'No Salary for Disabled Workers and Habitual Assault'... 67 Maritime Human Rights Violators Caught

Coast Guard's Special Crackdown in First Half... Assault and Injury Account for 80%
Stealing Seafarer Compensation After False Marriage Registration with Disabled Person

Korea Coast Guard

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] A group of individuals who lured intellectually disabled people to exploit their labor and committed human rights violations including assault were arrested en masse by the Coast Guard.

The Korea Coast Guard announced on the 23rd that it conducted a special crackdown on human rights violations targeting maritime workers in the first half of this year, uncovering 46 cases. Four people, including A (58), were arrested on charges of abduction, luring, and assault, and 63 people, including B (46), were booked without detention.

By type, assault or injury accounted for the most cases with 38 incidents (53 people), followed by wage exploitation with 2 cases (4 people), abduction and luring with 1 case (3 people), and forcible molestation with 1 case (1 person).

The victims included 7 foreigners, 3 disabled persons, and 1 woman.

A is accused of forcing C (38), a person with a level 2 intellectual disability, to work at aquaculture farms in Tongyeong, Gyeongnam, from 1998 to 2017 for 19 years without paying wages and habitually assaulting him. He also took part of the monthly disability allowance of 380,000 won that C received.

In Gunsan, Jeonbuk, a woman in her 40s was caught by the Coast Guard on charges of approaching a man in his 50s with a disability, falsely registering a marriage, and embezzling over 100 million won in crew disability compensation.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard, along with the special crackdown, conducted on-site inspections in cooperation with human rights organizations such as the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Korea Disabled People's Development Institute.

During this process, they held meetings with maritime workers to proactively assist victims and prepare measures to prevent human rights violations, conducted surveys on the working conditions of foreign crew members, and carried out human rights violation questionnaires.

A Korea Coast Guard official stated, "We plan to continuously carry out planned investigations and special crackdowns on human rights violation crimes targeting maritime workers," adding, "We will build a dense safety net in cooperation with human rights organizations and others."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.