to study measures to collect and store personal data on potential criminals, even while maintaining ease of entry and protecting human rights.
(Note to Chosun: A piece of advise — unless you want to start referring to illegal foreigners as “undocumented Koreans,” I wouldn’t look to the US — or Europe, for that matter — as a model for dealing with illegal immigration)
Ji also said Korea should harden punishments against Korean shipowners who smuggle illegal migrants into the country.
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23 Comments
Pusan is not representative of Korea as a whole. Foreigners are still less likely to be arrested for serious offenses like robbery, rape, and murder than Koreans.
so they’re documenting them now?
That was a 독자의견 by one police officer….
Foreign crime is legitimate concern for Koreans, but it is also high on a list of subjects that I consider too sensitive for the Korean media to handle in their present state of maturity and professionalism. There is too high a chance they will get something major wrong and make things worse.
Speaking of sensitivity, are columns titled “READER’S OPINION” (which equates to a more colloquial “letter to the editor”) now represents Korean idea, or even that of Chosun Ilbo? The other day, my school newspaper carried a letter to the editor calling for criminalization of homosexuality while another talked about how Asian immigration is destroying the White’s job opportunities by being “good with calculators”. Man, State Press must be one hell of a racist/conservative newspaper…
My point was that it was wrong to label this item a “Chosun” view — but I still fear that the Korean media will screw things up with their normal SOP..
‘but I still fear that the Korean media will screw things up with their normal SOP..’
korean media on par with fox. don’t hear no crying bout that.
Two words: non sequitur
I’m in no hurry to see Korea go the way of “multicultural” (i.e. increasingly terrified of upsetting Islamic fundamentalists) Europe.
My only problem is with the way they always describe ethnic Korean miscreants as foreigners. That “Chinese” in Ansan was a chosonjok if memory serves.
#8:
Now, Herod, you know that ethnic Koreans with foreign citizenship are called “foreigners” only when they break the law while ethnic Koreans like Canadian-born Sandra Oh are simply called “Korean.”
Seems only fitting to call Joseonjok “foreigners” since, as I recall, they are ineligible for the F-4 minjok visas available to ethnic Koreans from Japan, Europe, and North America.
Actually, you and buminkorea are right. I didn’t see who wrote it, which happens sometimes when you’re posting late at night. I’d just assumed it was one of the Chosun’s usual editorials-masking-as-an-article.
Post edited. And my bad.
I too enjoyed the cartoon. The foreign devils certainly appear to be a multi-cultural/ multi-ethnic bunch, though their universal depiction as bespectacled is somewhat puzzling to me; surely any “four-eyed” criminal aspirants would be jeered and then thoroughly beaten by their peers before they have a chance to become incorrigible predators?
Maybe they’re supposed to be sunglasses. Do the hardened foreign criminal gangs in Korea wear them 24/7? It would hide that touch of evil dancing in their eyes….
Also — the three should have been depicted in a triangular formation around the terrified little girl (eyeing each other warily even as they greedily eye the prize — a la “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”). Having them advance arm-in-arm conveys an aura of jovial collegiality, one that somewhat detracts from the intended sinisterness.
That approach has failed miserably in the US for the same reason that the war on drugs was lost from the beginning: As long as there is demand, there will be supply. Trying to reduce the supply only raises the financial and human costs. Unfortunately, our government is too chicken shit to make any serious effort in penalizing major employers, and agriculture really does depend on illegal labor, comprising 60% of its workforce. Americans would be willing to perform construction and meat-packing jobs under safe and humane working conditions and for a living wage, but I know from talking to local farmers that it is virtually impossible to find Americans willing to do seasonal agricultural work. Not surprisingly, adult Americans want permanent full-time work with benefits.
‘Now, Herod, you know that ethnic Koreans with foreign citizenship are called “foreigners” only when they break the law while ethnic Koreans like Canadian-born Sandra Oh are simply called “Korean.”’ sonagi
really? that cho sung hee thing must have been a fluke. thanks for your wisdom.
@ Sonagi
Plus, “humane working conditions and .. living wage” would skyrocket the cost of the products of said business, which would be very detrimental. Hence the virtually no resistance in Congress against AgriJob bill…
Shouldn’t it be way easier for South Korea, for all intents and purposes an island cut off by North Korea, to control immigration than for the United States and its huge land border with Mexico?
On a lighter note, I didn’t realize the illegal immigrants in Korea included zombies… lol.
But there are indirect costs of illegal immigrant labor which are passed on to the public:
- waste of valuable and expensive emergency room facilities for non-emergency care; just last week a student of mine here in the US only two weeks was taken by her mother to the emergency room to treat a skin rash. Obviously, this problem is not limited to undocumented residents but to anyone lacking health insurance.
- public assistance: undocumented workers don’t qualify but their US-born children do, and undocumented women who are pregnant or nursing get WIC coupons. Moreover, since many work under the table, their income is not reported. We have kids coming to school every week in new clothes, heading straight to the cafeteria for their free breakfast. Federal law mandates that all children are eligible to apply for free and reduced meals, regardless of legal status.
US citizens and permanent residents work under the table and screw the system, too. Turning a blind eye to illegal employment just adds more to the poverty rolls.
