A Thai broker and a South Korean employer have been referred to prosecutors for allegedly smuggling Thai nationals into the country and exploiting them for low-paid farm work, authorities said Tuesday.
The Seoul Immigration Office’s special investigation unit said it referred the two suspects — a 37-year-old Thai broker and a 43-year-old Korean poultry farm operator — to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office without detention on March 26 on charges of violating the Immigration Control Act.
The broker, a marriage migrant in Korea, is accused of conspiring with a travel agency operator in Thailand to recruit workers by advertising jobs in Korea in exchange for an entry fee of 120,000 baht ($3,740).
Authorities said 11 Thai nationals were recruited through the scheme, with six entering Korea illegally using falsified electronic travel authorization applications. They were then placed at the Korean employer’s poultry farm.
To avoid detection during immigration screening, the broker allegedly traveled to Thailand three times with her Korean spouse and child, posing as a family accompanying the workers upon entry.
Once in Korea, the workers’ passports were confiscated and they were housed under surveillance in accommodations equipped with closed-circuit cameras, investigators said.
Between July last year and January, the broker is also accused of arranging illegal employment for 10 undocumented Thai nationals and funneling their wages into her own account, deducting fees and commissions before passing on the remainder.
Some workers received as little as 50,000 won ($34) after 10 days of labor, in what authorities described as severe wage exploitation.
Officials said they would step up enforcement against brokers who exploit migrant workers’ vulnerable status to extract labor and wages.
hnpark@heraldcorp.com
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