JEONGEUP - Jeonbuk State has ordered all local governments in the province to check for similar cases after Jeongeup said it returned 59 seasonal workers’ passports late.

SBS reported on Sept. 21 that a Filipina seasonal worker identified by the pseudonym Karen submitted her passport to Jeongeup City on her first day in South Korea in early May for foreigner-registration procedures. More than four months later, she still had not received it back.

A city official initially told SBS that passport storage was included among the conditions of a memorandum of understanding with the relevant Philippine local government. When SBS asked to see the agreement, the official acknowledged that it contained no such provision.

The official then cited previous cases of seasonal workers leaving their assigned workplaces and said the city had tried to prevent similar departures.

A Justice Ministry immigration investigator who came to the scene urged officials to return the passports, after which stored passports were brought out. Jeongeup later told SBS it had kept passports belonging to about 60 workers because of administrative inexperience and said all had since been returned.

Yonhap reported on Sept. 22 that a migrant-rights center alleged Jeongeup had taken passports from about 160 seasonal workers and had followed the practice for roughly two years.

Jeongeup disputed that account, saying 59 passports had been returned late after being collected for residence-related administrative work. The city said limited staffing had delayed their return.

Jeongeup also denied obtaining the passports coercively or keeping them to prevent workers from leaving their assigned workplaces. The migrant-rights center challenged that explanation, saying a city official had explicitly cited departure prevention when its representatives visited on Sept. 18.

SBS reported that Jeongeup had conducted a seasonal-worker human-rights inspection in late May and that a Justice Ministry inspection checklist includes whether workers have had their passports taken.

Jeonbuk State told Yonhap it had instructed all local governments in the province to check for comparable cases and take action where needed.

“When the province checks sites in future, we plan to interview workers directly and take measures to prevent similar cases,” a provincial official said.