The National Human Rights Commission of Korea called for the government to come up with measures to protect seasonal foreign workers from abusive brokers.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the commission urged Korea’s central and local officials to prevent any involvement of brokers in operating its seasonal labor scheme through which Korean employers recruit workers from overseas for short but busy periods.

The commission said the current system lacks a legal basis as well as central oversight that would better protect such workers, who are often exploited, tricked and abused by brokers — or “human traffickers” under Korea’s antihuman trafficking law that bans forced labor.

This statement comes after a petition filed by a Filipino worker, who accused his broker of forcing him to work six days a week and 26 days a month at Korean farms and to pay illegal commissions, in violation of their work contract. The worker also said his passport was taken away by the broker without consent...

Moreover, the commission said the local officials involved in the case also failed in their task to protect the seasonal workers from such abuse...

“Local authorities in many countries that send workers here through the seasonal program do not have a reliable system. That’s why Korean local officials rely on brokers who know those countries well,” Lee told The Korea Times. “I think the officials know there are many issues regarding the operation of the program, but their priority is to find the workers fast.”

The rights commission acknowledged this problem and said the central government should play a bigger role in operating the scheme and there should be legislation to manage it more effectively....