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Foreign national accused of smuggling underage individuals into Korea disguised as tourists arrested

Published: 27 Apr. 2026, 17:03 Updated: 27 Apr. 2026, 17:41

Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho inspects a departure waiting area during a field check of the foreign support center at Incheon International Airport on April 23. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

A Kazakh national accused of smuggling 15 underage individuals into Korea by disguising them as tourists has been apprehended by immigration authorities, according to the Justice Ministry on Monday.

“A 41-year-old Kazakh national was arrested and referred to the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office on charges of violating the Immigration Act for illegally bringing underage Kazakh nationals into the country through Incheon International Airport,” the Justice Ministry said, adding that “a 26-year-old Kazakh accomplice who escorted them was also sent to prosecutors.”

The broker recruited minors in Kazakhstan between February 2025 and January this year through acquaintances, targeting those seeking illegal employment in Korea, according to the ministry’s investigation.

The suspect is believed to have brought 15 minors aged 16 to 18 into the country by posing them as tourists and collected about 9.4 million won ($6,390) per person in fees.

The broker recruited an accomplice residing in Korea to act as a guardian and pose as a relative to make it easier for the minors to enter the country. The minors were also provided with forged consent forms and boarding documents so they could board flights without their parents.

Authorities also found that the two suspects entered into a sham marriage to carry out the crime.

Most of the minors who successfully entered the country applied for refugee status. Under the Refugee Act, the government must allow applicants to stay in Korea until the review process is completed. The full process — from application and screening to appeals and administrative litigation — takes more than four years on average. During that time, the minors were found to have worked illegally at construction sites and factories to make a living.

The number of brokers caught assisting with false refugee claims has been rising.

A total of 109 people have been caught over the past five years for arranging fraudulent refugee applications, according to the Justice Ministry. By year, the number rose from nine in 2021 to 14 in 2022; 24 in 2023; 24 in 2024 and 38 in 2025.

“We plan to investigate other accomplices, including local brokers, in coordination with relevant agencies,” an official from the Justice Ministry’s Incheon Airport Immigration Office said.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM JEONG-JAE [[email protected]]