Korea is launching a nationwide crackdown on the exploitative trafficking of seasonal migrant workers, a move prompted by a high-profile case late last year in which Filipino farmworkers reported severe mistreatment. From Thursday through March 31, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ministry of Justice will carry out joint inspections with local governments, mainly targeting agricultural and fisheries workplaces that employ foreign seasonal workers, officials said Wednesday. This is the first time the two ministries have carried out a joint inspection specifically aimed at protecting foreign workers from abuses associated with human trafficking. This comes amid a jump in trafficking cases, many of them involving forced labor. According to a senior official at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the number of confirmed cases surged from just 3 in 2023 to 12 in 2024 and 42 in 2025. All victims were foreign nationals. Among all the cases, labor exploitation was the most common type of abuse with 43 victims, followed by 10 cases of sexual exploitation. In those exploitative