15 Years On Migrant Workers In Korea are still Second Class
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=244880&rel_no=1
Korea's 400,000 migrant workers to get hospital
Korean-Chinese migrant worker Kim In Sung committed suicide four years ago by setting himself on fire. His suicide note, written in wall paint, read, "Mr. Kim's soul will go to hell. His bad deeds will follow him forever. Korea makes me sad."
The industrial trainee system, implemented in 1993, allows foreign workers to enter the country and receive training for a year. Thereafter, they can be employed for a maximum of two years, however unlike those with work visas, workers under the industrial trainee system are not protected by the labor laws, meaning they are often abused and their human rights are breached due to their status as a "trainees."
"Even from a very young age, Koreans are brought up to believe that our own skin color is the only 'normal' and acceptable one," said Rev. Kim Hae Sung, founder of the Migrant Workers' House in Seoul. "There even used to be a crayon called 'skin color'-- the color being pinkish beige, representing the skin color of Westerners."
"Fraud or unpaid wages are the most common problems among the workers when they seek counseling," said Kim. The counseling helps the migrants on legal matters, sometimes even going as far as representing their case in court, however only 20 percent of the cases that are reported are sorted out.
