In Maseok, unhealed wounds after ‘human hunt’ for migrant workers

Ongoing crackdowns are threatening the human rights of migrant workers and the existence of small businesses with few hiring choices

A visit to Maseok Furniture Industrial Complex on Monday afternoon showed that the wounds of last year’s crackdown have not yet healed.

“Making furniture is a technical trade, but once we’ve taught them and they’re good enough, they drag them away. Koreans don’t come, either. They say it’s too tough. The legal ones who have come in through the employment permit system leave right away. I really don’t know what they expect us to do.” The 50-year-old director of “D” furniture company launched immediately into his rant. Three of the four migrant workers he had employed at his factory were dragged off in last year’s crackdown. Half of his entire workforce of six was gone, just like that. “After that, the factory sat idle for a while, and only recently did I manage to find workers and open up the factory again,” he said. The nation is said to be facing an unprecedented hiring crisis, but even the three new employees he managed to bring in were all unregistered migrant workers.

There are more than 350 small-scale manufacturing businesses located in Maseok and more than 600 migrant workers. These workers were expected to keep the factories moving, and when they suddenly disappeared in last year’s crackdown, more than 40 small workplaces were forced to shut their doors completely.

The government crackdown is still ongoing. A week ago on March 4, another “rabbit hunt” resulted in 13 more people being carted away. In other years it would be time of boundless energy with the marriage season ahead, but lately the area was been swept up in anxiety over when the crackdown squad might be making another appearance. Factory “J,” which had four of its five employees taken away in last Wednesday’s crackdown, has halted its production line.

“If we get hit by another crackdown this time, we’ll have to go into default,” said the director of company “H,” which produces bathroom slippers. “I know that unregistered migrant workers are illegal, but what am I supposed to do when there’s no one who comes here and says they want to work?” he asked.

In contrast, the unregistered migrant workers targeted in the crackdown were serene, as though they had given up hope.Thirty-year-old Nepali “Hobin” said, “I’m really scared of a crackdown, but if I get caught, I get caught. I have to keep working because of my family back home.” Attached to Hobin’s windowless lodgings is a sticker that reads “STOP CRACKDOWN.”

The complete article, incl. editor's note, you can read here!