Maltreatment Of Foreign Detainees In South Korean Detention Centers Raises Concern For Human Rights Protection

South Korea has been facing allegations of verbal and physical violence and abuses committed by detention center guards inside the country's detention centers and during processes for deportations in the past and in the present time, the Korea Herald reported on Tuesday.

According to reports foreign nationals who were detained in the country's detention centers in Yeosu, Cheonju and Hwaseong were suffering from inhuman treatment from guards. More than 213,000 illegal migrants were blocked by South Korea's Justice Ministry as of July 2015. This record has marked a 27 percent increase from the ministry's 2011 record of more than 167,000.

Of these illegal migrants, some were caught and kept in detention centers that have been reportedly notorious for "inhumane treatment and living conditions."

Mamadiev Komil, a 33-year-old illegal migrant, said he was assaulted by detention guards on Sept. 25 after asking for medical treatment. In his statement, he was beaten in the face and chest on multiple occasions, threatened, aimed with a gun and was pushed down the stairs while being asked if he wanted to live or not.

Another former Pakistani detainee, who was detained at the Hwasong Detention Center for two years, confirmed the abuses of the detention guards saying that they sometimes brought prisoners in an isolated room which they called the "torture cell."

"Detainees are isolated in a separate room, and then verbally and physically abused there when we disobey the guards," the Pakistani said.

Enraged by the alleged violence inflicted on foreign detainees, some human rights group protested and held a press conference earlier this month calling for measures that would prevent the recurrence of violence and abuse in the country's detention centers.

"Most of the detained might have been caught illegally staying in the country, but they are not criminals. They came to Korea to earn money and contribute to the nation's economy," activist Lee Kyung said. "Their basic human rights should also be protected." 

The Hankyoreh reported that foreigners residing illegally in South Korea feared the nation's detention centers and immigration offices because of the buses made by officials.