Welcome to BASE21

By Terry Park/Staff Writer
parkterry@hotmail.com

Seoul, Korea--Members of the Equality Trade Union (ETU), the first and only migrant worker labor union in South Korea, organized an open forum today on the campus of Hankuk University for Foreign Studies. The topic of concern was the "Voluntary Reporting Period" recently announced by the South Korean government. According to an ETU statement, those illegal migrant workers who voluntarily register with government authorities will supposedly receive a one-year moratorium on various penalties, at which time they will be forced to leave the country. What seems like a tempting offer of temporary legal status, ETU claims, is in actuality a thinly-veiled ploy by the Kim Dae-Jung administration to strictly regulate, monitor, and gradually decrease the number of illegal workers in lieu of the World Cup in June and the Asian Games to be held in Pusan later this year.

Around twenty to thirty workers, organizers, and supporters were first treated to "The Other Border," a short documentary illustrating the movement to gain legal status for migrant workers in Spain. Brief introductions and a question and answer session followed. Presentations on the present political situation of migrant workers and the realities and consequences of the registration program were given by ETU activists in Korean, Nepalese, and Bangladeshi.

ETU claims the registration progam is both an insult and a threat to the migrant worker community. Migrants already suffer under the abusive and exploitative "trainee system," numerous police crackdowns, and the arrogant refusal by the South Korean government to grant illegal migrant workers permanent legal status. Now they are worried that some migrant workers, especially newcomers unaware of the complicated situation, will take the government's carrot without understanding the losses--some of which include the right to transfer to another factory, the right to strike, not to mention forced deportation at the risk of harsh penalties. In short, the registration program hopes to discipline, silence, isolate, and eventually erase migrant workers from the southern half of the peninsula, an economy they helped build with their blood and stygmatized skin. This type of treatment has been a constant feature of industrialized economies hungry for a cheap and docile labor force yet fearful of their political agency, but the repression has intensified ever since the September 11th incident and security concerns for subsequent international events, such as the upcoming World Cup. Migrant workers want an effective and permanent legalization that respects the right to live and work without the fear of violence, exploitation, and humiliation.

In response, ETU plans to host a number of mass meetings, such as today's, to educate migrant workers about the registration program, in addition to a press conference. A rally will also take place on April 7th (place to be announced). International solidarity, especially from migrant worker organizations, is urgently needed.