Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter |
The Ministry of Justice's Inchon International Airport Immigration Office (Director Kim Jong-min) has identified Malaysian Broker A as having arranged false refugee applications for 184 Malaysians through illegal employment and other long-term stays in the country by receiving 800,000 won per person in return.
A female of 36 years old and a male of 26 years old were arrested and sent to the Inchon District Prosecutors' Office on Tuesday,
November 21 on charges of violating the Immigration Control Act and forging private documents, after the extent of their involvement was determined, while the third minor accomplice female of 30 years old was forcibly deported to Malaysia, reported by the ministry of justice.
The Ministry of justice began a full-scale investigation to find the reason of rapid increase in the refugee applications compared to last year at the Inchon Airport Immigration and Foreigner Office operates at certain small-scale immigration and foreigner offices.
In the process of analyzing the rapid increase in refugee applications, the Ministry of Justice confirmed the circumstances of the intervene and caught the Malaysian Broker A connected to the other gangs that were systematically assisting Malaysians in applying for the refugee status.
As a result of the investigation, broker A arranged the false refugee applications for 184 Malaysians who entered South Korea for tourism purposes from September 2022 to October 2023. The Malaysian tourists were provided with a forged rental agreement to submit in the immigration when applying for refugee status. In return, the broker A charged 800,000 won per person and earned total of 140 million won by violating the immigration Control Act.
In the process of committing the crime, Broker A, through his own mediation, dragged B, who had applied for false refugee status around February 2023, into the crime and made him recruit applicants for refugee status, guide them to immigration and foreigner detention centers, and receive compensation. Then he made his friend C, an illegal immigrant in Korea to participate in the crime and had him play the role of writing false reasons for refugee status applications.
It was confirmed on investigations that the refugee applications were arranged on false grounds, such as ‘their lives were threatened by gangs’ and ‘they were persecuted by the government and people around them as homosexuals’, even though they have no history of being threatened or persecuted in their home country.
Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said, “The Republic of Korea will thoroughly detect cases of people abusing the refugee application system or filing false refugee applications through brokers and take firm action.”
The ministry of justice announced that anyone who submits forged or altered documents in relation to a foreigner's application such as false residence permit, false submission of supporting documents or submitting applications with false facts, etc. shall be punished by imprisonment of at least 3 years under Immigration Control Act Article 26 (Prohibition on submission of false documents, etc.), or will be subject to a fine of at least 30 million won under Article 94 17-2 (Penalty Provisions).
Moreover, the person who facilities forging another person's documents or drawings related to rights, obligations, or certification of facts for the purpose of exercising them shall be punished by imprisonment of at least 5 years or by a fine of 10 million won under Criminal Law Article 231 (Forgery/Falsification of Private Documents, etc.)
