In Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’, an perception into the determined lives of South Asian migrant employees in South Korea

“I felt like it was my story. It’s like what you see in a drama.” Seven years in the past, Khan left his spouse and youngsters in Lahore, within the hope that employment in South Korea would enable him to guide a greater life for his household. But since he arrived in Seoul, all the pieces has turned bleak, as it’s with a whole bunch of migrant employees from South Asia.

After its first launch on September seventeenth, Netflix claims that the Squid sport reached the primary spot in 90 international locations, together with India, in only one month and has change into the streaming service’s largest present ever. Played by Indian nationwide Anupam Tripathi, an actor primarily based in Seoul who has had small roles in a couple of Korean dramas, to many viewers, Ali and his tragic story come as a shock from South Korea.

“I want to make money,” Ali tells a fellow participant about why he desires to play the sport. Dependent on him are his spouse and new child youngster. Ali, an undocumented employee from Pakistan, with a harsh employer who withholds his wage for a number of months, will get in bother when he loses a few of his fingers whereas working in a manufacturing facility.

Just a fast notice the world deserves to say Ali from Squid Game. pic.twitter.com/6FSbSgIVH4

— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) September 30, 2021

It shouldn’t be Ali’s nationality as a lot as his circumstances that resonate with Khan. Rather, it’s the lived experiences of 1000’s of women and men from South Asia and Southeast Asia who work in farms and factories in South Korea. Sickness, damage and demise are a part of on a regular basis life within the nation for migrant employees like Khan.

Not way back, an acquaintance of Khan’s from India injured his hand throughout a office accident and misplaced 4 fingers like Ali within the play. “He didn’t even get any compensation. He came here to work but suffered a lot,” Khan mentioned. Still, Khan mentioned the person was one of many extra lucky migrant employees in South Korea.

Most migrant employees in South Korea stay on website, and are supplied with lodging inside transport containers which have been partially modified and become shelters. photograph credit score: Virendra Yadav

Last winter, Khan wakened one morning to listen to that his pal working at a neighborhood manufacturing facility in Gyeonggi province had died of utmost chilly. Most of the migrant employees within the nation stay on website, and are supplied with lodging inside transport containers which have been partially modified and transformed into shelters.

“Last year, a Vietnamese woman died because of the cold inside her container. The employer found his body the next morning,” recalled Sanjay Yadav, who has been residing and dealing in South Korea for twenty years. For the Indian migrant labor group, all of whom are within the nation with out legitimate paperwork, Yadav has been an important useful resource and help.

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in India didn’t reply to requests from indianexpress.com for statistics and remark on the time of publishing this report.

Most migrant employees in South Korea stay on website, and are supplied with lodging inside transport containers which have been partially modified and become shelters. photograph credit score: Virendra Yadav

Living inside these locations which have few provisions for heating may be troublesome throughout South Korea’s 4 months of extreme winter. Although there aren’t any official figures, Yadav believes that round 70% of migrant employees in South Korea stay in such containers, which have been transformed right into a one-room area with a makeshift kitchenette and a toilet. .

In a scene from ‘Squid Game’, viewers are supplied with a quick glimpse of what life is like for these migrant employees inside containers. But year-round residing inside one in every of these locations is an extremely difficult expertise, one thing unfathomable for most individuals, even once they see pictures and movies, Yadav mentioned.

In a scene from Squid Game, Ali’s character is seen contained in the transport container the place he lives. photograph credit score: screenshot

Among the migrant employees within the nation, Verma mentioned that the state of affairs of unlawful employees from India is even worse. In 2004, South Korea issued its employment permits to deal with labor shortages by permitting employers to legally rent adequate numbers of overseas employees from a bunch of nations throughout Asia, together with Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. carried out the system. While residents of those international locations are legally allowed to work in South Korea for about 5 years and journey between their dwelling international locations, Seoul has no such settlement with New Delhi.

When Virendra Verma first arrived in South Korea 10 years in the past, the nation’s chilly climate had reached his knees with snow on the farm the place he was despatched to work. “I was unemployed in India and there were some agents who told me that I would get work in South Korea. He said that after six months I would get the work permit. He told me that I would be able to come back to India sometime and the job was good here,” mentioned Verma.

Desperation pressured Verma to take a mortgage of Rs 4,00,000 to repay the brokers and take a look at his luck in a rustic he had by no means visited and knew little about. “I’ve to help my household and educate my kids. Now I’m caught right here, so I’ve to do that. Verma was tricked that he would be capable to work in a small group that will enable him to ship a refund dwelling and repay his loans. When they arrived, they have been despatched to work on a farm, which concerned handbook labor they’d by no means accomplished earlier than.

Migrant employees work inside a greenhouse at a farm in Pocheon, South Korea, on February 8, 2021. (AP photograph/Ah Young-joon)

“When I got here right here, I got here to know that they have been giving the identical type of bodily, backbreaking work to educated and uneducated folks. Migrant employees are pressured to do what is known as 3D work—troublesome, harmful, soiled. Compulsion makes you do this sort of work. I’ve come right here and am caught now.”

