The government has informed that the process of sending Nepali workers to South Korea, which is considered an attractive destination for foreign employment, is about to resume after a long hiatus.
It is said that 50 workers, who had returned from Korea earlier, would be able to leave the country on October 27 while other workers would be sent gradually. Workers waiting to go to Korea have been elated with the progress as the process is resuming after a long time.
South Korea has been accepting Nepali workers since 2008 a per the labor agreement between the two countries. South Korea, which employed 2,800 Nepali workers in the early years, has been increasing the workers’ quota since 2011.
Aspiring migrant workers have not been able to go to South Korea for the last 20 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic even after passing the language and skills test under the Employment Permit System (EPS).
Those who are awaiting to leave for Korea after passing the EPS exam and those who returned from Korea last year have been complaining that the government had failed to make arrangements to send them to the destination country even when the infection rate has subsided.
The process of sending workers is resuming after both the countries finalized the provisions and conditions of flight and quarantine rules.
Director General at the Department of Foreign Employment, Deepak Kafle, said, “Korea has sent us the names of 119 people. We will send 50 of them on the first flight on October 27. It has yet to be decided when the next flight will be sent.”
According to him, the people who will be leaving in the first phase are the workers who had been to Korea and returned recently owing to the pandemic.
As many as 3,000 people are estimated to have returned from Korea during the pandemic whereas around 7,000 have passed the language and skill test and are awaiting their turn to leave the country.
So far, 60,000 Nepalis have gone to South Korea as workers, of which 31,000 are still employed there.
