Thousands of Thais becoming "Little Ghosts" in South Korea

[rooster59]

Thousands of Thais becoming "Little Ghosts" in South Korea

 

Image: Sanook

 

So many Thais are now going to work illegally in South Korea that they have been given a name.

The term used is "Phee Noi" or little ghosts.

These are people who respond to ads online for work in South Korea. And it is not just massage and the sex trade that is attracting workers - they are taking advantage of easy entry to the wealthy country to work in jobs such as packing or the agricultural sector.

Sanook reported that it is easy for Thais to get a monthly salary of 50,000 baht, and possibly a lot more, by working in South Korea.

Sanook reported on the emergence of the phrase "Phee Noi" after stories on Facebook from guides of people on their tour groups.

No sooner had they passed through immigration than they were off to work leaving the real tourists behind.

Sanook said it was an increasing difficult problem for bona fide tourists who were sometimes refused entry to the country and turned back to Thailand because of the actions of Phee Noi.

Thais are easily able to get into the country on a 90 day tourist visa exemption. Many then disappear to work illegally.

It has been reported recently that 20,000 are deported annually for working illegally and at any one time there are thought to be many times that figure in the country illegally.

Sanook showed ads from websites that advertised daily work in menial agricultural work paying 60,000 to 80,000 won a day (around 1,800 to 2,200 baht a day). One ad said there would be free food, money paid every three days, a kind boss, work everyday - except when it was raining.

Another ad said that applicants could get around 1.5 to 1.6 million won a month. They would have two days off a month, free accommodation, food supplied, wifi and a good boss.

Contacts are being made through Facebook and the Line application.

Sanook reported that while some women were earning up to 100,000 baht a month in the massage trade a great deal more others were earning at least 50,000 baht in jobs such as piece work or packing.

Such salaries would be impossible for most people in Thailand.

Labor department officials in both Thailand and South Korea are liaising on what to do about the illegal workforce now in the country, said Sanook.

 

Source: Sanook

 

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-05-20

[whatawonderfulday]

This is mainly bullshit.  Most of the illegal Thais have no real job in Korea. Of course they bullshit on Facebook and the likes that they are doing real job but in fact they are just sex workers doing massage and other services.  The sooner S Korea clean up their act the better.  They either want to allow these girls to work legally in the sex business and hence be protected from the Thai and Korean pimps or else return them to Thailand.  Like most things Asian corruption breeds corruption and as we all know South Korea is king of corruption currently.

[KhunBENQ]

Of course there are legally employed Thais in Korea, holding an alien registration card.

Two men (father/son) I know working in a metal workshop building gates/fences etc. in the Busan area.

Another one followed them and works illegally in the same workshop since about 2 years.

Once had to jump over the wall to escape a raid.

 

Some females have tried their luck with illegal work and were expelled after some weeks.

Other attempts failed at Suvarnabhumi. Money lost.

 

1800 to 2200 Baht a day, that is close to the payment of a government school principal in Thailand.

[12DrinkMore]

I know one girl who went through a Thai/Korean government sponsored scheme to work in a factory.

 

She was being paid around 25-30,000 Baht/month depending on overtime, plus travel paid for.

 

 

[wakeupplease]

living in a country that treats you like a human being and pays close to a fair wage must be the dream of many, so would you want to go home, No is the answer

[Mickmouse1]

Next SOME will be crying and complaining of abuse and tricked into bla bla bla?

Of course if you are working illegally then you are neither protected nor has the right to benefits etc etc?

[maddox41]

I know a little ghost doing exactly this 

In the massage trade she is your typical  wannabe  Hiso  but isn't 

So go to Korea for 3 months make a packet come back blow it all and back again for more

??

[Joannesjjv2499]

Some people around here do not know what they are talking about. Of course there are Thai sex workers in South Korea but there also are hundreds and probably thousands of Thais working (legal or illegal ) in the agriculture about harvesting all kind of vegetables, tomatoes, bell peppers and so and so on.

[elgordo38]

1 hour ago, Joannesjjv2499 said:

Some people around here do not know what they are talking about. Of course there are Thai sex workers in South Korea but there also are hundreds and probably thousands of Thais working (legal or illegal ) in the agriculture about harvesting all kind of vegetables, tomatoes, bell peppers and so and so on.

