Two disabledhomeless men were living in Mokpo and Seoul. An unregistered employment agency told them they could earn money by working on Sinan County's salt farms. Instead, they were sold to a farmer who owned a salt evaporation pond for a million won. Kim was trafficked in 2012, and Chae was trafficked in 2008. They were forced to work unpaid on a salt evaporation pond in Sineuido, Sinan County. Kim and Chae were forced to work for 14 hours a day; if they did not work well, they were beaten with an iron bar or a wooden club. Kim attempted to escape the island three times, but all his attempts failed. After his third attempt, Kim was threatened with death should he try again. Soon after, Kim sent a letter to his mother. His mother called the police in Seoul. After that, Kim and Chae were rescued by Seoul police on 6 February 2014. The owner and the unregistered employment agency were arrested by Seoul police. While Kim was reunited with his mother, Chae was not able to live with his family, so he entered a facility for handicapped people. Most residents living in the islands and cities had helped the abusers to find the victims running away before this matter became a social issue in South Korea. The residents even included police officers who the victims were desperate to get assistance from. After the rescue, Jeonnam Mokpo Police Station, Mokpo Branch of Gwangju Ministry of Labor of The Republic of Korea, and Sinan county investigated 140 salt farm workers at Sineuido, Jeungdo, and Bigeumdo. The investigators searched all salt farms in Sinan county. The investigation found 18 workers who had not been paid among 140 salt farm workers, two of whom were handicapped. One worker had not been paid for ten years although he should have been paid at least 120,000,000 won. There are more victims, and most involved in trafficking were sentenced to be jailed only for few years with a stay of execution in spite of the common sense that they were supposed to be jailed more than few years without suspended sentence.
Response
Domestic
Investigations by Korean authorities and independent journalists in 2013 and 2014 discovered around 163 salt farm employees, most of them mentally or physically disabled, who were being held and worked under slave-like conditions. Around 50 island farm owners and regional job brokers were indicted or convicted of related crimes. No government or police officials who were aware of the crimes have been indicted.
On 22 February 2014, Jeollanam-do decided to resolve the exploitation of workers in the islands by promoting the workers' rights of salt evaporation pond labours.
Citizens in Sinan county
After the farmer and the agency were arrested, Korean Broadcasting System interviewed citizens in Sinan county. One pond-owner's wife said, "We shouldn't give disabled people salaries because they would spend all salaries for buying alcoholic beverages". One citizen said, "In Sinan county, an honest person becomes a fool. The fifth-richest man owns the fifth most pond workers". A conscript police officer stated, "During my service period in Sinan county, even a local police inspector had disregarded handicapped people's human rights".
Internet
Some South Korean internet sites criticised both Sinan County and the local police. Based on Sinan County's geographical position, Ilbe Storehouse, a South Korean website criticised the Honam region.