-private assistance: our local food banks feed all in need, no questions asked. Because of rising demand, food pick-ups have been reduced from once a week to twice a month. In my community, there are local dentists and organizations like Lions’ Clubs which provide free dental care and eye care to indigent children regardless of legal status.
You get what you pay for, bum. Either you can have a stable community of families with breadwinners or you can have the poverty and social problems that accompany illegal employment. All research I’ve seen acknowledges clearly that rising illegal employment has reduced real wages for non-college grads.
Canada fills its seasonal employment needs with a guest worker program. Men and women come for several months, work hard with legal protections, and then take their earnings back home. Everybody wins.
@pawi:
Cho was not an ethnic Korean with foreign citizenship. He was a South Korean national with US permanent residency. I’m surprised you’ve forgotten that. Hope you’re not coming down with Alzheimer’s.
“waste of valuable and expensive emergency room facilities for non-emergency care”…
I wonder how many illegal immigrants can afford to go to an emergency room in the first place… My mom almost severed her finger few months back, and she went to the ER to get stitches… cost us $2000 (yes, we’re one of the many who are not insured).
Your “public assistance” rhetoric is a bit disturbing because it seems to advocate the nullification of the U.S. citizenships given to kids born in United States to illegal immigrants.
private assistance - … I’m not so sure if this justifies crippling the current economy via anti-illegal immigration legislation.
The most favorable pathway, to me, seems like the one proposed by Congress few months back; pathway to legalization with fine, better border security, and guest-worker program. Just passing “f*ck you illegals” legislation will only hurt the economy and won’t solve the immigration problem - look at Arizona, for example, who just passed the employment verification law. About 30~40% of the clothing shops have closed in the downtown area due to sharp drops in both customers and working power. The figures I’m seeing from Korean business owners (I write English business letters for them) in clothings, food industry, retail, etc. are quite shocking. The average drop in revenue from May to October in 2007 looks to be around 60% ~ 70% for them.
Basically it’s ‘drain on the social program’ vs. ‘chunk of purchasing power/labor’. Former might have negatives, but the latter is a disaster.
Of course, neither side is favorable. Best pathway, once again, is to fine-legalize, border control, and guest-worker.
you mean if he became an american citizen, he would have been treated differently by koreans? yet another sign you’re just clueless. btw, why did you change your avatar? i thought it said tons about you.
“Your “public assistance” rhetoric is a bit disturbing because it seems to advocate the nullification of the U.S. citizenships given to kids born in United States to illegal immigrants.”
bumfromkorea:
I do not believe that this is what Sonagi advocates (at least I found no instance of her saying so), but let me tell you that this is exactly what I would demand, if I were a US citizen. Instead, I would develop and apply additional criteria for the selection of immigrants and thereby create more extensive possibilities for LEGAL immigration.
With regard to those illegal immigrants who are already in the country a solution must be found in the spirit of mercy and clemency. But why should the USD bestow its valuable citizenship on someone simply because they were born on a particular patch of land (and then maybe grew up in an entirely different country - Mexico, Korea …) ???
I know full well that this is a time-hollowed principle in the US and in the other countries of the Anglosphere, but it can be changed and will be changed in the end - Britain has done so in 1983 and Ireland in 2005, I think even Australia is working towards the change. It can be done - I sincerely hope within the coming decade or so…
I seem to recall a claim made that the General Secretary of the United Nations regularly reads your blog. Why not the Chosun Ilbo editors?
> advocate the nullification of the U.S. citizenships given
> to kids born in United States to illegal immigrants.
I would certainly advocate nullifying that provision of our Constitution and laws regarding citizenship — it had its historical reasons and was justified more than 100 years ago, but has long since lost any reason for being policy. I would say that it has become very widely abused and is now harmful to United States interests. It should be changed to a mere degree of priority in the process of applying for American citizenship, for any children born to parents who are not citizens.
America should allow plenty of immigrants to do the jobs that need to be filled, but they should be legal immigrants as far as possible, and the flow of illegals (and passport-babies) should be greatly reduced.
Can’t get blood from a stone. Your mom got billed $2,000 because the hospital recognized your mom had resources to pay.
Absolutely not. I do support a reinterpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment but citizenship given under lawful circumstances cannot and should not be taken away. I mentioned public assistance to counter your argument that illegally employed workers are cheaper. They are to their employers but not to the community. Dealing with the issue of illegal employment requires an honest and full accounting of costs versus benefits.
We ought to help everyone in need in our community regardless of legal status although I am bothered to see some people take advantage of the system.
The only sector that would be crippled by a dramatic reduction in illegal employment would be agriculture. Other industries would suffer temporarily as they looked for US workers to replace undocumented ones. That is happening now, bum, for raids and deportations are on the rise. Hormel and Tyson had no trouble finding hardworking Americans when those difficult and dangerous meat-processing jobs paid $25 an hour and had unions to stop unsafe practices like speeding up the line. These workers supported families on their salaries and put money into the community. Cripple the economy, indeed.
I was raised in a working poor family, and we were able to afford life’s necessities back in a time when illegal employment took up a much smaller share of the national economy.
I was a supporter of the proposed immigrant reform and favor these things, too. Our government has long looked the other way while US employers hired illegal immigrants, who have settled down and formed families in our community. Tossing them back over the border after enjoying the benefits of their cheap labor is dishonorable.
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