Yes my g/f's brother and his wife are there. Why on earth would it say that Thailand is working with South Korea on this "problem"  they don't give a RA no less than Mexico cares about runners into the US. Just another condescending comment. 

[thaiguzzi]

10 hours ago, whatawonderfulday said:

This is mainly bullshit.  Most of the illegal Thais have no real job in Korea. Of course they bullshit on Facebook and the likes that they are doing real job but in fact they are just sex workers doing massage and other services.  The sooner S Korea clean up their act the better.  They either want to allow these girls to work legally in the sex business and hence be protected from the Thai and Korean pimps or else return them to Thailand.  Like most things Asian corruption breeds corruption and as we all know South Korea is king of corruption currently.

Really.?

First hand knowledge?

Proof please.

Thought not, you can't. Just another TV vague surmise...

Just another TV post trying to get the words hooker and sex worker in a thread about Thais working abroad.

C'mon man, think of something ORIGINAL.

[Bulldozer Dawn]

10 hours ago, whatawonderfulday said:

This is mainly bullshit.  Most of the illegal Thais have no real job in Korea. Of course they bullshit on Facebook and the likes that they are doing real job but in fact they are just sex workers doing massage and other services.  The sooner S Korea clean up their act the better.  They either want to allow these girls to work legally in the sex business and hence be protected from the Thai and Korean pimps or else return them to Thailand.  Like most things Asian corruption breeds corruption and as we all know South Korea is king of corruption currently.

Stop posting ill informed piffle.

 

Two brothers of my girlfriend, and a girlfriend of one of the brothers, are currently working in South Korea.

 

They were on tourist visas and are now all on overstay.  The oldest brother has been there 8 years.

 

They work in a factory making car parts.  The factory is state of the art with modern machinery and safety standards and it is spotlessly clean.  The older brother has worked his way up and is now an overseer and he makes the equivalent of 80,000 baht a month.  He can make more if he does a lot of overtime.  The younger brother and his girlfriend just arrived last year and they make between 40K and 50K per month depending on overtime.  I have watched dozens of videos (and sat in on many Skype conversation) of their workplace and their apartment.

 

On their days off they often go on outings and I have also seen a lot of their (travel videos).  The city they work in has great infrastructure and lots of green space.   As kids of a rice farmer from a very poor region in Thailand they are living a lifestyle that they could not even dream of attaining here.

 

The oldest brother sends 20K per month back to mum and dad.  When added to the money the parents get from the other kids (another is working in Taiwan, and another in Israel) the parents are very comfortable as well.

 

During a recent skype conversation between my girl and her brother there in Korea, I butted in and (jokingly) asked what he was going to do when America went to war with North Korea.  His reply was that it would take a nuclear bomb to get him to go back to Thailand.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Bulldozer Dawn

[snoopy21]

I do know a guy once working as a worker who helped raising chickens and ducks in Korea, and he earned 64,000 won per week. 

[Toshiba66]

Interesting to read some of these stories. What I do know about South Korea is the pressure parents put on their children to study hard. High school is from 7 am to 7 pm and then many have private tutoring after that. They also have half a day on Saturday. Exams twice a year where you are numbered from your score. Everyone can see who is the smartest down to the dumbest. Kids are pushed in to University more so than any other country I know.

 

So its no wonder really that there is a shortage of workers for the jobs listed in the above posts. 

[thaiguzzi]

12 hours ago, Bulldozer Dawn said:

Stop posting ill informed piffle.

 

Two brothers of my girlfriend, and a girlfriend of one of the brothers, are currently working in South Korea.

 

They were on tourist visas and are now all on overstay.  The oldest brother has been there 8 years.

 

They work in a factory making car parts.  The factory is state of the art with modern machinery and safety standards and it is spotlessly clean.  The older brother has worked his way up and is now an overseer and he makes the equivalent of 80,000 baht a month.  He can make more if he does a lot of overtime.  The younger brother and his girlfriend just arrived last year and they make between 40K and 50K per month depending on overtime.  I have watched dozens of videos (and sat in on many Skype conversation) of their workplace and their apartment.

