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Two days ago(10.16) MTU(Migrants' Trade Union) released following:

Another Migrant Activist Arrested in South Korea!

        On October 8 the South Korea Immigration Authorities arrested Minod Moktan, a well-known cultural activists who has fought tirelessly for the human rights of migrants in South Korea. His arrest is the latest incident in series of targeted crackdowns against migrant activists, a pattern of repression that has drawn international condemnation. We urge you to show your solidarity by faxing a message of protest to the South Korean Ministry of Justice making the following demands:

•        Free Minod Moktan!
•        Stop the crackdown against undocumented migrant workers!
•        Stop the targeted repression against migrant activists!

I. Background of the Arrest
         At 10:00am in the morning on October 8, Minod Moktan (38, Nepal) was arrested by immigration officers in front of the office of Migrant Workers Television (MWTV), where works as the Director of the Film Production Team. He is currently imprisoned south of Seoul at Hwaesong Detention Center and could be deported at any moment.
Although Immigration Authorities claim Minod was arrested in the course of a normal raid, the manner in which the arrest was carried out shows this is clearly not the case. The immigration officers had been waiting in hiding in front of the MWTV office demonstrating that the arrest was pre-planned. Moreover, normal immigration raids are made at factories or residential areas where migrant workers are congregated, making the location of the arrest—the office where Minod does his cultural and human rights work—highly conspicuous. It is all too clear that the arrest was made in an attempt to stop Minod’s activities in defense of the human rights of migrants. What is worse, Minod’s arrest must be seen as a declaration on the part of the Lee Myeong-bak administration that it plans to go after all migrant activists fighting for migrants’ human rights in South Korea.

II. Minod’s Work as a Cultural Human Rights Activist
        Minod came to South Korea in 1992 and worked for several years as a manual laborer. During this time he experienced personally the oppression and discrimination migrant workers face at the hands of the government, employers and Korean society at large. He became convinced that cultural work and cross-culture exchange were necessary for addressing these problems.
        In 2003, during a historic sit-down protest against the crackdown on undocumented migrant workers, Minod founded the first multicultural migrants’ band in South Korea—“Stop Crackdown Band.” In 2005 Minod also helped to found MWTV, a television station that provides a ‘voice’ to migrants through which to speak about their lives and experiences. He has served as MWTV’ Co-Representative and Director of its Film Production Team. He has also produced two documentaries that look at the lives of migrant workers in South Korea. All of Minod’s cultural activities have been carried out with the goal of raising awareness about the discrimination and human rights abuses faced by migrants in South Korea and creating cross-cultural dialogue as a means to address these problems. His work is of infinite important to the movement for migrants’ rights and South Korean society as a whole.

III. Concentrated Crackdown against Undocumented Migrant Workers
        Minod’s arrest comes just as the government has declared a concentrated crackdown against undocumented migrant workers, which is scheduled to continue from October to December 20009. In the past, countless migrant workers have been injured and killed in the course of such crackdowns, during which immigration officers conduct surprise raids on factories and residences, breaking down doors and windows and dragging people out. One of the most shocking incidents occurred last November, when police blocked of the entrances and exits to an industrial complex in Maseok and immigration officers ransacked the factories and houses inside. 130 people were arrested and 10 hospitalized for injuries. 
        Far from thinking about their human rights, the right-wing administration Lee Myeong-bak has declared an all-out war on undocumented migrants. In the first half of 2009 alone the government has deported 17 thousand people; 32 thousand were deported in 2008. This is roughly twice the number of people deported during the entire term of the previous administration, which was by no means friendly towards migrants.
Like other migrants’ rights activists, Minod recognized the brutal nature of the crackdown, strongly condemned it and called on the government to implement a more just and humane policy, including a program of legalization program. 
       
IV. Pattern of Targeted Crackdown against Migrant Activists
        Minod’s arrest is not the first of its kind, but rather the latest incident in a series of targeted crackdowns against migrant activists in South Korea. Since 2002, immigration officers have used the cover of their authority to arrest undocumented migrants to target those involved in work to defend human and labor rights. The international community will remember when the government arrested and deported the president, vice president and general secretary of the Migrants Trade Union (MTU), a union founded for and by migrants, at the end of 2007 and then did the same thing to the newly elected president and vice president in May 2008. These arrests were carried out in the same manner as Minod’s, with immigration officers waiting in hiding in front of homes and workplaces in order to ambush the activists.
        This pattern of target crackdown has become so obvious that it has induced intervention on the parts of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants and the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association. It has also been widely condemned by human rights and labor organizations around the world.

Not only do we need your help to free Minod, if we do not make a strong show of force now, the government will take it as license to continue targeting migrant activists and persist in its crackdown against undocumented migrants. Please show you rage at the government and support for our struggle by sending a protest message to the fax numbers given below.

Your solidarity is more important now than ever!

A sample protest letter and adresses for your protest you'll find here.

Related article:
☞ Well-known 'illegal' Nepali immigrant faces deportation (Republica, 10.17)

☞ Voices raised against target crackdown.. (Hankyoreh, 10.16)