Oceans, Justice Ministries Begin Human Rights Inspections of About 160 Fishing Households Employing Foreign Seasonal Workers
Seoul
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Ministry of Justice began a second-half human rights inspection of about 160 fishing households that employ foreign seasonal workers in the fishing sector, running for three weeks from the 9th to the 27th. In a press release issued at 11 a.m. on the 8th, the two ministries said the inspection will focus on cities and counties where human rights violations have been alleged since the first-half inspection and those with large allocations of seasonal workers. On June 11, announcing a meeting with civil society groups on the human rights of foreign workers, the oceans ministry said it was “preparing” improvement measures, including new economic and administrative sanctions against employers who use forced labor. In the 8th announcement, the two ministries did not say whether those sanctions have been put in place.
Original: Policy Briefing, Oceans Ministry-Justice Ministry press release (Nov. 8, 2026)
Inspection targets and method
The inspection is led by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (Minister Hwang Jong-woo) and the Ministry of Justice (Vice Minister Lee Jin-soo, acting minister). It runs three weeks, from Monday, Nov. 9, to Friday, Nov. 27, and covers about 160 fishing households that employ foreign seasonal workers in the fishing sector. The two ministries said the purpose is to examine the working and living conditions of foreign seasonal workers and to fix problems found on site.
The inspection is divided in two. In five cities and counties where human rights violations have been alleged or seasonal worker allocations are large, the oceans ministry, the justice ministry, civil society groups and local governments will conduct joint inspections. In the other 22 cities and counties, the local authorities will inspect on their own. The names of the five joint-inspection sites and their number of fishing households, and the list of the 22 self-inspection sites, were not announced.
Inspection items
The main items are compliance with the standard labor contract, provision of adequate housing for winter, enrollment in mandatory insurance, and unpaid wages. Interviews with seasonal workers will focus on improper retention of passports and bankbooks, payment of appropriate wages, and whether workers can freely contact people outside and move about.
The two ministries said that if problems such as failure to honor labor contracts or failure to provide adequate housing are found, they will demand corrective measures through local governments. If corrective measures are not carried out, demerit points can be imposed on the city or county concerned and its allocation of foreign seasonal workers restricted, under guidelines of the Justice Ministry’s Korea Immigration Service. The direct target of the sanctions is the city or county, not the fishing household, and the two ministries did not mention in the 8th announcement any sanctions applied to individual fishing-household employers.
June’s advance notice
In a release distributed at 6 a.m. on June 11, the oceans ministry announced a policy meeting to be held on June 12. Twenty organizations were to attend, including central government bodies such as the oceans, labor and justice ministries, local governments, civil society groups and specialist institutions. The ministry said at the time that five measures were “being prepared” to protect the human rights of foreign workers in the fisheries sector and improve working conditions.
- Stronger oversight of foreign-worker recruitment and dispatch agencies
- Expansion of public-type foreign seasonal workers
- New mandatory insurance for foreign seasonal workers
- Introduction of a standard contract
- New economic and administrative sanctions for forced labor
The meeting was held in Seoul on Friday, June 12, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. It was chaired by the oceans ministry’s Director General for Fisheries Policy, and the participating organizations included the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of Justice, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, South Jeolla Province, Sinan County, the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, the Korea Maritime Transportation Safety Authority, the Korea Fisheries Infrastructure Promotion Association, the Environmental Justice Foundation, the Migrant Human Rights and Culture Center for All, Gong-gam Public Interest Human Rights Law Foundation, the law firm DLG and Hankyong National University. The Public Interest Law Center Appeal and the Migrant Human Rights Institute submitted written comments. The agenda included a presentation of measures to improve the human rights and working conditions of foreign workers in fisheries, presentations of the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s and Ministry of Justice’s plans, and policy discussion and gathering of opinions. The oceans ministry described seasonal workers as foreign workers brought in at the times needed to meet the seasonal labor demand of fishing, and put their length of stay at 3 to 8 months.
The oceans ministry also said it gathered views on May 28 from the labor ministry and other related ministries, local governments, producer and worker organizations, and related institutions. Choi Hyun-ho, the oceans ministry’s Director General for Fisheries Policy, said at the time, “We arranged this meeting to hear candid voices from the field on working conditions in the fisheries sector,” and “We will actively reflect the opinions and proposals from civil society groups raised at the meeting and work out effective improvement measures.”
Original: Policy Briefing, Oceans Ministry press release (June 11, 2026)
Figures from the first-half inspection
The Ministry of Justice announced the results of its first-half inspection on Aug. 21. From April 1 to June 30, investigators of the Korea Immigration Service visited 3,093 workplaces in 29 cities, counties and districts nationwide and interviewed 7,634 seasonal workers. Of these, 663 violations were cited at 603 workplaces in 24 cities, counties and districts.
