Vietnam has proposed that South Korea increase its quota of Vietnamese workers and raise the number of successful candidates in Korean language exams to help save costs for workers, especially by accessing the Employment Permit System (EPS).

Leaders from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs leaders made the proposal at a recent meeting with visiting Vice President of South Korea’s Human Resources Development Service, Kim Sung-Jae, which focused on human resources cooperation between the two countries.

Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Ba Hoan said Vietnam has sent more than 126,900 workers to South Korea to date under the EPS.

From January to October this year, nearly 9,600 Vietnamese workers went to South Korea, with Vietnam targeting to send over 10,000 in total under the EPS.

According to the Deputy Minister, in the first Korean language test of 2023, there were 5,225 Vietnamese workers registered in the shipbuilding industry. However, South Korea only allocated a quota of 1,149.

“If we consider the number of workers who meet the requirements according to the allocated quota, the rate is only 21.9 per cent,” he said.