"A living hell" for slaves on remote South Korean island

salt farms
"These are individuals that are neglected along with mistreated, individuals that have nowhere in
order to go," Hong Chi-guk, the 64-year-old salt farmer inside Sinui, told the particular AP. "What
alternative does our society have for them?"
Yet little has evolved on the islands, in accordance with any months-long investigation from the AP
based on court along with police documents and dozens involving interviews together with freed
slaves, salt farmers, villagers as well as officials.
Yet some refused to depart the particular salt farms since they had nowhere different for you to go.
several freed disabled slaves told the actual AP they'll return simply because they believe that will
even the salt farms tend to be better than existence about the streets or even in crowded shelters. In
certain cases, relatives refused to adopt the particular disabled back or perhaps sent salt farmers
letters confirming they didn't have to pay the workers.
After per year along using a half as a slave, Kim created one final bid for freedom.
The afternoon of his 1st complete day around the farm, Hong erupted as Kim struggled with the
backbreaking work, according for the prosecutors' indictment that a judge based Hong's sentence
on. the owner grabbed him via at the actual rear of along with flipped him on the ground, screaming,
"You moron. if I knew you would be therefore negative at this, I wouldn't possess brought you here."
Sinan County has a lot more than 850 salt farms that create two-thirds associated with South
Korea's sea salt. In Order To help make money, however, farmers require labor, lots of it and cheap.
around half of Sinui Island's 2,200 folks are employed in salt farming, according to a county web site
and also officials.
Not everyone.
He sympathized using farmers instructed to cope with disabled, incompetent workers whom he
described as dirty and lazy. "They commit his or her leisure time eating snacks, drinking alcohol and
smoking cigarettes. they are taken a few times a year to Mokpo so that will they could purchase sex.
It's an agonizing reality, but it is actually a pain the actual island offers long shared as being a
community," Han said.
Kim, which lives within Seoul and also from time for you to time functions construction jobs,
nonetheless seems amazed in which his escape plan worked. He settled with Hong for around
$35,000 within unpaid wages, nevertheless will be furious that Hong is appealing his prison term
subsequent week. Kim will encounter him within court, as well as continues in order to be preparing
for the moment.
Near a grocery, a shop owner's son arrived on the scene and requested what they were doing. Kim
broke down, begged regarding help, mentioned he'd been held against his will. Your man offered to
take all of them for the police to file a new report. Instead, he called his or her boss, that beat Kim
having a rake -- along with it absolutely was again to the salt fields.
Soon after the national government's investigation, activists and also police located yet another 63

unpaid or perhaps underpaid workers about the islands, three-quarters involving whom had been
mentally disabled.
Only per week right after his very first capture, Kim began to become able to plan an additional
escape.
The AP findings shine a new spotlight about the underbelly associated with an Asian achievement
story. Right After decades associated with war, poverty and also dictatorship, South Koreans now
enjoy the vibrant democracy and also media, as well as an entertainment sector that is the envy with
the region. However amid the country's developing wealth along with power, the disabled often
don't suit in.
When Kim achieved his mother the particular subsequent day, these people both wept. she stroked
the girl son's face. "Everything can be fine because you've return alive," the lady says in a police
video regarding their reunion.
It only agreed in order to be as bad with regard to one other slave, Chae Min-sik, a small man whose
disabilities tend to be so severe which he struggles even together with fundamental words.
Seo then hatched an extraordinary plan.
Carrying fishing rods, that they walked about just like tourists which had arrived at fish and buy salt,
along with surreptitiously took pictures associated with Hong's home and farm. Following that they
watched Hong board any boat, they advised Hong's wife they were Seoul police that had come to
free regarding charge Kim.
While island cops were moved to distinct posts on the mainland as part of annual personnel changes,
authorities found simply no collusion, in accordance with any Mokpo police official that spoke in
issue associated with anonymity because associated with workplace rules.
His physique aches, and he will get therapy with regard to lingering pain throughout his neck, legs
and also spine.
Kim ran once again at the conclusion of your month. Hong rapidly called members with the
volunteer patrol, and, again, Yoon spotted the slaves because they attemptedto get in order to the
port as well as brought them to Hong.
Although 50 island farm owners and also regional task brokers had been indicted, absolutely no
neighborhood police or officials get faced punishment -- and national police say none will, despite
multiple interviews showing a few knew in regards for you to the slaves as well as stopped escape
attempts.
Slavery continues to be so pervasive which regional most judges possess shown leniency towards
numerous perpetrators. Throughout suspending the prison sentences associated with two farmers,
the court declared "such criminal actions had been tolerated as common practice by means of a
huge variety of salt farms nearby."
"Angel Islands," your regional tourist board calls the actual 1,004 islands clustered in the sunsparkling waters off South Korea's southwestern tip, because the Korean phrase for "1,004" sounds
like the word pertaining to "angel."

