2 Chinese men arrested for immigration breach

A Chinese crewman who illegally entered the country via the Port of Incheon on Feb. 26 was apprehended Wednesday at a house in Geumcheon District in southwestern Seoul, authorities said Thursday.

At the residence, authorities also found and arrested the man’s accomplice, another Chinese worker who fled the Incheon port on Jan. 5.

Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency’s international crime special investigations team arrested both men for violating the Immigration Control Act and placed them into the custody of the Incheon Immigration Office.

The 32-year-old crewman who entered the country illegally on Feb. 26 did so by using a ladder he found near the fourth dock of Incheon Inner Port to climb over a 3-meter (10-foot) wire fence. The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency and the Incheon Immigration Office looked over footage from 40 CCTV cameras, on which they found that the crewman had taken a taxi and stopped in Geumcheon District.

The second man found in the house, another Chinese crewman, 33, jumped the wire fence around the port to enter Korea illegally on Jan. 5. Until they encountered him at the house Wednesday, police were unaware that he had fled the port.

The 32-year-old crewman met his accomplice via QQ, a Chinese instant-messaging program, according to police. The accomplice then encouraged the man to find ways to work in Korea, saying, “It pays off better to work in Korea than in China.”

Police said he also tipped off the 32-year-old crewman to jump the fence to flee the port.

A third Chinese worker who entered Korea illegally via the Port of Incheon on Jan. 17, and a Vietnamese crewman who fled the port by cutting the wire fence on Jan. 6, remain at large.

BY CHOI MO-RAN [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]