The phrase 3-D comes from the Japanese expression ‘3Ks: Kitanai, kiken, Kitui’; Or ‘soiled’ ‘harmful’ and ‘demanding’. The notion of those jobs has discouraged younger South Koreans from taking on these kind of jobs, making a home labor scarcity, the place firms flip to overseas employees keen to work regardless of low wages and poor working situations. have been

According to a paper by Hunnam University assistant professor Nigel Callinan revealed in 2020, 10% of the entire variety of migrant employees within the nation exceeded their visas in 2017. But there’s little knowledge on the variety of Indians. Citizens who arrive in South Korea and work in farms and factories. Yadav believes that there are at the moment round 3,000 unlawful Indian migrant employees within the nation.

Possibly a wage of something between US$1,300 and US$1,600 per thirty days, an quantity far under the authorized minimal wage that these labor contracts guarantee, determined Indians journey to South Korea with out correct visas. Attractive sufficient to draw them, with the information that they’re violating immigration legal guidelines, and that they are going to face troublesome working situations.

In the ten years Verma has lived right here, he remembers his kids rising up and their dad and mom died to see him in individual. “If I’m going again, I will not be capable to come again. When I discuss to my spouse and youngsters over video calls, they cry typically. But about unemployment which they consider Awaits him in India, stopping him from quitting his job at a manufacturing facility that packages corn syrup.

Like Khan, Varma has seen a lot struggling in South Korea over time that these tales appear much less tragic than Ali’s in ‘Squid Game’. “A pal of mine was working in a cattle farm. In an accident, a tractor driver crushed my pal’s leg. Then the driving force bought scared and couldn’t cease the machine and my pal’s different leg bought caught. When he tried to cease the machine along with his hand, the machine swallowed his hand too. He misplaced each his legs and an arm.”

“He was within the hospital for 5 months. There has been no progress within the proceedings of his case, no insurance coverage funds have been made, the driving force has not paid damages, nor has there been any assist from the federal government. His unlawful standing is South Korean. This makes it troublesome for the federal and native authorities to supply extra help to migrant employees who rely closely on the help of social employees.

Cambodian employees communicate throughout a web based interview in a transport container that’s used as their dwelling arrange at a farm in Pocheon, South Korea, February 8, 2021. (AP photograph/Ah Young-joon)

Apart from poor working and residing situations, migrant employees endure from bodily and psychological well being issues. Five to 6 days every week, many individuals are pressured to work 10 to fifteen hours a day, with little relaxation.

“In the case of Indians, many factory owners threaten workers with deportation, withhold wages, and engage them in forced labour,” Yadav defined. Even amongst authorized immigrants, many wouldn’t have legitimate paperwork once they depart abusive employers, leading to immigration problems.

Unable to talk Korean, migrant employees who’re new arrivals face notably troublesome situations, being left on the mercy of employers. “Some employers will promise three months salary at once. Then three months later, they refuse to pay and kick the worker out. So the person has taken to the streets and has no place to go, no shelter, no money for food,” Verma mentioned.

His photograph exhibits the garments and mattresses of migrant employees in a transport container at a farm in Pocheon, South Korea, on February 8, 2021, a brief dwelling for them. (AP photograph/Ah Young-joon)

The desperation to supply a greater life to their households forces them to ship 90% of their meager wages again dwelling. Their unlawful immigration standing additionally implies that employers exploit Indian employees by paying half of the regulation paid to employees from different international locations. “Basic salary is around Rs. 1 lakh, which is a lot for them. They send everything to their families,” Yadav mentioned.

Over the years, there have been stories of employees being subjected to uninterrupted bodily violence, exploitation and extended bodily labor, however little has modified within the on a regular basis lives of migrant employees.

Human rights activists stage a rally for higher residing situations for migrant employees close to the Presidential Blue House on February 9, 2021 in Seoul, South Korea. (AP photograph/Ah Young-joon)

Ten days in the past, a person who arrived in South Korea from Kolkata simply three years in the past developed chest ache whereas sleeping alone in his container. By morning he was useless. When information of the incident unfold to the group, Yadav and a few activists rushed to see what they may do. “The hospital asked for Rs 6 lakh for the medical cost before releasing the body. If a tragedy happens, even the body cannot be sent back to India as it would cost Rs. 4-5 lakhs. So we all contributed some money to perform his last rites here. His family could not even see him,” Verma mentioned.

The man’s demise provides Yadav nightmares that maintain him awake at night time and he hasn’t slept for every week for the reason that incident. “His family left their responsibility on me. We will immerse their ashes in a nearby river,” Yadav mentioned.

“There are many people who come to Korea and they stay here – their bodies live here,” Yadav mentioned.