After 14 years with foreign inmates, correctional officer says crime has no nationality
CHEONAN, South Chungcheong Province — The only real difference between Korean and foreign inmates, says Min Byung-kwon, is their skin color. Min, 52, has spent 14 years of his 27-year career working at Cheonan Correctional Institution, Korea's only prison tasked with handling foreign inmates, and his time listening to them convinced him that a fearlessness about committing crime crosses every nationality. “Some inmates don't want to be deported upon release because they like Korea and others demand better treatment, claiming Korea is a wealthy country,” Min said in an interview with The Korea Times. “Sometimes it's surprising to see inmates from distant countries speak fluent Korean.” But such fluency is rare, with most foreign inmates having limited Korean proficiency. Those from Russia and Uzbekistan tend to struggle the most, while many Chinese inmates are ethnic Koreans from China whose Korean is good enough to interpret for others. The fearlessness Min describes shows in the crimes that land the inmates in prison. Drug offenses are the most common, followed by fraud. Some
