◀ anchor ▶
There is a space called ‘repatriation waiting room’ in one corner of the Incheon Airport security area.
This is where foreigners who have been denied entry into Korea stay.
Because they do not have the authority to subdue foreigners’ riots and assaults, the management staff are in charge of the extreme task of having to handle this alone in a harsh environment.
From August of this year, they will be shifted from service positions to civil service positions, and it is said that more than half of them are at risk of job loss.
Reporter Son Ha-neul covered what happened.
◀ Report ▶
A foreign man slaps a Korean employee on the cheek and grabs him by the neck.
Other foreigners join in and threaten them.
[외국인]
“You want to fight me?”
The beating foreigners are those who have been denied entry to Korea for various reasons, and the person being beaten is an employee of the Incheon Airport repatriation waiting room.
[신규연/송환대기실 직원]
“This person is originally a refusal to travel on an airline that doesn’t provide food. If this person takes the bread, other passengers will not be able to eat. So he stopped it and assaulted him.”
The repatriation waiting room on the second floor between the arrival and departure floors of Incheon Airport is 470 m² and 140 pyeong.
As 70,000 people were denied entry every year, it was so crowded that there was no place to sit.
[외국인]
“Don’t touch him! You can’t touch him!”
The repatriation waiting room is one of the most extreme jobs at Incheon Airport.
“Stop it, stop it!”
The 42 employees belonged to a service company and did not have the legal authority to suppress the riots, so they might not resist even if they were hit.
[김혜진/송환대기실 직원]
“These passengers know[us]funny because we’re civilians. They don’t follow directions. It was horrifying that they got their hair cut and there was no punishment for doing that.”
Then last year, everything changed drastically.
As the spread of Corona 19 continued, the flow of travelers to and from the Immigration Hall was cut off.
The repatriation waiting room, which screened and protected those who were denied entry into the flow, also stopped seeing people.
There is only one person waiting for extradition on the status board, which once lacked a place to write.
As airlines, the prime contractors for service companies, cut labor costs, the workers took half a turn to take unpaid leave without a promise.
I survived two years as a daily worker at a construction site, and a part-time job at a distribution center and a convenience store at night.
[송환대기실 무급휴직 직원]
“(In the repatriation waiting room), I liked it because I worked together.
After the legislators visited at the end of last year, the law changed the following year, giving me hope for a while.
The government decided to directly operate the waiting room for repatriation, which was managed by a service company, and hire employees for official positions under the Ministry of Justice.
But the reality turned out to be strange.
The government budget allocated to the selection of public officials is only 15 people.
Due to the fact that the number of people denied entry to the country has decreased due to COVID-19, 27 out of 42 people will have to leave the workplace altogether in August.
[고가영/변호사]
“The purpose of the law was to make work more stable, which resulted in the actual firing of workers.”
The Ministry of Justice said it would secure an additional budget, but there is no promise.
[김혜진/송환대기실 직원]
“There is no way to deal with the sudden increase in passengers. It makes me cry so much. I want to keep working, but leaving a place I love…”
This is Son Ha-neul from MBC News.
Video coverage: Lee Seong-jae Lee Sang-yong / Video editing: Na Ji-yeon
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