South Korea Ministry of Employment and Labor (MEL) launched an investigation on August 1 to look into a complaint about the non-payment of wages to 91 Filipino workers at a farm in Yanggu, Gangwon Province.

According to the MEL, it has already ordered officials in their regional office to investigate the incident one day after they received the complaint.

“Our aim (in the investigation) is to secure the workers’ rights and deliver justice as quickly as possible,” an MEL official said.

Beyond wage theft, the ministry is also investigating an agency’s involvement in allegedly collecting excessive fees from workers. The agency suspects that the company violated the Labor Standard Act’s provision on wage theft.

According to officials, the workers entered Korea through the ‘seasonal worker program,’ a government initiative that allows foreign workers to work in the country for a limited period (usually three to five months) to fill the large shortage of workers in the industry during planting, harvesting, and fishing seasons.

“Foreign laborers in rural regions are not merely auxiliary manpower to solve workforce shortages here ― they are our neighbors, working alongside us. We will rigorously investigate the case and hold those responsible accountable so that such shameful incidents never occur again,” the country’s Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said.

“We welcome the investigation of the Korean government with regard to the unpaid wages of Filipino seasonal workers. But the Marcos regime should also be accountable for this problem because of its Labor Export Program. We are calling all the Filipino seasonal workers to stand up to fight this kind of oppression,” Migrante Korea and Kasamma Ko said.