Jeongeup city returned passports of 60 seasonal foreign workers after holding them to curb job-walking

In Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, city authorities seized the passports of 60 foreign seasonal laborers, among them a worker from the Philippines, and kept them for over four months to stop the employees from leaving their assigned farms or fisheries. The city participates in a state-run scheme that imports workers for short-term agricultural and marine work during labor-short periods. Initially, officials claimed the passport retention was done under an agreement with the Philippine government, but they later acknowledged the true purpose was to discourage workers from fleeing their jobs, citing previous incidents.

An employer in the program defended the measure, saying workers would have vanished without it, while a city official suggested the worker’s own negligence caused the situation. The Ministry of Justice lists passport withholding as a potential human-rights violation, and the city described the episode as an "administrative mistake." All 60 passports have now been returned to their owners.