 

On their days off they often go on outings and I have also seen a lot of their (travel videos).  The city they work in has great infrastructure and lots of green space.   As kids of a rice farmer from a very poor region in Thailand they are living a lifestyle that they could not even dream of attaining here.

 

The oldest brother sends 20K per month back to mum and dad.  When added to the money the parents get from the other kids (another is working in Taiwan, and another in Israel) the parents are very comfortable as well.

 

During a recent skype conversation between my girl and her brother there in Korea, I butted in and (jokingly) asked what he was going to do when America went to war with North Korea.  His reply was that it would take a nuclear bomb to get him to go back to Thailand.

Exactly.

My BIL and his wife went there a year ago. We now look after his two daughters who are nice kids. They send 60k a month back home, 50k to save and 10k to us for looking after his daughters. Over here they would be earning 10-15k per month as a couple, with nothing to show for it at the end of the month. Nice accommodation, pleasant boss, small farm. All the surrounding small farms have Thais working for them, 2-3 per farm, mostly illegals.

Edited May 21, 2017 by thaiguzzi

[elgordo38]

1 hour ago, Toshiba66 said:

What I do know about South Korea is the pressure parents put on their children to study hard. High school is from 7 am to 7 pm and then many have private tutoring after that. They also have half a day on Saturday. Exams twice a year where you are numbered from your score.

With the further decline of really good jobs in the world this will be quite common around the globe. The funness of working I enjoyed will be gone well is gone now and each day when one arises they will have to gird themselves for battle. It will not be pretty. 

[Time Traveller]

15 hours ago, Bulldozer Dawn said:

Stop posting ill informed piffle.

 

Two brothers of my girlfriend, and a girlfriend of one of the brothers, are currently working in South Korea.

 

They were on tourist visas and are now all on overstay.  The oldest brother has been there 8 years.

 

They work in a factory making car parts.  The factory is state of the art with modern machinery and safety standards and it is spotlessly clean.  The older brother has worked his way up and is now an overseer and he makes the equivalent of 80,000 baht a month.  He can make more if he does a lot of overtime.  The younger brother and his girlfriend just arrived last year and they make between 40K and 50K per month depending on overtime.  I have watched dozens of videos (and sat in on many Skype conversation) of their workplace and their apartment.

 

On their days off they often go on outings and I have also seen a lot of their (travel videos).  The city they work in has great infrastructure and lots of green space.   As kids of a rice farmer from a very poor region in Thailand they are living a lifestyle that they could not even dream of attaining here.

 

The oldest brother sends 20K per month back to mum and dad.  When added to the money the parents get from the other kids (another is working in Taiwan, and another in Israel) the parents are very comfortable as well.

 

During a recent skype conversation between my girl and her brother there in Korea, I butted in and (jokingly) asked what he was going to do when America went to war with North Korea.  His reply was that it would take a nuclear bomb to get him to go back to Thailand.

Although I have no direct knowledge myself of the situation in Korea, I would be surprised Thai illegals in legal occupations (ie. not sex work)  in Korea get paid close to the amount this article (and you ) claim. The 1,600,000 won per month is more than many legal workers in America get paid.  Yes I realize that America probably now does qualify as 3rd world nation, but if illegals really were being paid $9 per hour + free board + free food as the ad claims, then why isn't Korea flooded with Mexicans or Chinese or Vietnamese or Africans or Indians or Phillipinos or Indonesians or <insert any 3rd world country > ???

There would be 10s of millions of workers that would work in Korea for half that amount these Thais claim to earn.

But maybe I'm wrong?

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Just now, Time Traveller said:

Although I have no direct knowledge myself of the situation in Korea, I would be surprised Thai illegals in legal occupations (ie. not sex work)  in Korea get paid close to the amount this article (and you ) claim. The 1,600,000 won per month is more than many legal workers in America get paid.  Yes I realize that America probably now does qualify as 3rd world nation, but if illegals really were being paid $9 per hour + free board + free food as the ad claims, then why isn't Korea flooded with Mexicans or Chinese or Vietnamese or Africans or Indians or Phillipinos or Indonesians or <insert any 3rd world country > ???

There would be 10s of millions of workers that would work in Korea for half that amount these Thais claim to earn.

But maybe I'm wrong?

Yes.  You are wrong.

[Moonmoon]

I saw in an interview that this Thai went to SOuth Korea with a Tour Group consisting of about a 100 members.

