Image from The Nation Thailand/ANN
BANGKOK (The Nation Thailand/ANN): Four in 10 foreigners who illegally stayed in South Korea last year entered the country without visas and stayed beyond the visa-free period, data from the justice ministry showed Saturday.
The number of illegal aliens in South Korea came to 423,675 as of the end of last year, accounting for 16.9 % of the total foreigners staying in the nation, according to the data cited by Rep. Song Seong-jun of the ruling People Power Party, as reported by Yonhap.
Of the illegal aliens, the number of those who arrived in South Korea with a visa waiver came to 169,000, the largest proportion at 40 %, followed by those with a short-term stay visa at 87,000, or 20.5 %.
Such foreigners are believed to be illegally staying in South Korea to engage in economic activities without proper employment visas.
By nationality, the number of Thais who illegally stayed in South Korea reached 145,000, the largest share of 76.3 %, followed by Chinese with 15,000 and people from Kazakhstan with 11,000, the data showed.
The South Korean government suspended visa waiver programs with Pakistan in 2001 and Bangladesh in 2008, citing a sharp rise in illegal aliens from those nations.
Meanwhile, the Thai Labour Ministry has urged the South Korean government to offer an amnesty to 145,000 illegal Thai workers and legalise their work status, Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said yesterday.
Phiphat said he met with Employment and Labour Minister Lee Jeong-sik in Seoul recently to discuss the situation.
At least 7,000 Thais who were working in the country illegally were repatriated last year, he said, adding the remaining number puts Thais top among all the foreigners working illegally in South Korea.
Most of them immigrated to South Korea legally but became illegal workers once they changed employers, Phiphat said.
He proposed the amnesty to Lee, explaining that most of those labourers have lived in the country for at least three to four years and have developed essential skills, including the Korean language. - The Nation Thailand/ANN