"They're treated just like dogs and also pigs, yet folks within the community are generally used to it,"
stated Kim Kyung-lae, a Mokpo cab driver that often drives neighborhood employment agents along
with disabled workers towards the ferry port to meet using farm owners.
A doctor which labored in the Sinui Island public health center from 2006 in order to 2007
mentioned the vast majority of your workers he treated were abused or perhaps exploited.

Other villagers, including compensated salt workers, say farmers do the very best they're able to
despite small aid from the government, and also add that just a few bad proprietors abuse workers.
Farmers describe themselves as providing oases for that disabled along with homeless.
"Just contemplating it can make me grind my teeth."
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After another beating, it was back in order to work. the few hours they will weren't in the fields,
these people slept in a concrete storage building filled with piles involving junk as well as significant
orange sacks involving rice.
Kim's mother was stunned. The Girl brought the actual letter for you to Seo Je-gong, the police
captain for your Seoul Guro district. "A vanished individual had suddenly reappeared," Seo, now
retired, informed AP.
Far via Seoul, the glittering steel-and-glass richesse associated with certainly one of Asia's richest
countries, these were now hunted men about this tiny, remote island the place exactly where the
enslavement associated with disabled salt farm workers is an open secret.
The exact quantity of people enslaved on the islands is actually hard to determine for the identical
causes in which slavery lingers: the actual transient naturel with the work, the actual remoteness in
the farms and the closeness -- and sometimes hostility -- of the island communities.
Kim, visually disabled as well as described in court documents as having the social awareness of
your 12-year-old, had zero money, absolutely no cellphone and also merely the vaguest notion of
exactly where he was.
Hong ended up being convicted involving employing any trafficked person, aggravated confinement,
habitual violence and violating labor laws. Yoon, the actual man who captured Kim along with Chae

three times, was fined $7,500. A Couple Of illegal job brokers hired by simply Hong in order to
procure workers are usually appealing prison sentences associated with two years as well as twoand-a-half years.
Because Kim's letter noted collaboration in between local police along with salt farm owners, Seo
and also another Seoul officer ran any clandestine operation with out telling nearby officials.
Large farms within Europe can harvest salt a couple associated with times per year using machines.
Yet smaller sized Korean farms count on daily manpower in order to wring salt through seawater.
Slavery thrives in this chain associated with rural islands off South Korea's rugged southwest coast,
nurtured with a lengthy reputation exploitation as well as the demands involving wanting to squeeze
a complete time income from your sea.
Five times in the particular course of the past decade, revelations involving slavery concerning the
disabled get emerged, every occasion generating national shame and also outrage. Kim's case
prompted a new nationwide government probe over the particular course of several months final
year. Officials searched greater than 38,000 salt, fish and also agricultural farms and disabled
facilities and discovered a lot much more than one hundred workers whom had received simply no -or simply scant -- pay, and also a lot more than one hundred that have been reported missing
through their families.
Local media contact them "Slave Islands."
He got a break when Hong's wife allow him to go on your own for any haircut. walking gradually
without his glasses, he ducked to the post office as well as mailed the particular letter, which gave
directions for the farm.
Sinan salt, which in turn expenses concerning 3 x more than refined salt, is actually coveted
throughout South Korea, seen in fancy shops along with provided as wedding gifts.
Hours later, Kim stood inside the muck of the salt farm owned by simply Hong, which had paid out
an illegal job agent the same as regarding $700 with regard to his new worker, based on court
records.
His time as getting a slave features even changed just how he feels concerning salt. He will get
flustered when he discusses it, disgusted when he sees it.
"The police chief would figure out that I'd ultimately arrive at recognize that this was how issues
around the island worked," said Cho Yong-su. "For decades they'd exploited workers within this way,
so they couldn't recognize that it was abuse."
"It just drove me deeper into despair," Kim said. "I in zero way had a chance."
SINUI ISLAND, South Korea -- He ran the very first likelihood he got.
Kim was frightened as well as baffled in first, then relieved. "I am planning to live," he said.
"I couldn't fight back," Kim said, in a current series of interviews using The Particular Connected
Press whose info is corroborated through court records by lawyers, police along with government
officials. "The islanders tend to be too organized, too connected."

Kim despaired associated with ever escaping. Hong ended up being an influential man, any former
village head. He was linked by simply normal social contact and also loved ones ties using various
other salt farmers as well as villagers, a number of of whom volunteered in order to patrol your
island with regard to escaped workers.
Activists think many slaves get yet to be found, as several salt farm owners sent victims away or
even hid these from investigators. That They say other people coached disabled workers regarding
the items they should say inside interviews.
"Everyone helps make cash in the farms," mentioned Choi Young-shim, the dog owner of your fish
restaurant inside Mokpo, your southern port city this can be the gateway towards the salt islands.
"If your current investigation has been completed properly, then pretty much every person around
the island should've been taken for the police station and charged," stated Kim Kang-won, yet
another activist that participated in the recent investigation about Sinui. "The total village knew
about it. the nearby government office, and furthermore the police as well. This can be clear
negligence. Along With the situation hasn't been resolved yet."
Provincial police vowed to end up being able to inspect farms along with interview workers
regularly. Choi Byung-dai, a new police officer about Sinui Island when Kim has been freed,
expressed regret with regards to Kim's remedy but additionally noted your trouble regarding
monitoring so many salt farms plus a flood associated with seasonal workers.
Workers manage the complex network associated with waterways, hoses as well as storage areas.
Once the salt forms, they will drain your fields, rake the salt into mounds, fix it and bag it. The
Actual process typically will take 25 days.

