South Korea strengthens migrant fisher protections. Advocates are not impressed.

South Korea's gender equality and fisheries ministries announced amended guidelines meant to help officials spot forced labor in the country's $7.5 billion fishing industry, following a July incident in which two confined Indonesian fishers tried to escape a Busan motel room by rope made of bedsheets; one fell to his death, the other broke his leg.

The new guidelines flag warning signs like untreated injuries, confiscated phones and restricted internet access, and one survivor was separately designated an official trafficking victim, entitling him to assistance. About 80.5% of crew on Korean distant-water fishing vessels are migrant workers, mostly from Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Rights lawyers quoted say the guidelines don't address the root problem, which is weak enforcement of existing laws, and note recruitment firms are financially incentivized to confine workers since they're penalized if migrants flee. A U.S. State Department report previously found South Korea has never prosecuted a human trafficking case in its distant-water fishing sector.

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