Seoul (VNA) – Vietnamese labourers who work in the Republic of Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS) have been appreciated by Korean employers, said Lim Seung-mook, Vice President of the Human Resources Development Services of the RoK (HRDK).

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), Lim said Vietnam is among the countries prioritised by Korean firms in employment and reemployment as Vietnamese workers are quick to adapt to the new situation and meet the requirements of employers.

Stressing the important role of guest workers in Korean small and medium-sized enterprises, he said the East Asian nation would need more foreign workers given its aging population and declining workforce.

Along with the increasing number of Vietnamese workers in the RoK, the proportion of skilled workers is also rising, he said, adding the country plans to open more sectors to foreign workers.

Lim said Vietnamese skilled labourers returning to Vietnam after their contracts expire can work for Korean firms in their homeland, whose number amounts to some 9,000.

According to the HRDK, launched in 2004, the EPS aims to help small and medium-sized companies solve their labour shortages. It allows employers who have failed to hire native workers to legally hire an adequate number of foreign workers. It is a system that the Korean government introduced to manage foreign workers in the RoK in an organised manner.

Vietnam was one of the first six countries to send workers to the RoK under the programme, which now covers 16 nations with Vietnam topping the list, accounting for 134,655 out of more than 1 million foreign workers in the RoK.

Speaking at a recent conference marking the 20th anniversary of the EPS, RoK Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jung-sik affirmed the success of the programme, saying it should be improved to ensure safety standards in the industrial environment, with training, employment and residence support for qualified foreigners.

Min Pil-hong, Director of HTM, an auto parts company in Gyeonggy province, said his firm is employing 14 foreign workers, half of them Vietnamese who are sincere, friendly and serious at work.

Vietnam sent more than 78,000 workers abroad in the first half of this year, fulfilling 62.4% of the yearly target, according to the Department of Overseas Labour under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Japan, Taiwan (China), and the RoK remained the largest recipients of Vietnamese guest workers.

Last year, over 159,000 workers went abroad for employment, surpassing the yearly target by 33.3%, and the highest recorded over the past 10 years.

For 2024, the ministry aims to send 125,000 workers abroad, focusing on key traditional markets such as Japan, Taiwan, and the RoK. It eyes to have 120,000-143,000 people working in foreign countries every year, who send home total remittances of around 3.5-4 billion USD.

The Government has issued a plan to carry out a directive of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat on enhancing the Party leadership on sending workers overseas in the new situation. Along with building strategies to send Vietnamese labourers to foreign countries, the plan outlines solutions to raise public awareness of law observance as well as coordination mechanisms to handle relevant issues./.