(Proof that animal abuse leads to human abuse?-ITD)

Ministry Reports on Human Rights Abuse

More than 800 cases of human rights abuse against foreign workers were uncovered in Korea over a period of twenty months, the Prosecutor General's Office said yesterday.

Prosecutors conducted an intensive crackdown on those human rights offenses from February of 2000 to September this year, and during the period, a total 809 people were found to have committed offences against 851 foreigners, with 134 convicted and the rest charged without physical detention.

Withholding wages accounted for the majority of the human rights abuse, with 483 people charged. Human smugglers and brokers involved in arranging illegal jobs for foreigners came next with 159, followed by 67 employers responsible for industrial hazards and 36 others charged with physical or sexual violence.

In particular, the number of people smuggling immigrants into the country surged to 96 in the first nine months of this year, as opposed to 63 from February to December of last year.

Meanwhile, this year, the Ministry of Justice said they helped illegal immigrants receive a total of 2 billion won ($1.5 million) of withheld wages from their former employers before deporting them from the country.

The ministry also said it would increase the number of migrant worker shelters, and devise ways to strengthen legal procedures for foreigners vulnerable to various human rights violations.