Being khon phi as a Form of Resistance among Thai Migrant Workers in Korea

Fieldwork on the lives of illegal Thai migrant workers, or khon phi, living in a designated multicultural zone for foreign industrial workers in the Republic of Korea is reported. The report draws on two month-long research trips, in March and April 2011 and April and May 2013. The phenomenon of khon phi characterizes not only Thai migrant workers but also Vietnamese, Chinese, and others interviewed during the research. It embodies illegal transnational migrant workers’ efforts to achieve their own version of “the Korean dream”, despite their failure to adhere to Korean quotas on foreign workers or to regulations and restrictions governing those workers’ activities. It is a concept that allows these illegal Thai and other foreign migrant workers to survive the hardship that they face in Korea. The focus here is on cases of foreign workers from Thailand.