Pastor helps undocumented Koreans

Pastor Kwon Tae-il

By Jhoo Dong-chan

A pastor at a church in Incheon, Gyeonggi Province, has helped more than 150 undocumented Koreans around the world.

Sarangbat Church pastor and founder of the church’s charity group, 62-year-old Kwon Tae-il, said, “We should not hesitate to help overseas Koreans, now that the country is the world’s 11th largest economy and is expanding its Official Development Assistance to more developing countries every year.”

Kwon first started helping overseas Koreans who had troubles with visas or had financial problems when he founded the church in China, 2011.

“I saw the pitiful circumstances of those people during my service there. One had his company bankrupted overseas, some were swindled by locals, and another committed a crime at home and fled from Korea,” said Kwon.

“My job is to help those who become undocumented outside of Korea for unfortunate reasons, and also to support runaways who want to start a new life.”

In order to provide better and more efficient operations, Kwon founded the rescue team for undocumented Koreans overseas and has worked together with the government.

Kwon has since helped a total of 165 undocumented Koreans overseas come back to Korea.

Kwon points out that the most important thing in his service is to help them after their reentry to Korea.

“Being homeless or living as a fugitive for a long time, most of them suffer from very unstable mental states. In many cases, it’s hard to find anyone to help them even when they come back to Korea,” Kwon said.

“Thus, the rehabilitation process is absolutely necessary for them, helping them become stable and get a new job through vocational training. Such processes take time and money so I believe the government should step in more deeply.”

His rescue team’s expenses, including flight tickets and fines paid to each country’s immigration office, are covered by his church and donations from the International NGO WorldShare.

Kwon’s team is mainly focusing on undocumented Koreans in China and Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia and will expand its boundaries, Kwon said.

“Over 100,000 overseas Koreans are estimated to be undocumented around the world, drifting from one place to another,” said Kwon.

“We and the government should not look down on them with biased views branding them as criminals or losers but help them start new lives.”