Migrant worker’s death raises questions about rehiring limit

Posted on : 2009-03-21 11:27 KST Modified on : 2009-03-21 11:27 KST
Foreign workers have just two months to find new employment after they have already entered the country and lost their jobs

“My grandfather and parents, whom I think about more as you’re so far away, they say there are many trials in life, but I cannot overcome them.”

At around 9 p.m. on March 11, Vietnamese migrant worker “Nguyen,” 32, took his life in a factory dormitory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, leaving behind a short note. This took place 52 days after he returned to Korean soil after receiving a reentry permit.

Nguyen, who first came to South Korea in 2006, worked at an automobile parts factory before returning to his home country when his three-year employment period expired. He returned to South Korea in January of this year and was hired again at the same factory, but the effects of the economic slump were severe. He was dismissed shortly thereafter and told that there was no work for him to do, and after that he had to travel around employment centers looking for a new position. Even his immediate living expenses were tenuous. He began living in a dormitory with his former colleagues without paying rent, and he had to borrow money to cover living expenses.

“Nguyen was responsible for the livelihoods of his younger brother and his brother’s wife and all his family members back home,” said a colleague. “Perhaps that was the reason he fell into such despair after losing his job.”

According to the Act on the Employment of Foreign Workers, a foreign worker who is unable to obtain a new job after two months of unemployment is subject to deportation as an undocumented sojourner.

To make matters worse, the wallet in which he was carrying his alien registration card and the money he borrowed for living expenses was stolen by a pickpocket. This occurred just a few hours before he took his own life.

“Migrant workers often believe that if they lose their alien registration card, they are immediately classified as undocumented illegal sojourners,” explained Choe Hong-jin, head of the counseling office at the Yongin Migrant Shelter. “I think he fell into a state of intense confusion, with his time limit for rehiring coming up shortly, and losing his registration card and living expenses on top of that,” said Choe. Nguyen’s remains were transported back to Vietnam on Tuesday afternoon.

“Nowadays, with the employment crisis severe for Koreans and foreigners alike, many migrant workers are being driven to the brink because of the regulation limiting their period for finding work to two months,” said Lee Young, a senior official with the Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea. Job listings for over 20 hiring companies, given to Nguyen by an employment center, were discovered in his coat pocket.

“There are some who are of the opinion that we need to increase the time limit foreign workers have to find new employment after they have already entered the country and lost their jobs, so we are examining the issue,” said Ahn Gyeong-deok, head of the Labor Ministry’s Foreign Workforce Policy Division.

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