Korean-Chinese being targeted for crackdown

130 rounded up in June alone

A major crackdown is under way targeting Korean-Chinese here their advocates said Sunday.

This could spook them into hiding and lead to a spike in illegal immigrants.

Since January, the Ministry of Justice has detained about 1,500 Korean-Chinese laborers who used forged identities to enter the country or to stay here illegally.

It has deported 1,038 so far this year, a big jump from 667 in 2011. Korean-Chinese immigrants living here are numbered at 282,463 as of May, and 72,000 will see their passports expire within this year, the ministry said.

Previously the ministry turned a blind eye to ethnic Chinese residents’ legal status, even when they entered the country with forged identities.

Now, officials use a face recognition system that requires foreigners to have their face scanned at airports or branch offices of the Korea Immigration Service (KIS), which is under the ministry.

Illegal immigrants include Korean-Chinese who were deported in the past for crimes such as murder, rape, fraud and passport forgery after serving prison sentences, according to the ministry.

Their advocates, however, claim that such a crackdown only increases the number of illegal residents.

They point out the fact that government officials in the past were aware of the loose identification registration system in China because of Beijing’s difficulty in controlling such a vast population.

It is simple for a Chinese person to legally change his or her name, date of birth and other personal data and have a new passport issued with a new identification.

Kwak Jae-seok, an official of the Migration and Diaspora Research Institute, said the ministry is going the “wrong way” from its previous policy based on tolerance toward immigrants residing illegally.

“In 2005 and 2006, the ministry said they will allow our ethnic Chinese brothers and sisters to live in Korean even if they entered the country using forged passports,” Kwak said. “Under the facial recognition system that requires one person to hold one passport only, they are now classified as illegal residents all of sudden. And it’s important to realize the number of Korean-Chinese here that have forged passports.”

In the latest crackdown in June, the KIS and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office rounded up 130 Korean-Chinese immigrants who entered Korea between 2003 and 2011 with false identities.

Investigators said that the operation was undertaken due to rising concerns over xenophobia following the murder of a young woman in April by a low-skilled Korean-Chinese male worker, Wu Yuanchun. He killed the victim in her 20s and dismembered her body in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

The ministry, the KIS, and the prosecution said they will continue to step up their crackdown on illegal Korean-Chinese immigrants.

An official of the Korean International Network, another advocacy group, warned that those ethnic Chinese could go into hiding and become real “illegal immigrants.”

“It’s obvious those who hold forged passports are afraid of deportation and denial of re-entry into Korea in the future,” said Bae Deok-ho, a member of the group.

“Once they go into hiding, the government will have trouble finding them even when their passports expire and will have to consult with the immigration office. And the ministry’s hard-line policy will not do any good in reducing the number of illegal residents.” <The Korea Times/Yi Whan-woo>

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