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We work here to raise money for a brokage
Migrant workers in clothing factories in Pyounghwa clothing market
Kim Sun-hee

Pyounghwa clothing market is a significant place in Korean labor movements. A 20-year-old Chun Tae-il, a worker in a sewing company, burned himself to death on November 13, 1970, embracing a book of the labor standard law tightly, crying "we are not machine!" and "Keep the labor standard law!". He resisted by burning himself after he worked in a factory, where never got sunshine, for 15 hours a day and his lungs were affected. After his heroic death Korean labor movement was newly born. Many people who pay a high tribute to him have been dedicated to labor movements. Every November Korean workers hold a nationwide meeting. Honoring the 30th memorial day of his death, this year a monument was erected in Pyounghwa clothing market.

Migrant workers in Pyounghwa clothing market
On November 14th I visited Pyounghwa clothing market, a holy place in Korean labor movements and the mecca of Korean clothing market. When I came out of the Dongdaemun subway station, splendid light of large clothing shopping center was brightening street as day in chilly evening. While I was walking along a busy street, I was wondering whether I was in Seoul, because Dongdaemun shopping district was full of foreigners. It's plain that most of them are migrant workers.

When I arrived at the Seoul Clothing Labor Union, located on the fourth floor in Dongdaemun shoes shopping center, three Vietnamese migrant workers were waiting for me. The Union started from a labor union organized by struggle of workers in Pyounghwa clothing market after Chun Tae-il's death and developed into a union for workers working in clothing industry throughout Seoul. Binh, one of three Vietnameses, got to know a member of the Union and gets along with him. The rest of them, Van Tam and Thi Tam are friends of Binh.

Binh is 32-year-old worker. The first thing he told me was "I'm an undocumented worker" in clear Korean. He seemed worried if he would be forced to leave Korea because of the exposure of his illegal status. I assured him there is no need to worry about it and began an interview with them having help from a Korean worker who accompanied with Vietnameses. Binh finished a 6-year-course middle school (high school in Korean education system) and is a father of a 6-year-old daughter in Vietnam. He is good enough at Korean to communicate with me in Korean. He has been staying in Korea for 5 years since he came here as an industrial trainee in December 1995. To come to Korea he gave money equivalent to 2 million won to a local broker as a brokage. Currently it is said to be raised up to 6 million won. As an industrial trainee, he was paid 280,000 won a month which was not enough to pay the brokage. Therefore he chose to be an undocumented worker. With the same reason most of migrant workers working in Pyounghwa clothing market might become undocumented workers. At the moment Binh is working as an assistant cutter and is paid 900,000 won a month in cash. He spends 300,000 won in renting a room, having food, and paying transportation, and sends 600,000 won to his country. For a room he put 1 million won as a deposit and pays rental fee 200,000 won every month. He shares it with his friend.

In Changshin Dong, where Binh is working, workers are paid relatively high in Pyounghwa clothing market. Changshin Dong is called "market area" among workers in Pyounghwa clothing market. "Market area" is a place where supplies clothing to large clothing shopping center like Migliore and clothing made here is sold nationwide. On the other hand, in a place called "line" clothing for export is made and wage is less than that in "market area".

A migrant worker with no experience is paid less than 700,000 won per month, so was Binh. Now he is a skilled worker with a five-year-experience and is paid 900,000 won. A Korean worker with the same experience as Binh's can be paid up to 1.1 million won. There is 200,000 won difference between a Korean worker and a migrant worker with the same experience. Factories in Pyounghwa clothing market are mostly small, so they are often shut down. Binh wasn't a lucky one. He was unpaid up to 2 million won . Although he has a positive opinion on Korea, he got displeased when he talked about the overdue wage.

Working hour are 12 hrs per day
Working hour is 9 am to 9 pm from Monday to Saturday. Whenever there is a lot of work to do, working hour extends until 12 midnight. However, there is no allowance for the extended work. It applies to Korean workers as well. Banh skips breakfast, has lunch provided in a factory and has noodles as dinner. On sundays he plays soccer with Vietnameses in similar situation in a playground in nearby elementary school. Some of them come from Buchun in Kyongkido. Otherwise he spends at home without special leisure activities. For last 5 years only a Vietnamese film, which was on recently, was all he saw. He doesn't watch TV or read newspaper because he can't read Korean. Binh told that his factory owner and colleagues are friendly to him. They are like a family because there are only 5-6 people in a factory. Binh is the only migrant worker in this factory. However he said that there is more than one migrant worker in every nearby factories. In factory, where Binh is working, there has been no industrial accident because a migrant worker doesn't use a cutting machine. However since factory is full of dust of cloth, he always has a sore throat. He's never been checked up since he came to Korea. So he doesn't know in what condition his lungs are. Binh's dream is going back to Vietnam after earning 10 million won in 2-3 years. With that amount of money he can live in Vietnam as middle class. He ended the interview adding that "Korean are very hard-working people".

A 28-year-old Van Tam, who came to Korea with Binh, also finished a six-year-course middle school and now he is working as an assistant cutter. He is paid 900,000 won a month but he is also an undocumented worker. In factory where he is working there are 4 Korean and 3 Vietnamese. Thi Tam, 27, graduated from college and entered into Korea in 1998. She was also used to be an industrial trainee and now is an undocumented worker. She is paid 900,000 won and assists working with a sewing machine. In her factory there are 4 Korean and 3 Vietnamese.

20% of workers in Pyounghwa clothing market are migrant workers
Van Tam and Thi Tam live and work in the same condition as Binh. Their hope is also to go back home after saving some money. Without this hope they could never put up with life in Korea. Although Vietnam is poorer than Korea, the government provides people with a house without charge and 8-hour-working hour is well kept. Therefore for them if they have money Vietnam is the better place to live in than Korea.

Migrant workers in Pyounghwa clothing market are Vietnamese, Mongolian, Indian, Philippino, Chinese and so on. In Pyounghwa clothing market there are many small businesses with less than 10 workers and in half of them it can be said that there is at least more than one migrant worker. At the moment there isn't an exact statistical basis, about 20-30% of workers in this market are migrant workers. In this market businesses are usually small and often go bankrupt, even Korean workers lose their job. In this situation no doubt that migrant workers are always worried about employment unstability and can't dream to see a doctor. Compared to other migrant workers in Korea, three people I met are relatively well paid because of their skill. However many migrant workers in this market don't belong to this category.

A Korean worker in our interview said that business owners prefer a migrant worker to a Korean worker, for they know they can pay the former less than the latter. Therefore sometimes a migrant worker is considered as a competitor who takes place of a Korean worker's job. And he added that migrant workers deserve less payment than Korean since they don't understand Korean and work more slowly than Korean workers do. I thought that his last remark could represent Korean workers' general opinion toward migrant workers in Pyounghwa clothing market.

Three interviewees kindly cooperated my interview and said to me that they wanted to read my article in Vietnamese version. I promised them to send it to them and finished my interview wishing their dreams come true.