Dozens of Vietnamese travelers who deliberately left a tour group earlier this year, consequently settling in the country as undocumented immigrants, have been caught. Intermediaries who helped them have also been arrested. About two dozen remain missing, however. Lee Hee-jung reports.

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Undocumented Vietnamese caught

Dozens of Vietnamese travelers who came to Korea taking advantage of Jeju’s visa-waiver program deliberately left a tour group in January. They then settled in the country as undocumented immigrants. Job brokers who helped them secure employment were also caught.

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3 Vietnamese job brokers arrested in Busan

The Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office says it has recently caught and detained 2 Vietnamese marriage immigrants living in Korea, and deported one Vietnamese national for violating the Immigration Control Law. They helped the 53 Vietnamese travelers to find work in Korea.

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23 Vietnamese remain unaccounted for

The employment brokers were caught, but the whereabouts of 23 out of a total of 59 travellers are still unknown.

Furthermore, 26 Indonesian illegal immigrants who left their tour group about 4 months ago were also captured on the island. This is now raising serious questions about immigration control on Jeju.

Sync
Jeju Immigration official
All of the illegal Indonesian immigrants were caught and deported. I don’t remember how many because this sort of thing is a regular occurrence.
<전화씽크 : 출입국관리사무소 관계자>
"전원 적발돼서 나갔어요. 글쎄요 그런 일들이 종종 있어서 숫자는 잘 기억을 못하겠는데..."

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Last year alone, some 4,300 illegal immigrants were caught in Jeju, a total of more than 15 times that of the 280 individuals caught in 2011.
So far this year, some 1,000 foreign tourists have already disappeared.
------C.G out-----------------

Border controls have been constantly questioned, but change is not forthcoming.
Local police and coast guard officials are failing to liaise with the immigration office when it comes to dealing with illegal immigrants.

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Lack of oversight for tour groups

As travel agencies and the immigration office do not readily share information, it is particularly difficult to quickly track down absent travelers.
This state of affairs leaves immigration officials just sitting on their hands.

Sync
Jeju Immigration official
As long as the island remains visa free, the only solution would be to work harder to crack down on illegal immigration. This could be achieved by increasing enforcement, but manpower is limited at present.
<씽크 : 출입국관리사무소 관계자>
"제주무사증제도를 없애지 못할 상황인데 단속을 많이 한다던지 (그런 것 밖에 방법이 없죠). 단속을 많이 하려면 인원을 늘려야 하는데…근데 공무원 숫자 안늘려주는 건 다 아시잖아요. "

[camera]
Moon Ho-seong

[reporter]
Lee Hee-jung

An Increasing number of foreign tourists continue to abuse Jeju’s visa-waiver program, and there is no resolution in sight.

Lee Hee-jung KCTV