Korea downgraded to Tier 2 in U.S. human trafficking report

Diplomacy

Published: 20 Jul. 2022, 10:21 Updated: 20 Jul. 2022, 16:53

Korea downgraded to Tier 2 in U.S. human trafficking report

The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report for 2022. [STATE DEPARTMENT]

Korea has been downgraded to Tier 2 on an annual U.S. State Department report on people trafficking, citing concerns over the lack of "serious and sustained" efforts to protect victims and tackle related crimes.

“The Government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so,” said the State Department in a report released on Tuesday, placing the country in Tier 2 in its four-tier system.

The report ranks countries efforts from April last year to March, placing them in four tiers, with Tier 1 being “fully compliant” with the minimum standards to fight trafficking in persons; Tier 2 being not fully complaint but “making significant” efforts; Tier 2 Watch List requiring “special scrutiny” for the next year; and Tier 3 being not fully complaint and not making the significant efforts to meet the minimum standards.

Korea was placed in Tier 3 the first year the report was released in 2001, but maintained its position in Tier 1 for the next 20 years.

The State Department in its report this year recognized Korea’s efforts such as opening new training courses for prosecutors and seafarers’ labor inspections on trafficking, but stressed these efforts are “not serious and sustained” compared with the efforts during the previous reporting period.

The report especially noted the level of protection available to foreign sex trafficking victims and migrant workers in Korea.

“The government initiated fewer prosecutions than in 2020, did not take steps to address longstanding concerns that government officials penalized foreign sex trafficking victims for unlawful acts traffickers compelled them to commit, and sometimes deported victims without providing them adequate services or investigating traffickers,” it said.

“Despite reports of the prevalence of labor trafficking among migrant workers in Korea, especially in Korea’s fishing fleet, the government did not report identifying any foreign forced labor victims.”

Foreigners make up nearly half of the seafarers in Korea, or 45.7 percent of the 59,843 as of the end of last year, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

The Foreign Ministry cited some differences between the legal system of Korea and the United States as a possible reason for the change in tier.

“It is our understanding that the State Department makes assessments based on how much improvement there was following last year’s recommendations,” a Foreign Ministry official told press on Tuesday. “At this point our guess is that the discrepancies in the legal systems between the two countries played a part in the assessment. We are taking the assessment as a message from the United States that they’d like us to strengthen our protection measures for trafficking victims and to strengthen the prosecution of trafficking crimes.”

Korea was joined by 98 other countries in Tier 2, including Italy, Japan, Brazil, Israel, India, Norway and Mexico.

North Korea was placed in Tier 3 for the 20th year, along with China, Russia, Iran and Syria.

There are nearly 25 million people worldwide that are victims of trafficking, according to the State Department.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]