118. In March 2018, the NHRCK made a recommendation to revise the system to
prevent sexual harassment and violence and offer remedy in consideration of
the fact that these are even harder to prove for women migrant workers
mostly lacking the fluency in Korean language. The government has
reportedly accepted the recommendation by pushing ahead with the "Urgent
Application of Change of Workplace" system and setting up a counseling
center dedicated to women migrant workers. The NHRCK will continue to
monitor the progress of relevant policies of the government to promote
human rights of women migrant workers.
119. On the other hand, the government needs to hold a strict stance against the
discriminatory attempt to apply a different set of minimum wages to foreign
migrant workers and take a relevant measure to ensure the rights to work for
everyone without any discrimination based on nationalities.
15-2. Revision to the System Incurring Undocumented Immigrants
120. As of December 2017, the accumulative number of undocumented
immigrants was 82,837 18, and the year of 2017 alone sees 26,178 documented
foreign nationals turn into undocumented: non-professional employment visa
holders under the Employment Permit System (EPS) account for the largest
share of turning undocumented at 9,455, followed by artistic performer visa
holders, a highly controversial status for sexual exploitation.
[Table 7] Documented Turned Undocumented (Unit: People)
Classification
Nonprofessional
Employment
(E-9)
Vessel
Crew
(E-10)
Culture and
Entertainment
(E-6)
Designated
Activities
(E-7)
Documented
Immigrants
(Accumulative)
273,406
15,33
4
3,383
20,684
Undocumented
Immigrants
(in 2017)
9,455
1,355
449
975
1,267
1,334
Ratio of Turning
Undocumented
3.5%
8.8%
13.3%
4.7%
0.6%
1.1%
Working
Visit
(H-2)
Marriage
Migrant
(F-6)
225,455 120,840
18 Monthly Immigration Statistics, December 2017: Korea Immigration Service shows that, as of
December 2017, undocumented immigrants number 251,041, among them 167,140 or 66.6% are
undocumented short-term visa holders (shorter than 90 days), 82,837 or 33% are longer-term
documented immigrants, and 1,064 or 0.4% are foreign nationals who reported their residence.
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