We now bring you the second part in a special series of reports called Is Jeju Safe? Today we’re focusing on illegal immigrants who have been taking advantage of Jeju’s no-visa policy to transit through the island and arrive on the mainland without a visa. With their ever-evolving ways of transiting from Jeju to the mainland, illegal immigrants are becoming harder to trace and regulate. The question now is how to get to the bottom of this problem. Todd Thacker reports.

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Visaless Chinese caught en route to mainland
Aewol Port, Jeju City (June 20, 2015)

Aewol Port is always crowded with cargo ships. Earlier this year, however, a group of people from China were caught hiding inside a container headed for Korea’s mainland.

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Some illegal migrants transit by boat

With an overall strengthening of enforcement by customs and immigration officials, methods of human smuggling to the mainland have become more sophisticated. Shipping containers and fishing boats offer many places to hide. The Coast Guard, meanwhile, says it has become increasingly difficult to trace the growing number of illegal transits.

INTERVIEW
Choo Ok-nae / Jeju Coast Guard
Jeju Port is larger and more difficult to smuggle people through, so they tend to choose smaller ports that are less watched as their point of transit. Previously, most attempted to hide in cargo ships or container trucks, but now there have been cases of people boldly attempting to transit by fishing boat without a visa.
<인터뷰 : 추옥내 / 제주해양경비안전서 정보외사계장>
“제주항은 너무 크고 보는 눈들이 많기 때문에 상대적으로 취약한 항포구를 이용해서 무단이탈을 시도하고 있습니다.
-----수퍼체인지-----
기존에는 여객선, 택배차량을 이용했었는데 대담하게 어선을 이용한 시도를 하고 있습니다."

What’s more, there have been several cases of people seemingly vanishing after they arrive in Jeju visa-free.

SYNC
Hotel worker
They reserve a room for 2 or 3 nights but disappear after a day. No one seems to know where they go. But travel agents just brush it off saying ‘another one has disappeared.’
<싱크 : 00관광호텔 관계자>
“2박이나 3박 일정으로 와서 하룻밤을 자고 다음날부터 사라지는 거예요. 데리고 온 가이드도, 호텔 직원들도 어디로 갔는지 모르죠.
-----수퍼체인지-----
그런데 여행사 직원도 그냥 또 사라졌네 그러고 말고."

The problem is that very few of these incidents are reported as missing persons cases. One reason is that tour groups are not required by law to report that someone from their group has gone missing. They are simply advised to do so.

This is making it all the more difficult to trace these visa-less foreign nationals and to determine why they left the group. For its part, the Ministry of Justice is not disclosing its list of non-Koreans who enter and leave the country.

SYNC
Justice Ministry official
As you know, individual visitor activities are permitted for up to 30 days. If a non-Korean leaves his or her group within that period, there’s no obligation to report that they are missing...
<싱크 : 법무부 관계자>
"30일 내에서는 개별적인 활동이 가능한 것은 알고 계시잖아요. 그 기간에 이탈했다고 해서 법적으로 신고의무가 따로 있는 것은
-----수퍼체인지-----
아니고 임의이기 때문에…."

[Reporter] Todd Thacker

With terrorism increasingly spilling over international borders, Korea should step up its search for fundamental solutions to root out the illegal transit of foreign nationals on its soil.

Todd Thacker KCTV