Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Moroccan asylum-seeker to receive $7,300 in compensation for 'torturous' treatment
This June 2021 file photo shows a Moroccan man with his wrists and ankles bound behind his back at a detention facility for foreign nationals in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. A court in Seoul ordered the government to give the man 10 million won ($7,300) in compensation for the "inhumane" treatment he received there. Courtesy of Duroo Association for Public Interest Law
By Jung Min-ho
The Korean government has been ordered to pay a Moroccan asylum-seeker 10 million won ($7,300) in compensation for the “torturous” treatment he received here in 2021.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled Thursday in favor of the plaintiff who filed a damage suit in December 2022 for physical and mental pains he had suffered at a detention facility for foreign nationals in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.
The released pictures of the man with his wrists and ankles bound behind his back there later ignited an outcry from human rights activists, who helped him take legal action.
Officials at the detention facility said that the restraining measures were necessary after the man showed violent behavior, including self-harm.
But the court ruled that the measures involving ropes, zip ties and box tape were excessive, saying the “inhumane” method caused him “significant physical pain and infringed upon his dignity” as a human being.
Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Kim Ji-rim, his lawyer from GongGam Human Rights Law Foundation, a Seoul-based civic group, urged the Ministry of Justice not to appeal it but to focus on reforming its system to better protect the human rights of foreigners in Korea.
After the issue came into the fore, the ministry announced its plan to improve the system of controlling defiant behavior at such facilities by specifying under which circumstances and what kind of tools it could use under its revised enforcement regulations.
The ministry has yet to appeal the decision.