AP Photo\/Ahn Young-joon In this Feb. 19, 2014, lawmakers, left and right, meet with salt farm owners and workers as a part of human rights inspection on Sinui Island, South Korea. Slavery thrives on this chain of rural islands off South Koreas rugged southwest coast, nurtured by a long history of exploitation and the demands of trying to squeeze a living from the sea. Five times during the last decade, revelations of slavery involving the disabled have emerged, each time generating national shame and outrage. <\/p>\n
SINUI ISLAND, South Korea He ran the first chance he got. <\/p>\n
The sun beat down on the shallow, sea-fed fields where Kim Seong-baek was forced to work without pay, day after 18-hour day mining the big salt crystals that blossomed in the mud around him. Half-blind and in rags, Kim grabbed another slave, and the two disabled men headed for the coast. <\/p>\n
Far from the glittering steel-and-glass capital of Seoul, they were now hunted men on this remote island where the enslavement of disabled salt farm workers is an open secret. <\/p>\n
\"It was a living hell,\" Kim said in a recent series of interviews with The Associated Press whose details are corroborated by court records and by lawyers, police and government officials. <\/p>\n
Lost, they wandered past asphalt-black salt fields sparkling with a patina of thin white crust. They could feel the islanders inspecting them. Everyone knew who belonged and who didn't. <\/p>\n
Near a grocery, the store owner's son rounded them up and called their boss, who beat Kim with a rake and sent him back to the salt fields. <\/p>\n
___ <\/p>\n
Slavery thrives on rural islands off South Korea's rugged southwest coast, nurtured by a long history of exploitation and the demands of trying to squeeze a living from the sea. <\/p>\n
Two-thirds of South Korea's sea salt is produced at more than 850 salt farms on dozens of islands in Sinan County, including Sinui island, where half the 2,200 residents work in the industry. Workers spend grueling days managing a complex network of waterways, hoses and storage areas. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Original post: <\/p>\n
'A living hell' for disabled slaves on South Korean islands<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AP Photo\/Ahn Young-joon In this Feb. 19, 2014, lawmakers, left and right, meet with salt farm owners and workers as a part of human rights inspection on Sinui Island, South Korea. Slavery thrives on this chain of rural islands off South Koreas rugged southwest coast, nurtured by a long history of exploitation and the demands of trying to squeeze a living from the sea Continue reading