The Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK) on Tuesday called for beginning discussion in earnest on legalizing unregistered migrant workers in response to the Covid-19 resurgence and labor shortage.

In a statement, the committee cited the parliamentary interpellation session on Monday, in which Rep. Cho Jung-hun of the Transition Korea urged the government to legalize unregistered migrant workers for economic and quarantine reasons, and Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon partially acknowledged such a need.

The statement also mentioned a rumor spread widely among migrant workers, which suggests that the government would legalize migrant workers who completed the fourth round of Covid-19 vaccination on four occasions with the G-1-99 visas and allow them to reenter the country. However, it quickly added that the rumor seems to have been spread by immigration brokers, taking advantage of the increasing need for full vaccination amid the resurgent pandemic.

‘However, some desperate unregistered migrant workers might believe the brokers’ allegations,” it said. “It is difficult to punish these brokers unless victims press charges against them.” The JCMK then reiterated its demand for legalizing unregistered immigration to “avoid this unpleasant situation” for migrant workers and granting pardons to legal violators.

Noting that the Korean government is expanding the seasonal worker system amid the labor shortage exacerbated by Covid-19, the committee said it would only distort the foreign manpower system.

“Legalizing 400,000 unregistered individuals in Korea is beneficial and realistic in many ways, as mentioned in the parliamentary interpellation,” the statement said.

Touching on the government’s efforts to encourage the fourth Covid-19 shot, the committee maintained that unregistered workers require visible incentives and policies to respond to the vaccination and quarantine demands due to previous tensions with quarantine authorities.

“In this regard, measures to fully legalize all overstayers and unregistered workers are needed to prevent Covid-19 and start a reasonable foreign manpower policy in place of the forced labor controversy,” it said.

The JCMK reaffirmed its will to struggle for the immediate and full legalization of unregistered migrant workers based on its experience of fighting to abolish the unreasonable industrial trainee system and selective legalization.