On the day back to Thailand, only 20 left made it to the return flight.   

[Thongkorn]

It's not just Korea, Bahrain is full of Thai prostitutes. they do the same go work for 6 months come home then party and gamble it all away, then back for more, Typically they never think about the future, and before anyone asks how i know , I know a few that do it. while there is an imbalance of living standards and wealth, you will always have Economic migrants. look at Europe at the present so its not just Thais doing it.

[Time Traveller]

8 hours ago, Bulldozer Dawn said:

Yes.  You are wrong.

so those 100 million Chinese factory workers that get paid $2.5 an hour, and the millions of filipinos and indonesian maids making $400 a month in Hong Kong, all they need to do is get themselves over to South Korea for $1600 per month + housing + food......sounds too good to be true, but if you say so.

Edited May 21, 2017 by Time Traveller

[oldcarguy]

bragging about how much you make is a worldwide past time , not just Thais

 

I have no doubt that educated Koreans do not want to do farm labor or factory work ,   but they are not going to pay  illegals  top money to do it either.

 

I wonder what the Want Ads in a Korean newspaper offers for work ?

Anyone read Korean ?

[Bulldozer Dawn]

13 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

It's not just Korea, Bahrain is full of Thai prostitutes. they do the same go work for 6 months come home then party and gamble it all away, then back for more, Typically they never think about the future, and before anyone asks how i know , I know a few that do it. while there is an imbalance of living standards and wealth, you will always have Economic migrants. look at Europe at the present so its not just Thais doing it.

Another ill informed post.  

 

My girl has 6 brothers.  One is in the monkhood and has been most of his life.  He runs a fireworks factory located inside his temple and they make the big  rockets used in the Ban Fai festivals. He works hard everyday and the factory is flat out.  They have just started exporting rockets to both Laos and Myanmar.  As I have already posted above, four other brothers are working abroad.  Two in South Korea, one in Israel, and one in Taiwan.  The youngest brother is a hammock swinger.   When prostitutes go abroad yes, they will often act the same as they do back here in Thailand.  However, there are lots of Thais, like my girl's brothers, who are responsible hard working family oriented people.  They work hard, and save every cent they can to provide both for their parents, and for their young families.  The brother who went to Taiwan borrowed 40,000 baht off my girl to get there.  I assumed she could kiss that money good bye.  However the brother, in the first three months abroad, paid the sum back in two lump sums...with interest.

 

The brother in the overseer job in Korea sends 20,000 baht back to the parents every month.  And last year he bought his mother a new honda motorbike.

 

The brother in Israel is farming tomatoes out in the desert, but I have seen his working conditions and accommodation and it is very comfortable by Thai standards.  He has been sending every cent home to his wife (and two toddlers) and they are building a new house.  I saw some photos yesterday it is about 80% complete.

[yanin]

I would say I recommend for Korea government to set the rule that Thai people should do visa in order to enter their country because some people who really wanted to travel Korea got sent back to Thailand because they didn't pass the immigration and some Thai pass are working illegally in Korea

[The Old Bull]

On 5/20/2017 at 11:13 AM, whatawonderfulday said:

This is mainly bullshit.  Most of the illegal Thais have no real job in Korea. Of course they bullshit on Facebook and the likes that they are doing real job but in fact they are just sex workers doing massage and other services.  The sooner S Korea clean up their act the better.  They either want to allow these girls to work legally in the sex business and hence be protected from the Thai and Korean pimps or else return them to Thailand.  Like most things Asian corruption breeds corruption and as we all know South Korea is king of corruption currently.

You're the one full of bullshit. There are over a dozen members of my wife's family over there. They go as young couples on a holiday and go working on farms and in factories. They send home cash every month. Only one of them is in the massage business and she is a young widow.

[ndfdjnd]

My ex went there after we broke up and got 300,000 a month in the massage business.  She wasn't a prostitute before she met me, she worked in an office.  I assumed immediately that there must have been some extras involved to get the figure so high, but she denied it.  Then after her visa ended she moved onto Japan.  It's a better life than Thailand, I guess.  They'll tighten the visas soon.

[stanleycoin]

Sounds like,  South Korea needs a Big Joke. 

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed.