CINA

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First of all: "The crackdown on illegal immigrants will continue for three months to root out any possible social and labor problems involving illegal immigrants, according to the Ministry of Justice" (Korea Herald, 5.07)

2 Heads of Migrants' Union Face Deportation (K.T., 5.07)
 
Two top officials of an unauthorized migrants' union will be deported next week on illegal residence charges.

Members of the union claim the arrest was made to interrupt the establishment of the foreign labors' union that has acted against the government's labor policies. The government denies the allegation, saying it was a regular search.

The Ministry of Justice announced Wednesday it arrested Nepalese Torna Limbu, 42, head of the Migrants' Trade Union, and Bangladeshi vice president, 39, identified only by his surname ― Sabur, last Friday. The two, who have been illegally residing here for 16 and 9 years, respectively, were sent to the Cheongju Detention Center in North Chungcheong Province.

``They will be deported by the end of next week,'' Kim Young-geun of Korea Immigration Service told The Korea Times. ``They have lost their passports. We asked the Nepalese and Bangladeshi embassies in Seoul to re-issue their passports as soon as possible.''

According to the ministry, the two foreign labors have controlled the union since last November when their predecessors left the country by force. Since then, they have organized several protests along with civic groups to call on the government to revise some touchy labor issues such as giving legal residence status to all illegal migrant workers.

``We prioritize the arrest of illegal employment agents and illegal residents who overstay their visas. The foreign nationals in question have lived here for a long time. Also, they have actively participated in and organized anti-government protests,'' Kim said.

A street protest opposing the government's move was held in front of the government building in central Seoul, Wednesday, in the presence of more than 50 members from the migrants' union, Federation of Korean Trade Unions and some civic groups.

Lee Jung-won, spokeswoman for the foreign workers' union, said ``It is unjustifiable to take them away by force. We will press the government to release them immediately.''

``The police apparently intended to catch the two union heads to disband our union,'' Lee said.

The foreign labor rights group, which has failed to win legal status from the authorities, filed a suit against the government last year and the case is pending in the Supreme Court.

The crackdown on illegal migrants is likely to continue during the next three months since the government launched a special team this month to contain the soaring number of illegal immigrants here.

As of January, a total of 653,064 foreign laborers were living in Korea, including an estimated 202,817 illegal workers, the justice ministry said. The government estimates more than 20,000 illegal workers have resided here for a decade or longer.
 

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/05/117_23810.html

Already y'day(5.06) the S.K. "left"-liberal daily newspaper Hankyoreh reported:

MTU leaders arrested for holding demonstrations
Latest arrest could be the start of sweeping crackdowns on migrant workers

The Ministry of Justice announced on May 5 that it had arrested two leaders of the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrant Trade Union, including its president Torner Rimbu(*), for organizing demonstrations against the government. The MTU is protesting the arrests, saying that the incident is the beginning of a sweeping roundup of foreign workers.
 

According to the ministry, the two MTU leaders led demonstrations against government policy. The MTU, with the cooperation of other civic groups, have held demonstrations to demand that all immigrants without visas be given legal status and the employment permit system, which allows companies to hire migrant workers only when Korean citizens cannot be found, be abolished. The ministry announced that it would deport the two MTU leaders, both of whom had overstayed their visas. Torner Rimbu became the MTU president after the group's former president, Kaji Man(**), was deported in November.
 

The ministry formed a task force on May 1 and launched the first crackdown on all migrant workers without visas since the inauguration of President Lee Myung-bak in late February. The ministry plans to continue its crackdown for the next three months, and says that it will prevent illegal foreign workers from making inroads into the domestic labor market.

"The target of crackdown is our leaders, the fact that two of our leaders were arrested as soon as the crackdown began proves it," representatives from the MTU said.

Lee Jeong-won, an MTU official, said that they saw the crackdown coming after the new government began stating that there should be stricter enforcement of the law. The government wanted to remove the MTU leadership ahead of the crackdown on migrant workers, Lee, the MTU official, added.
 

The MTU also said that dozens of immigration authorities ambushed Rimbu, the MTU president, in order to catch him.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/285993.html

* Torna Limbu!!
** Kh. Kajiman