Employment and Labour Minister Lee Ki-kweon visited Vietnam recently at the invitation of the Vietnamese government to sign an MOU on the Employment Permit System (EPS) and discuss an exchange and cooperation plan including ways to help Korean workers find work in Vietnam.

During the visit Minister Lee will sign an MOU with Vietnam’s Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung to resume the process of selecting Vietnamese workers to be sent to Korea under the EPS, which has been suspended since August 2012.

As a result, Vietnamese workers who are highly preferred by Korean employers because of their outstanding ability to adapt and learn new skills will be supplied more smoothly, starting in the second half of this year.

The MOU will also lead to tighter control over illegal stay as it contains the Vietnamese government’s roadmap (2016 -2018) to reduce illegal stay as well as new countermeasures against illegal stay, such as excluding areas generating many illegal workers from the selection process.

The two Ministers will also exchange their opinions on ways to develop various development cooperation projects concerning the labour law, employment information system, occupational safety, etc., in Vietnam, a major ODA recipient.

See: South Korea to create 200,000 jobs for youth until 2017

In addition, Minister Lee met with Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam to discuss an exchange and cooperation promotion plan that can promote human resources exchanges between the two countries and address investment barriers faced by businesses.

In relation to this, ways to expand the scope of those exceptionally recognized as eligible for a work permit in order to address any difficulties young Koreans might have in finding work in Vietnam with the recent tightening of the requirements for issuance of work permits.

Vietnam amended a decree of its labour code to tighten the requirements for issuance of work permits for experts (those who have at least a bachelor’s degree or five years of experience → those who have at least a bachelor’s degree and three years of experience). The amendment came into effect on April 1, 2016.

At present there are about 3,300 Korean companies and more than 10,000 Korean workers in Vietnam. So relaxing the requirements for issuance of work permits is greatly needed.

Also read: Salary and Hiring Trends in Korea for 2016

Image credit: koogle.tv