By category, there were 97 cases involving human rights and labor and 566 involving housing. The human rights and labor cases were 56 of failure to observe the workplace and working hours set in the labor contract, 17 of wages paid to a third party, 14 of restrictions on movement or communication on days off, and 5 of unpaid wages. There were also 3 cases of a third party holding a wage bankbook, 1 of excessive fee collection and 1 of an unofficial manager (labor management proxy). In housing, there were 442 cases of inadequate fire safety equipment such as fire extinguishers and fire detectors, 47 of room-and-board charges excessive compared with current guidelines, 29 of inadequate heating and cooling equipment, 21 of unsuitable housing facilities and 20 of inadequate locking devices.
The Justice Ministry said at the time that each regional immigration office would notify local governments of the inspection results so that the cited problems are corrected immediately, and that it planned to impose demerit points on employers and restrict allocation of seasonal workers according to the severity of violations. It said it would demand improvements to the management system, such as more dedicated staff, from local governments whose management and supervision were inadequate. These figures are nationwide inspection results covering all industries, and the August announcement had no separate count for the fishing sector.
Original: Ministry of Justice press release (Aug. 21, 2026)
Follow-up since the earlier inspection
The Justice Ministry cited three follow-up measures on Aug. 21: each regional immigration office (branch) notifies local governments of the inspection results and asks them to correct the cited problems immediately; employers are given demerit points and seasonal worker allocations restricted according to the severity of violations; and local governments with inadequate management and supervision are asked to improve their management systems, such as by adding dedicated staff. Justice Minister Chung Sung-ho said at the time, “Through this inspection we have grasped the on-site conditions of foreign seasonal work and management problems broadly,” and “We will supplement the on-site management system and run the seasonal work program on a sounder footing going forward.”
In its August announcement, the Justice Ministry did not disclose the number of employers given demerit points or the names of the cities and counties whose allocations were restricted, and in the Nov. 8 announcement the two ministries again did not disclose any record of enforcing demerit points or allocation limits since August.
Remarks by officials of the two ministries
Cha Yong-ho, head of the Korea Immigration Service at the Ministry of Justice, said, “The safety and human rights of foreign seasonal workers are a basic principle that must be upheld,” and “Through this joint inspection of the fishing sector, we will listen to voices from the field and cooperate with the related ministries and local governments to protect the human rights of seasonal workers and operate the program stably.”
Choi Hyun-ho, the oceans ministry’s Director General for Fisheries Policy, said, “It is important to substantively improve working and living conditions so foreign seasonal workers can work with peace of mind at fishing sites,” and “Through this inspection we will closely examine factors behind human rights violations on site and work with related agencies to improve the problems identified.”
Figures not in the announcement
The two ministries’ announcement on the 8th covered the scale and items of the inspection but did not give the schedule or staffing after the inspection. The first-half inspection ended on June 30, and the Justice Ministry made the results public on Aug. 21. It did not say when the second-half results will be released.
| Item | What was announced |
|---|---|
| Fishing households inspected | About 160 |
| Inspection period | Nov. 9 to 27 (three weeks) |
| Cities and counties with joint inspections | 5 (list not announced) |
| Cities and counties with self-inspections | 22 (list not announced) |
| Staff deployed to joint inspections and number of civil society groups | Not announced |
| Names of participating civil society groups | Not announced |
| Number of fishing-sector violations in the first-half inspection | Not announced |
| When second-half inspection results will be released | Not announced |
| Record of demerit points and allocation limits enforced since August | Not announced |
| Whether the forced-labor sanctions announced in June are in force | Not announced |
| When the new mandatory insurance and standard contract take effect | Not announced |
| Sanctions on individual fishing-household employers | Not announced |
Of the five measures the oceans ministry listed on June 11, the only one directly mentioned in the 8th announcement is that the standard labor contract and mandatory insurance appear as inspection items. The two ministries did not say in the 8th announcement whether those two systems are already in force or whether the inspection determines compliance with legal obligations.
The government’s position
The two ministries said the inspection focuses on cities and counties where human rights violations have been alleged since the first-half inspection and those with many newly allocated workers. Five cities and counties will undergo joint inspections with civil society groups and local governments, and 22 will carry out self-inspections. That cities and counties that do not follow corrective measures can be given demerit points and have their allocations restricted is also something the two ministries stated directly. Cha Yong-ho and Choi Hyun-ho are of the position that problems identified through on-site interviews and cooperation among related agencies will be improved.
Sources (KST)
- Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Ministry of Justice · 2026-11-08 11:00 KST (morning papers of Nov. 9) · Oceans Ministry, Justice Ministry conduct human rights inspection of fishing households employing foreign seasonal workers (press release) · https://www.korea.kr/briefing/pressReleaseView.do?newsId=156788324
- Ministry of Justice · 2026-08-21 · Justice Ministry announces results of inspection to protect the human rights and labor rights of foreign seasonal workers (press release) · https://www.corrections.go.kr/bbs/moj/182/498437/download.do
- Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries · 2026-06-11 06:00 KST (morning papers of June 12) · Oceans Ministry discusses ways to improve labor conditions in the fisheries sector with civil society groups on foreign workers' human rights (press release) · https://www.korea.kr/briefing/pressReleaseView.do?newsId=156766112