The Ministry of Justice said on the 31st it will conduct a comprehensive inspection into human rights violations targeting farms and fishing households that employ foreign seasonal workers. The inspection period will run for three months starting on Apr. 1.
The subjects of the inspection are 27 cities and counties that have brought in a large number of seasonal workers or where broker involvement has caused social controversy. Investigators from local immigration offices will be mobilized for the inspection.
The inspection will focus on whether illegal brokers were involved in the process of bringing in seasonal workers, whether there were human rights violations such as unpaid wages, and overall living conditions including accommodations.
If broker involvement is suspected as a result of the inspection, authorities will launch a planned investigation and punish illegal brokers. For victims, authorities plan to provide stay support and protection and relief measures through the "Foreigners' Human Rights Protection and Rights Promotion Council."
If problems are identified in living environments such as accommodations, authorities will immediately take corrective action or require the competent local government to submit an improvement plan.
The Ministry of Justice said local governments and farms and fishing households that fall under "serious violations" or "failure to comply with corrective requests" in this inspection will be excluded from future allocations of seasonal workers.
The Ministry of Justice plans to conduct regular inspections going forward to identify structural problems in the seasonal work field and improve the system.
Minister Jung Sung-ho of the Ministry of Justice said, "The illegal acts of brokers who exploit the vulnerable situation of foreign seasonal workers to skim wages in the middle are serious crimes that cannot be tolerated under any circumstances," adding, "Through this intensive inspection, we will eradicate on-site illegalities and practices and fundamentally improve human rights violations against seasonal workers."