By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

Authorities have come forward with a guidelines and a code of practices that immigrant officers must abide by when apprehending or raiding undocumented foreigners here and their workplaces.

The regulation, which will take effect from June 15, is administratively binding, meaning violators will be disciplined, however, it is not legislated into a law and therefore is not legally binding.

``It's to protect human rights of undocumented international guest workers during a crackdown,'' an official of the Korea Immigration Service told The Korea Times, declining to be named.

``We have had an internal guideline. But it has been criticized for many loopholes and lax implementation. So we upgraded the old one after taking into account frequent complaints.''

The new rule mandates that at least one female officer participate in every crackdown, in case of the arrest or body search of female foreigners.

It requires every investigation squad to have an official recording procedures and practices as evidence in any legal dispute that may arise during a crackdown.

It also mandates officers to visit a venue subject to a raid in advance and submit a detailed investigation plan to their boss.
``An approval from their boss is necessary to put it into practice,'' he said.

The plan must include the date, address and list of foreigners subject to apprehension, and other information about the crackdown. The submission of the plan had been optional.

The alleged human rights abuses of undocumented foreigners during crackdowns have been a hot issue in a country that is transforming itself into a multicultural society.

For instance, video footage in April showing an unregistered female Chinese worker being assaulted by law enforcement agents during a crackdown in Daejeon drew public anger and strong protest from migrant workers' groups.

The guideline obliges immigration officers to inform apprehended non-Koreans of their rights during interrogation, called the ``Miranda Law.''

The rule makes it clear that they can refuse to make an unfavorable statement, they have the right to a lawyer, and an objection can be filed against a series of immigration office's measures within seven days from the date of receipt.

The rule will be translated into 14 languages including Russian, Mongolian, Vietnamese, and Chinese.

Still, foreigners' groups are negative about the new rule for its obscurity in drawing a clear line between ``do's and don'ts.''

``The guideline is not concrete, meaning it still has room for abusing their rights,'' the Migrants' Trade Union said in a statement. The union urged the government to raise the guideline status to law ㅡ not administrative order ㅡ for the promotion of human rights of foreign workers.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr