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| Filipino migrant workers arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the Philippines, Feb. 23, following President Rodrigo Duterte's call to evacuate workers after a Filipina was found dead in a freezer in Kuwait. / Reuters-Yonhap |
By Ko Dong-hwan
Following investigations of the owner family of Korean Air allegedly illegally hiring overseas housemaids, questions have arisen over whether there has been a big increase in illegal migrants working as housemaids in Korea.
Immigration offices have not kept track of how many migrants are working as housemaids without proper visas, according to the Ministry of Justice, Wednesday. Korea only approves foreigners with F-4 (Koreans with permanent residence or citizenship status of other countries) or F-6 (those who married to Koreans) visas to work as maids.
The ministry said illegal migrants in Korea numbered over 200,000 in 2016, a 17.4 percent jump from five years ago. But non-governmental migrant experts said the latest figure could be between 300,000 and 400,000 and that includes housemaids mostly from the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries, the Korean-Chinese ethnic group or Chinese.
According to the International Organization for Migration's Seoul Office, many migrants working illegally as maids are on H2 or E9 visas. H2 is basically a working-holiday visa, while the E9 is for employment in nonprofessional fields. The office said most of them ― estimated at between 30,000 and 80,000 in 2015, according to a National Human Rights Commission of Korea survey ― are hired through employment agencies in Seoul. The survey said it was impossible to tabulate illegal migrants in the industry due to a lack of data.
Foreign maids, usually hired by rich households in Gangnam-gu and other southern Seoul regions, or the Pyeongchang-dong district in Jongno-gu, Seoul, work more than 12 hours a day without days offs while getting paid as little as 1.5 million won ($1,390) a month. There are claims that some maids suffer abuse and sexual harassment from their employers.
Despite the hardships, most of these victims cannot report their cases or don't wish to because of their illegal status.
Human rights activists in Korea are concerned about the plight of illegal foreign maids.
Kang Hae-sook, from a Seoul-based non-governmental human rights watchdog for female migrants, predicted that the influx of these migrants into Korea to work as maids will continue. She said the central government "must start registering the basic numbers about the migrants and change the nation's distorted view toward the workers."
The issue of illegal household maids emerged after reports Wednesday accused Lee Myung-hee, wife of Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho and president of non-profit organization Ilwoo Foundation, of illegally hiring maids from Manila in 2014.
Yonhap News Agency quoted four emails between employees of Korean Air's human resources department that allegedly revealed that Lee had ordered the procurement of maids for her Pyeongchang-dong mansion and for her eldest daughter Hyun-ah who lived in Echon-dong in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
In the emails, the maids were referred to as "exchange students," hinting that the company was allegedly trying to get them past airport customs via Korean Air flights. She also complained about a maid from the Philippines for "not being able to peel off fruit rinds well and not speaking English," saying she wanted to replace her with another Filipino as soon as possible.
Immigration Office officials raided the Korean Air headquarters in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, on May 11 to search for evidence owner family members illegally used the company for personal benefit. The investigators found there were allegedly up to 20 Filipinos who were hired as maids for owner family member households in the past 10 years.
