Bill 3356 attempts to legislate HIV and drug tests for all foreign workers

  The Rise and Fall of E-2-visa HIV testing in South Korea, 1988 - 2017

Part 1: The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 2: HIV testing for foreigners in the aftermath of the 1988 Olympics (unfinished)
Part 3: Anti-English Spectrum begins to link foreign English teachers to AIDS (2006)

Part 4: "Tracking [down] blacklisted foreign teachers suspected of having AIDS" (2006)

Part 5: Using their own articles, Anti English Spectrum petitions for E-2 visa changes (2006)

Part 6: The Chosun Ilbo: "White English instructor threatens Korean woman with AIDS" (2007)

Part 7: News reports on arrest of instructor link him to 'AIDS threat' (2007)

Part 8: Police, SBS and KBS highlight instructor's 'AIDS threat' while KBS interviews AES (2007)

Part 9: Drug arrests, the case of Christopher Paul Neil, and AES's invitation to an Immigration policy meeting (2007)

Part 10: "Illegal native speaking instructors will no longer be tolerated": the E-2 policy memo is issued (2007)

Part 11: Challenging the E-2 requirements by petitioning the NHRCK (2009)

Part 12: Anti-English Spectrum's response to the NHRCK petition (2009)

Part 13: Bill 3356 attempts to legislate HIV and drug tests for all foreign workers (2009)

Part 13: Bill 3356 attempts to legislate HIV and drug tests for all foreign workers 

This post could chronologically have been part 11, but the end of the post will make clear why I've placed it after Anti-English Spectrum's responses to the NHRCK petition. 

On December 30, 2008, the following bill was submitted to the National Assembly:

Bill to Partially Amend the Immigration Act

(Proposed by Shin Hak-yong)

Sponsored by Shin Hak-yong and 17 others

Reason for Proposal

Nowadays, the number of foreigners working in Korea is increasing, but a good many have previous convictions for drug and sexual crimes or carry infectious diseases. As we require measures to deal with the threat they pose to our society’s public order and our people’s health, we herein prepare the legal basis to require that foreigners applying for an employment visa submit a criminal background check and a health certificate.

Main Content

If a foreigner who intends to enter the country for the purpose of employment applies for a visa, the foreigner may be required to submit a criminal record inquiry and a health examination certificate issued by their home country (newly established Article 8 (3)).

Partial Amendment to the Immigration Act

Part of the Immigration Act is amended as follows.

Paragraph 3 of Article 8 shall be changed to Paragraph 4, and Paragraph 3 of the same Article shall be newly established as follows.

③ When a foreigner who wants to enter the country for the purpose of employment applies for a visa, the foreigner may be asked to submit a criminal record inquiry and a health examination certificate issued by the country they to which they belong.

Addenda

This Act shall come into force from the date of promulgation.

The eagle-eyed will notice that this bill has the exact same wording as Bill 7642, which was submitted to the National Assembly by Rep. Shin Hak-yong - the same author - on October 24, 2007, the day after the immigration policy meeting to which Lee Eun-ung was invited. After the National Assembly elections of April 2008, that bill expired on May 29, so clearly Bill 3358 was an attempt to revive it. 

The second set of documents on this page (under 위원회 심사 / Committee Review) includes the following review written after the bill was discussed before the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee on February 24, 2009:

Review Opinions

The amendment, which obligates foreigners who apply for a visa seeking entry for the purpose of employment to submit a criminal record inquiry and health examination certificate, is an effort to solve problems caused by foreigners working in Korea who have a criminal record or carry contagious diseases, and while this is a reasonable purpose, the following matters need to be reviewed. 

First, under the Immigration Act, there is ① a single-entry visa that allows entry only once and ② a multiple entry visa that allows entry two or more times, and there are 37 types of sojourn statuses, of which 10 types of sojourn statuses allow employment ranging from professors to sailors. In this way, rather than requiring criminal and health-related certifications uniformly for all 10 types of employment visas, it is considered appropriate to require relevant certifications limited to certain types of employment visas that fall under “reasonable and clear standards.” 

