Lured by high pay and benefits
M’sians working in S. Korea face risk of being cheated or injured
PETALING JAYA: Some Malaysians were lured to work in South Korea with promises of high pay and other benefits by agents or their prospective employers.
However, they had to return home handicapped or injured after workplace accidents there.
Using tourist visas to work as illegal labourers, they took up tough jobs in the manufacturing, construction and plantation sectors.
Besides being cheated by employment agents and having their salaries withheld, some of them also claimed that they were beaten and manipulated, and workplace safety was disregarded by their employers.
The incidents were uncovered in an investigation jointly carried out by The Star’s Bahasa Malaysia portal mStar Online and The Korea Herald.
A former flight attendant lost four fingers in April while working at a steel company in South Korea.
“I was only thinking of money when I chose to work there. I forgot about the safety aspects,” 26yearold Sally (not her real name) told mStar Online.
Another victim, Afiq, 22, got his knee injured in an accident at a concrete factory where he worked about six months ago.
Not only did his employers delay sending him to hospital, Afiq claimed they also refused to settle his medical bill of RM33,737 as promised.
“Instead, they told me to return to Malaysia for surgery and come back to work when I have recovered,” he said.
A source living in South Korea said there have been 87 such cases involving Malaysian victims in two years.
The source said some Malaysians working there had taken a big risk by forking out between RM4,000 and RM5,000 to employment agents without knowing what jobs would be offered to them.
“About 90% of those working here are male and they are asked to work in the manufacturing, construction and plantation sectors all over South Korea.
“Those aged between 20 and 30, including the women, are offered jobs involving heavy labour,” said the source, adding that so far, none of the women had been asked to work in the flesh trade.
However, not all Malaysians end up as hardluck stories, the source added.
“If they are lucky, they will get a job suited to their abilities, but that only applies to one in five jobseekers.”
mStar Online is still waiting for comments from the relevant authorities here and in South Korea on the matter.