Slavery thrives on rural islands off South Korea's rugged southwest coast, nurtured by a long history of exploitation and the demands of trying to squeeze a living from the sea. Two-thirds of South Korea's sea salt is produced at 850 salt farms on dozens of islands in Sinan County, including Sinui island, where half the 2,200 residents work in the industry. Five times during the last decade, revelations of slavery involving the disabled have emerged. Kim's case prompted a government probe of thousands of farms and disabled facilities that found more than 100 workers who'd received no, or scant, pay. Yet little has changed, according to a months-long investigation by the Associated Press based on court and police documents and interviews with freed slaves, farmers and villagers. Although 50 island farm owners and regional job brokers were indicted, no local police or officials will face punishment. Soon after the national investigation, activists and police found another 63 unpaid or underpaid workers on the islands, three-quarters of whom were mentally disabled. ... The night of July 4, 2012, Kim - homeless for a decade - was sleeping in a Seoul train station when a stranger offered him a place to stay and a job. Hours later, he stood on a Sinui island salt farm. Hong had paid an illegal job agent the equivalent of about US$700 for his new worker, court records reveal. The beatings began the first day on the farm for Kim, who's visually disabled and described in court documents as having the social awareness of a 12-year-old. ...