Oak-Jin Oh, NYC Housekeeper, Accuses Buddhist Monk Soo Bok Choi And Family Of Enslaving Her

NEW YORK (AP) — A housekeeper has accused a Korean Buddhist monk and his family of forcing her to work as a "slave" in their New York City home.

According to The New York Times, the lawsuit alleges the family kept the woman a prisoner in their Queens home for 12 years under threat of death.

The suit was filed by Oak-Jin Oh last week in Manhattan federal court. It names Soo Bok Choi, a Buddhist monk, two of his brothers, his son and daughter, a niece and the representative of the estate of his mother, who died in 2009.

The Times says it visited the homes of three of the defendants but efforts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to comment.

The civic lawsuit was filed by the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund and claims that although Oh "was promised wages for her work, she was never paid." And "when she asked for her pay, the Choi family responded with threats of physical harm and death. In addition, they did not allow her any days off, deprived her of medical care, withheld her passport, and restricted her ability to make contact with anyone outside the household."

"This man calls himself a monk, but to me, he is a criminal," said Oh, through an interpreter, according to an AALDEF press release. She continued, "He stole 12 years of my life even though I worked hard for him and his family. It's not right to look down on the weak and cause them damage just because you have power and status."

AALDEF Staff Attorney Ivy Suriyopas said,"It is deplorable that a worker went without pay for 12 years," adding, "The defendants were able to intimidate her, isolate her, and lie to her about the laws in the U.S. and her rights for so long. Unfortunately, labor trafficking continues to exist in the shadows, but this immigrant worker has stepped forward to assert her rights and expose her abusive working conditions."

In the 2007 "Muttontown Slave Trial", a wealthy Long Island couple was convicted in court of enslaving and torturing two Indonesian domestic workers.

Comments

[imstellacole]

11:50 AM on 08/12/2011

obviously, not a real buddhist monk since buddhist monks cannot get married.

[TracyLee]

10:06 PM on 08/08/2011

Soo Bok Choi? Who made this up?

[imstellacole]

11:47 AM on 08/12/2011

shut up.

[janeyre]

01:49 PM on 08/08/2011

Deport all of them...

[lotusgirl]

01:33 PM on 08/08/2011

Human trafficking is still a huge problem in the world and the US. Many are homegrown and imported sex workers, some make our clothing, they server us food and sometimes give us a mani/pedicure. I read that some of the people in restaurants and nail salons are coming over as indenture servants.

It's the typical scenario of the rich and powerful taking advantage of the weak.

[KIVPossum]

02:05 PM on 08/08/2011

All true. and sad

[rubadub]

01:22 PM on 08/08/2011

Anyone who's lived in Asia for a while will know that Buddhist monks, contrary to the general western media representation of them, are just as willfully corrupt as any other holy _shyster_.

[we-r-stardust]

01:00 PM on 08/08/2011

How do monks lock their houses ........With Monk Keys......;-)

[indothinker]

03:20 PM on 08/08/2011

so, so, so wrong (but i still giggled)...

[we-r-stardust]

03:52 PM on 08/08/2011

The dumber the joke the funnier it is ....;-)

[katiekatt551]

10:38 AM on 08/08/2011

Another example of the wealthy preying on the weak and helpless. It is sickening that still in this modern day and age things like this continue to thrive. That entire family should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Someone in that family, should have come forward and help that woman. People...., slavery has been aboloshed in the United States.