By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Video footage showing an unregistered female Chinese worker being beaten by immigration officials during their crackdown on illegal workers in Daejeon drew public anger and strong protest from migrant workers' groups.
In a video clip recorded around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday by Daejeon-based media outlet Joongdo Ilbo, a Chinese woman is hauled by force to a van by two immigration officials at Daejeon Immigration Office. She strongly resists, screaming. Seconds later, one of the officials, sitting across from the woman, slaps her despite her calmness. Crying out, she protests and begs in Korean, ``I (legitimately) arrived here yesterday. Why do you beat me?''
The immigration office confirmed that she is an ethnic Korean from China who worked at a restaurant here after arriving on short-term travel visa.
As the 150 seconds of footage spread online, the Korea Immigration Service dispatched a fact-finding team to the provincial office to investigate the incident.
``The official will be disciplined, if deemed necessary,'' an immigration service spokesman told The Korea Times.
Pro-migrant workers civic groups condemned the authorities.
Eight civic groups there slammed the Ministry of Justice, which oversees immigration offices around the country, in a joint statement, calling the ministry ``organized gangsters.''
A migrant workers' union in Daejeon filed a complaint against the two officials with the prosecution.
Seo Min-sik, head of the union, said, ``They should have played by the rules but they didn't.''
Dozens of civic group members staged a rally in front of the immigration building Friday afternoon.
They urged the office to apologize for the assault, discipline the officials, and set measures to prevent similar cases occuring.
Justice Ministry and immigration officials have said they will improve institutions and practices to prevent violations of human rights in the law enforcement process. The ministry plans to introduce a set of guidelines this month on what to avoid during the process of capturing undocumented foreigners or unregistered migrant workers. ``This is an international matter. Those violating guidelines can be disciplined,'' the spokesman said.