Vietnamese caught forging documents to obtain Korean nationality

Police said Tuesday that they have booked three local brokers for an investigation into allegations that they helped forge birth papers for the newborns of illegal Vietnamese immigrants in Korea in order to give the children forged Korean nationalities.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency also booked 25 others, including a gynecologist and Korean-immigrant couples who are suspected of helping the forgery by lending their names or falsely certifying the newborns' births.

The brokers include a 40-year-old man surnamed Lee who allegedly forged birth papers for 18 newborns to illegal Vietnamese immigrants here since April 2010. Lee forged the papers in order to register them as children of the couples who loaned their names, according to the police.

After gaining South Korean nationalities and passports, the newborns were sent back to their biological parents' families in Vietnam for child rearing, the police said, adding illegal immigrant couples often seek South Korean passports in order to send their newborns overseas because of difficulties in child rearing due to their unstable status as illegal residents.

In return, the brokers pocketed a total of 108 million won (US$96,100) in rewards, or 6 million won per child, the police noted.

The police agency said they plan to further look into whether there are other similar illegal nationality acquisition cases involving newborns. (Yonhap)