In this Jan. 24, 2014 image extracted from a new video introduced by simply Guro Police, Kim
Seong-baek, left, meets together with his mother, certainly not identified, right after he had been
rescued from a salt farm, in Guro Police Station throughout Seoul, South Korea.
"Each time I attemptedto ask him something, his punch came first," Kim advised the actual AP. "He

explained to utilize my mouth only for consuming along with smoking. He said I shouldn't question
things and really should end up being thankful because he fed me as well as gave me lodging and
work."
The officers located the actual slaves sitting on a mattress in the again room of a storage building
without any heat as well as hot water. Kim wore thin, dirty clothes, slippers and socks together with
huge holes. He looked, Seo said, just like a individual who ended up homeless for a extended time.
An outsider may well shy away from what's happening about the island, said Han Bong-cheol, the
pastor within Mokpo that lived about Sinui pertaining to 19 many years until June. "But when you
stay there, many involving these problems really feel inevitable."
Others familiar with the island confirm which slavery is rampant.
He wrote a letter for you to his mother within Seoul he never expected to become in a situation to
send, calling himself the woman's "foolish" son.
The summer sun beat down about the shallow, sea-fed fields where Kim Seong-baek ended up being
forced to perform with out pay, day right after 18-hour day mining the big salt crystals that will
blossomed inside the mud about him. Half-blind plus rags, Kim grabbed yet another slave, as well as
the two men -- each disabled -- headed for your coast.
"It was obviously a living hell," Kim said. "I believed my well being was over."
Furious, the owner issued an ultimatum: Operate again, as well as you'll get oneself a knife within
the stomach.
"It's like a game of hide-and-seek," stated Park Su-in, an activist. "What we are finding is actually
just the tip in the iceberg. It's hard to comprehend how bad it is for the disabled people who are
made to work out about these isolated islands."
Salt farmers blame illegal occupation agencies in Mokpo, that discover mentally disabled workers as
better bets because they're less likely to complain or perhaps run away.
When Seo took Kim to a neighborhood police station to provide an official account, an indignant
policeman asked, "Why didn't you leave this to be able to us?"
"Now almost all I want is peace," Kim said. "I even now get nightmares, nevertheless wake up within
the center of the night."
The 2nd time that they ran, Kim as well as Chae again korean dress attemptedto discover his or her
method for the port. However that these people had to give the actual food store to have there, and
also again a shop owner's son, identified by officials merely as Yoon, rounded them up and called
Hong.
In the actual subsequent weeks, Hong punched him within the face regarding certainly not cleaning
floors properly. He beat him about the buttocks using a wooden plank pertaining to raking your salt
within the incorrect way.
Kim's former boss, Hong Jeong-gi, didn't respond to multiple requests with regard to remark through
his lawyer, yet argued throughout court which he didn't confine the 2 men. Hong is set to become

able to seem subsequent week inside court to appeal a three-an-a-half year prison sentence.
Hong beat Kim consequently badly he broke Kim's glasses, leaving him almost blind. He worked Kim
so difficult the actual slave was too tired to always be able to think about escape, even though he
hadn't been terrified in order to try.
On the evening involving July 4, 2012, a stranger approached Kim inside a Seoul train station exactly
where he has been attempting to sleep; Kim have been homeless since fleeing creditors a decade
earlier. The Actual man offered him lodging for the night along with promised him food, cigarettes
and a "good job" inside the morning.
Villagers, unaware in which Kim's escorts were Seoul police, harassed him at the docks, asking
exactly where he had been going. A Range Of even referred to as Hong.
Chae initially refused to depart Sinui. Right After Seo later found a new 2008 missing person's
document pertaining to Chae, police returned and also rescued him. Chae, who'd invested five-years
as a slave, now lives in a Seoul shelter.
Lost, they wandered past asphalt-black salt fields sparkling having a patina of thin white crust. they
could have the islanders that they passed watching them. Everybody knew that belonged as well as
who didn't.
Parts with the region happen to be shut out in the country's recent meteoric development. In many
of the 72 inhabited islands, salt propels the economic engine, thanks to clean water, wide-open
farmland and also strong sunlight.
AP Photo/Guro Police
Although Kim lived merely three kilometers from a police station, he never believed with regards to
requesting help. He believed he'd be ignored or, worse, returned.
Even together with pay, the task is actually hard.