Goh Gibok, head of the Migration Rights Culture Center for All (MOI Center), will give a presentation on ways to improve Korea's seasonal worker program at an international migration forum in New York next month. It means the seasonal worker program, which the government has expanded as a measure to ease labor shortages in rural and fishing communities, will be put to the test by the international community.
According to migration rights groups on the 24th, Goh will speak as a panelist on May 3 (local time) at a session of the Grassroots Forum on Migration Governance in Long Island City, New York. Korea's seasonal worker program is expected to be discussed as a case study.
The event is a meeting organized by civil society and migrant groups ahead of the second International Migration Review Forum (IMRF), which will be held at the United Nations (UN) headquarters from May 4 to 8. Separate from the official implementation reports submitted by each government, it strongly focuses on discussing on-the-ground conditions and human rights issues.
The International Migration Review Forum is the UN's highest-level body that reviews every four years the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), adopted in 2018. It evaluates progress on 23 objectives, including protecting migrant workers' rights and building safe and orderly migration systems, and discusses future policy directions.
Goh is expected to explain the structure, on-the-ground realities, and reform tasks of Korea's seasonal worker program, which is operated mainly by local governments.
The seasonal worker program brings in foreign workers for short periods during busy farming seasons or peak fishing seasons to make up for labor shortages. It has spread rapidly to local governments nationwide in recent years, but side effects such as broker involvement in the dispatch process, unpaid wages, poor housing, and restrictions on moving between business sites have been consistently raised.
The MOI Center has continually raised human rights issues involving seasonal workers and workers under the Employment Permit System (EPS). A migration rights group official said, "This forum will serve as an opportunity to check whether Korea's seasonal worker policy meets international standards."
Some say the seasonal worker program, which the government has fostered as a solution to rural labor shortages, is set to undergo its first full-fledged evaluation on the international stage.