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31 ‘It is very hard to move to another workplace for migrant workers because of a late payment, assault or verbal abuse. If they tell of the unfairness to the employment center or labor department in their district, they need to show the evidence to the offcers, which is a tricky part to take legal action by themselves.’ Migrants’ Trade Union teach classes, which was not in the contract. Each class lasted an average of five minutes with 20 to 30 children per class. Emmanuel said he would teach up to 1,200 students per day in the spring and fall. This, in addition to his daily performances, left him no time to even eat. “If you eat directly and go to dance it can be difficult. We cannot eat. We just wait until we finish all jobs, then we eat,” he said. He was expected to endure all this while living on a monthly salary of 600,000 won ($560) with the Zimbabwean workers earning 500,000 won. Everyone received a 2,500 won daily food stipend, which was increased to 4,000 won in July last year. This is just one of many times that abuse of migrant workers from their employers in Korea has been highlight- ed. Migrant workers are often treated as disposable labor by their employers, leaving them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, as seen in accounts in a 2009 Amnesty International report. In 2012, a survey by the South Gyeong- sang Migrant Community Center found that over 13 percent of migrant workers living in the province had been beaten at work, with the majority of the 449 re- spondents citing wage discrimination as their biggest complaint. In the 1980s, the economic success of the country resulted in Koreans turn- ing down the “3D” jobs — dirty, difficult and dangerous. With the ensuing level of wealth, the country became an at- tractive destination for migrant workers. Korea was one of the first Asian coun- tries to legally recognize the rights of migrant workers and provide them with the same legal employment rights and benefits that natives have. To manage the growing inflow of migrant workers, the government implemented the Joint Venture Trainee System. Three years lat- er, small and medium-sized businesses were allowed to recruit foreign nationals in the areas of agriculture, manufactur- ing, construction, fisheries and service industries on a three-year contract under the Industrial Trainee System. These systems left employees open to discrimination and exploitation. Af- ter much protest from NGOs and trade unions, the Ministry of Labor introduced the Employment Permit System in 2004. While the scheme gives migrant workers employment rights and protection from exploitation, mistreatment of workers and manipulation by employers still ex- ists. “There are many workers who are work- ing like slaves just in one place,” Park Ji- noo from the Migrants’ Trade Union said. “Right now, every migrant worker in Ko- rea is under the labor law so they can have rights of a having minimum level of payment, retirement payment and com- pensation expenses for industrial acci- dents as the equal standard of Korean workers. This also means unregistered migrant workers can be applied to the labor law, which is the same condition as for Korean workers. But the reality is quite different.” Low-skilled workers enter Korea on an E-9 visa on a quota basis determined by the economic situation and domes- tic labor market each year. Prospective employees must be from countries that have signed a memorandum of under- standing with Korea agreeing to the terms of the EPS system. Requirements for the visa include a medical checkup and a TOPIK exam, and training is pro- vided on arrival. Under this system they can change jobs up to three times within three years. Park says that migrant workers can face challenges in changing employ- ment if they feel that they are being mistreated. “It is very hard for migrant workers to move to another workplace because of a late payment, assault or verbal abuse. If they tell of the unfair- ness to the employment center or labor department in their district, they need to show the evidence to the officers, which is a tricky part to take legal action by themselves,” Park said. The MTU suspects that verbal, phys- ical and racist abuse are common oc- currences in the workplace for migrants because of the difficulty the labor de- partment has in monitoring the issue. “Too many migrant workers are working at small-scale workplaces, but the num- ber of labor supervisors is too small to visit all the places,” Park said. Korea’s E-6 culture and art visa has been criticized by some civil society groups for exploiting women and even facilitating human trafficking. This visa employs workers who are participating in musical, artistic or literary activities for profit. The aforementioned report by Amnesty International found that female migrant workers who were employed under this visa have been unknowingly recruited into jobs against their will, in- cluding the sex industry, once they ar- rived in Korea. To protect foreign workers from mis- treatment in the workplace, the gov- ernment launched 27 support centers in 2011 to assist foreign workers with problems relating to everything from em- ployment to day-to-day activities. That same year, the EPS system was award- ed first prize at the United Nations Pub- lic Service Awards under the category of “preventing and combating corruption in the public service.” I met Emmanuel again the week after his announcement. He seemed like a different person as he greeted me with a jubilant smile. “I am very happy because we fought and we won,” the 34-year-old dancer said, reflecting on the past week. With a croaky voice (possibly due to the “many interviews” he has done over the last seven days) he relayed his experi- ence at the museum. Since the extent of the abuses from the AMOA was made public, Kim Cheol-gi has been appointed as the new director of the museum and the work- ers have received back pay, flight tickets and have had their passports returned. While Emmanuel is happy to not re- new his contract, he does not believe financial payment is enough to compen- sate him for his trauma. “Money is not enough because what this museum did to me was very bad. This museum can- not buy my sufferance,” he said. As of press time, Hong Moon-jong had not offered an official apology.