By Mata Press Service

Immigration Canada is reportedly increasing its checks on flights originating from Korea in a bid to stop human smugglers from using the Vancouver International Airport as a transit point.

The intensified passport checks on Koreans arriving in Canada has incensed the local Korean community and raised the ire of Korean airlines.

At Vancouver International Airport, Korean travellers are rejected on a daily basis during their interviews by immigration officials, according to Choi Jang-sun, head of Korean Air’s branch in Vancouver, a popular destination for Korean immigrants and tourists.

"At least one person on every flight from Incheon International Airport has to return to Incheon,’’ Choi said in a report published by Yonhap news agency.

The authorities in Vancouver rejected and returned 481 Koreans last year, according to Korean Consul-General Lee Hwang-ro.

Esther Kwon President of the Korean Society of British Columbia told The Asian Pacific Post : "We’ve heard that there are a lot of Koreans being turned away at the airport. We don’t have any concrete explanation why this is so."

"What immigration is saying is that they’re returning Koreans because these travellers are telling lies. But that is not a good explanation.

"Probably some immigration people don’t like Korean people. Sometimes it’s not fair," Kwon said.

"A couple of years ago, some Korean businessmen were turned away at the airport. They complained to the Korean government. Then things became better at the airport. Now it’s becoming worse again.

"This is a multicultural country. This is a free country. Anybody should be able to visit Canada," said Kwon.

Janis Fergusson, a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency said: "There’s nothing to reflect that we are targeting a particular country."

She said the agency does not break down statistics of refusal by country of origin.

"The vast majority of people coming into Canada are permitted to come in. You can’t isolate one country

"If you look at the number of people allowed to enter into Canada, it’s (refusals) not a significant number," Fergusson said.

She noted that there is a total of about 18,000-20,000 refusals each year covering all nationalities. The number covers cases not only at the Vancouver International Airport but also those crossing the US land and water borders into Canada,

"It’s not a large number by any measure," she said.

Korean Consul-General Lee Hwang-ro told Yonhap that Canadian authorities often become suspicious of those who come with unclear purposes, lie during interviews or whose residences in Canada are uncertain or passports are damaged.

Those who committed crimes in the U.S. or have a record of having their visas there rejected are also highly scrutinized, he said.

In Vancouver, the rejection rate involving Koreans has increased every year from 247 in 2001 to 388 in 2003 and 481 last year.

Senior Special Agent David Lindwall of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a recent court case involving a Korean human smuggling operation said that instances of Koreans being smuggled into Washington State from B.C. have spiked since 1994. That’s when Canada eliminated tourist visa requirements for Koreans pursuant to a treaty between the two countries.

Less than a year after ratification of the treaty, Border Patrol agents stationed at Blaine, Lynden and Sumas began encountering vehicles laden with undocumented Korean nationals, Lindwall said in the court papers.

Koreans interested in being smuggled into the United States typically contract with smugglers in Seoul posing as travel agents. Once they arrive in Vancouver, B.C., the smugglers put them in safe houses and arrange for vehicles, drivers and border trail guides, according to the criminal complaint.

Then the illegal immigrants are taken "to a remote rendezvous point, where, under the cover of darkness, they turn the clients over. Fees paid the smugglers range from US$5,000 to US$15,000 (up to C$16,700)

Last month, an alleged member of a human smuggling ring was charged in Seattle with attempting to smuggle seven South Koreans over the U.S.- B.C. border in rural Okanogan County.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents believe Dong In Seok is part of a ring that has been secreting undocumented Koreans into America by a circuitous route that starts in Seoul, passes through Vancouver, B.C., crosses the border in remote northeast Washington and ends in Los Angeles.

On March 27, Washington State Patrol troopers pulled over a Canadian in a rented sport utility vehicle for a traffic violation near Oroville. When they searched the vehicle, they found a hand-held radio and two state maps with foreign writing on it, according to court documents.

The rental agreement showed that the SUV had been picked up the day before at Sea-Tac Airport, not by the driver, but by Dong In Seok, also known as Kenny Suk. He had been arrested in 2001 for human smuggling, authorities said.

Five days later, Border Patrol agents stopped a Chevy TrailBlazer on a rural road near Oroville at 6:30 am, a short distance from the border.

The area is well-known by Border Patrol agents as an illicit transit point for the smuggling of humans, drugs and other contraband.

Inside the SUV were six Korean women, a Korean man and the 19-year-old Canadian driver, Dana Wutzke. The Koreans had apparently crossed the border on foot and were picked up by Wutzke.

Wutzke told an ICE agent that she got the rented TrailBlazer from a Korean named "Leo" in Everett. In return for the SUV, Wutzke gave Leo the teal Mazda MX3 she was driving.

Wutzke said she was to receive US$700 (C$779) for delivering the Koreans to Leo in Everett, according to the court documents.

If found guilty of the smuggling charges, Dong faces up to 10 years in prison and US$500,000 (C$556,000) in fines. A magistrate judge in Seattle ordered him detained pending further proceedings.

Esther Kwon President of the Korean Society of British Columbia described the smuggling operations as shameful and something that causes problems for the whole community.

"It’s true that some Koreans are using Vancouver to go to the United States. This is a shameful thing.

"These Koreans are doing it for the money. They have small incomes. They can come to Vancouver without a visa. Then they try to go to Los Angeles and get jobs easily."