Labour Minister orders probe of ‘little ghost’ job-seekers to South Korea

By The Nation

 

 

The Labour Minister, Pol General Adul Sangsingkeo, has instructed officials to be stricter in intercepting “little ghost” Thai workers who aim to work illegally in South Korea.

 

The Minister also ordered a probe into a report of 400 Thais being detained by South Korean immigration officials on April 19 pending deportation over suspicions of seeking work illegally. The Minister said he aims to punish the labour agent who brought them there. 

 

He conceded that some Thai workers have tried to find work in South Korea, where they are in high demand and can earn wages of up to Bt45,000-Bt60,000 monthly.

 

 

Adul revealed that officials at Thai airports had intercepted approximately 400-600 Thais per month who were travelling to South Korea without a sound reason and so were suspected of being “little ghost” illegal workers.

 

In order to tackle this, the Thai government has been trying to negotiate with their Korean counterpart to increase the existing 5,000-person quota for Thai workers to legally work there. The effort has not yet led to success, as South Korean officials were rationing out their quota among workers from other countries as well, the Minister said.

 

Currently there were about 190,000 Thai workers in South Korea – about 130,000 of whom were reportedly “little ghosts”, while only 21,000 Thai nationals work there legally.

 

In the meantime, Thai immigration bureau chief Pol Lt-General Sompong Chingduang said his office was contacting their South Korean counterpart to bring some 300 Thais who were still detained there back to Thailand. 

 

In this case, the private company or airline that brought them there must be responsible for their travel expenses back to Thailand, while Thai immigration police would help facilitate the procedure, Sompong said.

 

The case was revealed by a Thai social media user who posted about the “whole flight” detention for deportation on April 19 as a cautionary tale for people wishing to work illegally in South Korea. She said people shouldn't take the risk in coming, as it was hard to pass through the South Korean authority’s strict screening, which is part of an ongoing crackdown on illegal workers that is expected to last for months.

 

Thai Travel Agents Association vice president Charoen Wangananont commented that he wanted the Department of Tourism to help check if the 300 Thais detained in South Korea went with a tour agency. If so, wrote Charoen, the department should also check if the tour agency had a proper licence or was just a cover-up business for smuggling workers.

 

“We have to admit that many Thai have gone to work in South Korea because there was a high demand for hard-working workers who are willing to do overtimes, while Thais also thought the wage was much higher than in Thailand at about Bt20,000-Bt40,000 a month. It is easy to travel to South Korea – just buy a Bt20,000 tour package to go there – so the Labour Ministry and the Department of Tourism must discuss preventive and problem-solving measures,” he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30368196

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-04-23

No doubt of those number of illegal Thais there,  there is a very high percentage of very pretty "  little ghosts" providing spiritual relaxation to local Koreans in the massage businesses. Wonder what the translation is to Korean for ;  "Sung, sung this place is full of heavenly little ghosts,  come quickly" ?

15 hours ago, geoffbezoz said:

No doubt of those number of illegal Thais there,  there is a very high percentage of very pretty "  little ghosts" providing spiritual relaxation to local Koreans in the massage businesses. Wonder what the translation is to Korean for ;  "Sung, sung this place is full of heavenly little ghosts,  come quickly" ?

majority don't go there to prostitute themselves. Most work in restaurants or fields picking fruits.

2 minutes ago, mike324 said:

majority don't go there to prostitute themselves. Most work in restaurants or fields picking fruits.

I think you need to crawl out from under that rock and start reading some facts.  This partial item, courtesy of Wiki,  should educate you better

"

Thai

According to the Justice Ministry, increasing numbers of Thai women are drawn to illegal "massage work" in the ROK. It estimates that the number of illegal Thai residents soared from 68,449 in 2017 to 122,192 in August 2018. Of the 60,000 who are women, some 50,000 are believed to be working in massage parlors, some of them fronts for prostitution. The owner of one Thai massage parlor in Gangnam said, "Even if I try to run a legitimate business, I have no idea what happens in the room between a client and a masseuse who wants to make more money." Massage parlors are illegal in Korea unless operated by blind people, but around 50,000 offer foot massage, sports massage, and acupressure. They employ some 300,000 workers.^[37][38]

11 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

I think you need to crawl out from under that rock and start reading some facts.  This partial item, courtesy of Wiki,  should educate you better

"

Thai

According to the Justice Ministry, increasing numbers of Thai women are drawn to illegal "massage work" in the ROK. It estimates that the number of illegal Thai residents soared from 68,449 in 2017 to 122,192 in August 2018. Of the 60,000 who are women, some 50,000 are believed to be working in massage parlors, some of them fronts for prostitution. The owner of one Thai massage parlor in Gangnam said, "Even if I try to run a legitimate business, I have no idea what happens in the room between a client and a masseuse who wants to make more money." Massage parlors are illegal in Korea unless operated by blind people, but around 50,000 offer foot massage, sports massage, and acupressure. They employ some 300,000 workers.^[37][38]

actually I do know quite a bit. Like the article say, as many as 50,000 are believe to be working in massage parlors, this include normal massage parlors. These out number the shady ones by far.  The happy ending massage parlors don't pay well, short time is cost an average of $80-$100 (thats the cost if a Korean is providing the job, its less if its a Thai). If a Thai were to work there, their profit would amount to very little profit, those that are in this business is better off staying in Thailand. Hence very little go to prostitute themselves, a lot do provide legitimate massage services because its pays 2-3x compare to Thailand. But like I said majority work in restaurants and fields. Which are normally dominated by Chinese workers in the past.

There are a handful of very popular facebook groups advertising these legitimate jobs.

 

And if you bother to read more articles from Korea, it states that most Thais work in fields and service industry. The shady industry no doubt is growing, but its not as big as you think it is.

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Currently there were about 190,000 Thai workers in South Korea – about 130,000 of whom were reportedly “little ghosts”, while only 21,000 Thai nationals work there legally.

…..and the other 39,000? Tourists???

1 hour ago, mike324 said:

majority don't go there to prostitute themselves. Most work in restaurants or fields picking fruits.

yup, Thai have a worldwide reputation of fruitpickers, it's what they love to do. They would never prostitute themselves and sure not in another country far from home....????

1 hour ago, mike324 said:

actually I do know quite a bit. Like the article say, as many as 50,000 are believe to be working in massage parlors, this include normal massage parlors. These out number the shady ones by far.  The happy ending massage parlors don't pay well, short time is cost an average of $80-$100 (thats the cost if a Korean is providing the job, its less if its a Thai). If a Thai were to work there, their profit would amount to very little profit, those that are in this business is better off staying in Thailand. Hence very little go to prostitute themselves, a lot do provide legitimate massage services because its pays 2-3x compare to Thailand. But like I said majority work in restaurants and fields. Which are normally dominated by Chinese workers in the past.

There are a handful of very popular facebook groups advertising these legitimate jobs.

 

And if you bother to read more articles from Korea, it states that most Thais work in fields and service industry. The shady industry no doubt is growing, but its not as big as you think it is.

Well from what you said it appears far from you thinking that you know quite a bit, you actually know and understand extremely little about the situation there. Spend a few years there yourself and you might have your eyes opened. But hey myself and many others believe the South Korean authorities in their statements with respect to illegal Thai female workers there , but just you believe what you want if it makes you happy.

I've been going to korea for over 20 years, have lived there for a handful, and still do business there. But you seem to get your sources from wiki which quotes one source in its link. But to each their own, have a good day.

You can't blame them, 40k a month opposed to 10k in a nasty Thai factory.