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While yesterday (KST) progressive trade unions, political and civic organisations all across the world celebrated the Int'l Migrants Day, in the S.K. capital Seoul a bunch of reactionaries - the "Movement of Extradition of Illegal Workers" -  promised during a rally in front of the Central Immigration Office in Mok-dong: "We will continue our actions till all of the illegal foreign workers are deported!''...

Beside that (simply said^^) "unpleasant" event - of course - representatives of several progressive organisations demanded: "Stop Crackdown and Deportation!"..

.."Stop the Oppression of MTU and the Prosecution of its Activists!" (at least since 12.5 MTU's remaining and new leadership must hide themselves to prevent arrest..)

Well, following you can read, what today's Korea Times has to say about it:

Migrant Workers Complain of New Immigration Law
 

Tuesday was International Migrants Day but many foreign workers here were in no mood for celebration.

The Migrant Workers' Union and their supporting civic groups held a rally on Tuesday in downtown Seoul to protest against the government's new regulation on illegal sojourners. They urged the government to apologize for cracking down on their union, withdraw revisions to the immigration law and guarantee their basic labor rights.

Under the new regulation, illegal foreign workers are to face a maximum of three years in prison or be extradited to their own countries.

In addition investigative procedures can infringe upon their human rights, some civic group members said. Lawyer Chung Jung-hoon said there is no proper procedure mentioned for the public power to investigate the workers.

``For example, some immigration officers can ask 'foreign-looking persons' to provide credentials or conduct a crackdown on workplaces without a warrant,'' he said. Chung said police officers must have warrants for these acts.

There are also ongoing criticisms toward the Work Permit System that allows foreign workers to make money in Korea. According to the system, workers cannot change their workplaces more than three times, while in many cases they suffer from abuse and delayed wages from the employers. ``This clause drives many workers to become illegal migrant workers,'' a member of the union said.

Even forming a union is pending at the Supreme Court, for the Ministry of Labor appealed against the law allowing foreign workers a union.

Recently, three migrant workers' labor union heads were simultaneously caught and extradited. The human rights civic groups claimed that the National Human Rights Commission was under probe on whether their investigation contained coercive treatment, but the government suddenly deported them. The NHRC also expressed their regret over the decision to the immigration office but received no reply.

On the other hand, the 220,000 illegal migrants are becoming a hot issue for another reason. Some conservatives showed big support for the revised law and held a protest in front of the immigration office to ask for thorough performance of the law on Tuesday, too.

Chung Dae-seong, a member of The Movement of Extradition of Illegal Workers, said he believes that it's the best that people live in their own countries. ``But if they want to live in other countries, then they must pay respect to the respective nationals,'' he said. The members said the illegal sojourners do not pay tax and are obviously violating Korean law. ``We will continue our actions till all of them are deported,'' he said.

Some other members expressed anger when asked about human rights violations. ``I say the longer they stay in our land, the more Korean people's rights are being violated _ you know what I mean?'' a man who refused to identify himself said.

 
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/12/117_15769.html

 
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