For reference, since 2007, it has been mandatory for foreign English instructors who are eligible for the 2-year E-2 visa (conversation instruction visa) issued only to nationals of seven countries where English is the official language, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, to submit a criminal record certificate and a health certificate checking for sexually transmitted diseases and drug use. 1)

Second, depending on the specific case, in accordance with the legislative policy of the National Assembly, which entrusts to the Enforcement Decree "Matters related to attached documents of a visa" when flexible operation is required, it is considered reasonable within the legal system to delegate amendment contents to things such as enforcement ordinances.

Third, it is judged that the purpose of the amendment can be maintained according to Article 11 of the 'Immigration Act' which stipulates that the entry of contagious patients and drug addicts can be prohibited.

Footnote:
1) In 2007, 80% of those seeking AIDS-related counseling in Itaewon turned out to be foreign white-collar workers and foreign instructors. About 60 countries around the world conduct AIDS tests for foreigners according to the type of visa.

Interestingly enough, the person submitting the document argues against the passage of the bill, saying that the new amendment is unnecessary because provisions already exist under Article 11 of the the Immigration Act (which allows for immigration regulations), with the E-2 visa regulations given as an example. What's interesting is the footnote to the fact that E-2 visa holders already face HIV tests:

In 2007, 80% of those seeking AIDS-related counseling in Itaewon turned out to be foreign white-collar workers and foreign instructors. About 60 countries around the world conduct AIDS tests for foreigners according to the type of visa.

In an op-ed for the Weekly Kyunghyang dated February 24, 2009, the same day as the committee review meeting, Anti English Spectrum leader Lee Eun-ung wrote,

It was also later revealed that in 2007 80% of the counseled at an AIDS counseling center in Itaewon were foreign white collar workers and English teachers. [...] According to the Korean Alliance to Defeat AIDS, about 60 nations worldwide conduct AIDS tests on foreigners, depending on the visa. 

To see how similar these sentences are in document and the article, let's look at them in Korean. The first sentence is from Lee's article followed by the similar sentence in the Review Opinions document footnote: 

2007년 이태원 에이즈 상담소의 에이즈 관련 상담자의 80%가 외국인 화이트칼라 및 외국인 강사라는 사실이 공개돼기도 했다. 

2007년 이태원 에이즈 관련 상담자의 80%가 외국인 화이트 칼라와 외국인 강사로 판명되었 음. 

The second sentence is almost exactly the same in both (Lee first, footnote second): 

사단법인 에이즈협회에 따르면, 전 세계적으로 60여 개 국에서 비자의 종류에 따라 외국인들에게 에이즈 검사를 실시하고 있다. 

전세계적으로 60여개 국에서 비자의 종류에 따라 외국인들에게 에이즈 검사를 실시하고 있음. 

How do we know for sure that Lee's article was the source for the footnote? The September 18, 2006 Break News article, "Tracking [down] blacklisted foreign teachers suspected of having AIDS", which interviewed Lee, stated that "80% of those frequenting AIDS testing center for foreigners are native speaker teachers." Lee's op-ed, however, stated that "In 2007, 80% of those seeking AIDS-related counseling in Itaewon turned out to be foreign white-collar workers and foreign instructors." Lee, however, got the date wrong. As was reported in an in-depth article in the Korea Herald, 

Korea AIDS/HIV Prevention & Support Center statistics for [2007] show that the 80 percent statistic is false. Furthermore, KHAP director Yu Sung-chal told Expat Living that the clinic "moved to Seongbuk-gu in 2006, so it makes no sense to say that the Itaewon clinic sent out these statistics."

As well, I searched Naver and Daum for any mention of the 80% figure in 2007 and found nothing except posts referring to the 2006 article. Not only is the almost exact same wording found in the document footnote, but Lee's mistake is found in both - a clear sign that Lee's op-ed was the source for the information found in the Review Opinions document footnote. Once again, Anti-English Spectrum's influence upon the Korean government - this time among legislators - is clear to see.

Ironically, the fact that E-2 visa holders were already being tested for HIV and drugs under existing laws may have helped caused Bill 3356 to expire without being passed in May 2012.

[Note: The latter part of this post originally appeared here.]