As a major investigation into corruption within Uzbekistan's system for organizing labor migration to South Korea continues, the issue is also stirring intense debate within South Korea itself.
According to documents made public by South Korean media, Uzbek nationals holding E-9 work visas have been required to sign a special contract with Uzbekistan's Migration Agency — along with an accompanying guarantee note — before leaving the country. Critics say legal analysis of these documents shows they are one-sided and effectively place workers in a position of economic servitude.
The most contentious clause imposes a $2,000-per-month fine on any migrant who changes jobs in Korea without written consent from both their employer and the Migration Agency's representative office in Korea. Strikingly, no upper limit is set on this penalty — it continues to accrue every month until the worker returns to Uzbekistan.
Another major point of criticism is that the fine applies even in cases where the worker did not choose to leave their job.
According to the outlet Pressian, workers have faced financial penalties even when they were forced to leave a company — for instance, due to layoffs or a lack of available work — rather than by their own choice.
Kun.uz has noted that a November 2024 post on the Migration Agency's official page confirmed the tightening of these rules, specifically stating that a $2,000 fine would be imposed on those who left their jobs without justification and without coordinating with the Korea-based representative office. The measure was described as a response to concerns that foreign employers were developing a negative view of Uzbek workers.
On July 18, 2026, a 26-year-old Uzbek worker identified as B. died in a tragic accident at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan. He was crushed between a lifting device he was operating and scaffolding while carrying out hull-smoothing work on a ship.
Colleagues of the deceased told a Pressian correspondent that he had been injured on the job several times before and had grown fearful of continuing to work at the shipyard. Citing hazardous conditions and low pay, he had repeatedly sought to transfer to another company, but was blocked by the threat of steep fines.
On July 20, Nurmatjon Komilov, head of the Migration Agency's representative office in Korea, visited the Hyundai Heavy Industries dormitory in Ulsan. Workers voiced strong objections during the meeting, saying that had he been given even one chance to transfer to another company, he would not have died, and demanded that the unfair agreement be revised.
Kim Song Hun, a representative of Hyundai Heavy Industries' internal subcontracting division who was present, said more than 100 Uzbek workers openly expressed their grievances. He said the Migration Agency has demanded fines even from workers dismissed by subcontractors — a practice he described as effectively telling workers, "You can never leave Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan."
A worker identified as A. also underscored the severity of the problem. "There are various circumstances — some workers' health isn't suited to this kind of labor, and some companies simply run out of work. But none of these reasons are ever taken into account," he said.
To address a labor shortage in the shipbuilding industry, the Ulsan city government and South Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labor jointly developed a "pilot project to train a foreign workforce tailored to the shipbuilding industry." Uzbekistan was selected as the partner country for organized labor migration under this initiative.
With direct support from Hyundai Heavy Industries and 1 billion won in funding from the Ulsan city government, an "Ulsan Global Workforce Training Center" was established in Fergana region. As of June 2026, close to 380 people had been brought to Korea to work under the program.
On July 27, Pressian spoke by phone with a representative of the Migration Agency's Korea office. The representative said migrants who had signed the contract would be permitted to change jobs if their employer ceased operations, or if a medical condition — such as a herniated spinal disc — made it impossible for them to continue working, provided they submitted medical documentation. Asked why such a contract had been drawn up in the first place, the representative pointed to a rise in cases of workers overstaying illegally in recent years and the need to protect the country's international reputation.
South Korean attorney Cho Jeong-gyu described the situation as "tantamount to forced labor and human trafficking." He said it closely resembles the "flight-guarantee deposit" system that Filipino workers hired for South Korea's agricultural sector encountered in 2022.
Between 2022 and 2024, Buyeo and several other South Korean municipalities signed direct agreements with local governments in the Philippines to bring in workers. To prevent mass job abandonment and the workers becoming undocumented migrants, the municipalities introduced a practice of withholding a so-called "departure guarantee": 60% of workers' monthly wages was frozen in a special account and paid out only when they returned to their home country. In other cases, intermediary brokers operated by confiscating workers' passports and bank cards outright.
In October 2024, South Korea's National Human Rights Commission issued its final findings on the practice, ruling that withholding wages, confiscating passports, or demanding large guarantee deposits to prevent workers from fleeing constitutes "human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation."
Observers say the $2,000 fine notes signed by Uzbek E-9 workers function through essentially the same mechanism as the "departure guarantee" imposed on Filipino workers.
Rights advocates describe the large fines as a tool of economic control that ties a worker to a single company, while the pressure placed on the families of those who flee back in Uzbekistan serves as a form of psychological control. They argue this pattern matches recognized criteria for identifying victims of human trafficking.
Hyundai Heavy Industries, which directly employs the workers in question, said in response to the controversy that it had been entirely unaware of the fine notes and played no role in the process. The company maintains that these documents fall under the Uzbek government's internal policy for managing its citizens abroad, and that the corporation has no authority to intervene.
South Korea's metalworkers' union issued a sharply worded statement in response, arguing it is entirely illogical for the city of Ulsan and Hyundai — which developed the "Ulsan model" and benefit from it the most — to distance themselves from the issue, noting that the workers were brought in precisely through the system these two parties created.
Under pressure from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and human rights organizations, South Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labor has begun taking the matter seriously. In a statement issued August 8, the ministry said it was examining the issue jointly with Uzbekistan's embassy in Korea and the Migration Agency's representative office.
Separately, at an August 6 meeting between the head of the Korean labor ministry's planning and coordination department and the deputy minister of employment and poverty reduction of Uzbekistan, Korean officials raised concerns about the unfairness of the current system and called for it to be reformed swiftly.
"We are calling on the Uzbek government to send official documentation addressing this problem as soon as possible. We will continue to monitor the steps taken by the Uzbek side and will consider additional measures if necessary, depending on how the situation develops," the Korean labor ministry said in its statement.
For its part, South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has also noted signs of human trafficking indicators in how Uzbek migrant workers enter the country under E-9 visas.
Earlier on July 30 the Bektemir District Criminal Court in Tashkent had begun trying four individuals accused of bribery, money laundering, and abuse of power. The high-profile case stems from an investigation into alleged corruption and systemic violations within the recruitment and deployment networks managing Uzbek migrant workers bound for South Korea.
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