Uzbek migrant workers fined in South Korea

South Korea has launched large-scale raids targeting foreign nationals residing illegally in the country, the Ministry of Justice reported.

The inspections are being conducted jointly by the Ministry of Justice, the police, the coast guard, and the Ministries of Labor and Transport.

The coordinated operations will continue until December 12 of this year. Their main goal is to identify illegal migrants, foreign workers occupying local jobs, intermediaries, and individuals engaged in activities contrary to moral norms.

Particular attention is being paid to the city of Gyeongju and the surrounding areas, where monitoring and security measures have been strengthened ahead of the APEC 2025 Summit.

Penalties for violating immigration laws include fines, deportation, and entry bans.

At the same time, the South Korean Ministry of Justice emphasized that special attention will be paid to ensuring the protection of the human rights of foreign nationals during the raids.

The ministry also reminded that voluntarily resolving one’s illegal status may help avoid serious legal consequences in the future.

According to the Uzbekistan Agency for External Labor Migration, since the beginning of the year, administrative fines have been imposed on 26 Uzbek citizens in South Korea for violating the terms of stay under the E-9 visa program. In line with a trilateral agreement, each of them was fined $2,000 for every month of unlawful stay in the country.

It is worth noting that earlier, more than 300 South Korean nationals were detained during a raid by the Immigration Service at Hyundai’s electric vehicle battery plant located in the US state of Georgia.