South Korea Needs Foreign Workers, but Often Fails to Protect Them

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다른 나라야 어떻든, 우리나라의 부끄러운 모습이다.

South Korea Needs Foreign Workers, but Often Fails to Protect Them

By Choe Sang-Hun

Mar. 2, 2024, The New York Times

 

아래는, 사진과 함께, 위 기사에서  (기사는 외국인 근로자를 착취하고 부당하게 대우하는 여러 예를 들고 있지만 한 가지만 인용한다):

 

South Korean exports are available in virtually every corner of the world. But the nation is more dependent than ever before on an import to keep its factories and farms humming: foreign labor.

 

Data released this week showed that last year the country broke its own record — again — for the world’s lowest total fertility rate.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government has responded by more than doubling the quota for low-skilled workers from less-developed nations including Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, the Philippines and Bangladesh. Hundreds of thousands of them now toil in South Korea, typically in small factories, or on remote farms or fishing boats — jobs that locals consider too dirty, dangerous or low-paying. With little say in choosing or changing employers, many foreign workers endure predatory bosses, inhumane housing, discrimination and other abuses.

 

One of these is Chandra Das Hari Narayan, a native of Bangladesh. Last July, working in a wooded park north of Seoul, he was ordered to cut down a tall tree. Though the law requires a safety helmet when doing such work, he was not given one. A falling branch hit his head, knocking him out and sending blood spilling from his nose and mouth.

 

After his bosses refused to call an ambulance, ​a fellow ​migrant worker ​rushed him to a hospital, where​ doctors found internal bleeding in his head and his skull fractured in three places. His employer reported only minor bruises to the authorities, according to a document it filed for workers’ compensation for Mr. Chandra without his approval.

“They would not have treated me like this if I were South Korean,” said Mr. Chandra, 38. “They treat migrant workers ​like disposable items.”

 

“They treat people differently according to skin colors,” said Mr. Asis, the textile worker. “In the crowded bus, they would rather stand than take an empty seat next to me. I ask myself, ‘Do I smell?’”