‘S. Korea still has problems with human trafficking’

Posted on : 2014-07-17 17:16 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
US official cites sex trafficking and forced labor as areas still in need of improvement, despite “Tier 1” ranking

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

“A while ago, I read a newspaper where a senior official in the Korean judiciary said that there was virtually no human trafficking in Korea. As grounds for the claim, this official mentioned the fact that Korea was ranked as Tier 1 in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report. But Tier 1 doesn’t mean that there are no problems. Korea still has problems in this area, and it needs to keep working on them,” the American diplomat said.

Luis CdeBaca, the US State Department Ambassador-at-Large from the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, met with a Hankyoreh reporter at the public affairs office of the US Embassy in Seoul’s Yongsan district on July 15. “Tier one simply means that a country is satisfying the minimum conditions to eliminate human trafficking,” CdeBaca said. The US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report ranks the countries of the world as either Tier 1, Tier, 2, and Tier 3.

Indeed, this year’s TIP report, which was released last month, points out that human trafficking continues in South Korea today, with women compelled to become prostitutes, disabled individuals slaving away on salt farms, and migrant laborers from Southeast Asia and other areas doing forced labor. The report also expresses concerns that the government is involved in human trafficking, citing the compulsory labor of workers at the Africa Museum of Original Art in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, which is subsidized by the government.

Referring to how South Korea revised its criminal code last year to punish human trafficking more strictly and implemented global standards to enable the prosecution of human trafficking perpetrated by foreign nationals in other countries, CdeBaca described this as a “good thing.” At the same time, he said, “So far, only one case has been prosecuted under the revised criminal code. No matter how good a law is, it’s useless if it’s not applied.”

CdeBaca’s advice was for South Korea to create an organization that could take responsibility for and handle all cases of human trafficking. South Korea should also help victims of trafficking with rehabilitation. This assistance could be personalized, depending on whether victims are sex workers, migrant laborers, or disabled, he recommended.

CdeBaca had sharp criticism for North Korea, which is directly involved in human trafficking, he said. The North has been ranked as Tier 3 since 2003. Tier 3 refers to countries that are not even trying to eliminate human trafficking.

“North Korea operates labor camps where the inmates are compelled to work. In addition, when it sends workers to China or Russia, they are accompanied by government officials who restrict their freedom,” CdeBaca said. He also talked about the issue of female North Korean refugees in China. “There are cases when these women are confined in brothels and subjected to secondary exploitation. Many of their customers are South Koreans,” he said pointedly.

CdeBaca also talked about involvement in prostitution by US soldiers in South Korea. “President Obama issued an executive order requiring contractors providing services or provisions to the US to verify that there is no human trafficking in their supply network. In addition, we are making an effort to stamp out prostitution by giving the commanders of US Forces in Korea the authority to prohibit soldiers from visiting certain areas,” CdeBaca said.

CdeBaca emphasized that, as consumers, ordinary people could contribute to eradicating human trafficking. “We have to think about where the cell phone that we are using and the food that we are eating came from. For example, let’s say that our money is made of cotton that is grown in Uzbekistan. As it happens, Uzbekistan is a Tier 3 country that exploits child labor,” he said.

“All of us need to pay attention to our consumption. We, as consumers, can put pressure not only on governments, but also on companies,” CdeBaca said.

After arriving in South Korea on July 12, CdeBaca met a number of people, including government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, along with civic groups and victims of human trafficking. He left the country on July 16.

 

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