The Republic of Korea (RoK) has appreciated Vietnam’s efforts in reducing the number of its guest workers staying illegally in the country.

This was announced by Director of the Overseas Worker Center Phan Van Minh at his meeting with Ambassador Tran Trong Toan on Dec. 25.

The director also briefed the ambassador on the outcomes of meetings between a delegation of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs that he leads and the Foreign Workforce Division under the Ministry of Employment and Labour of the RoK and the Human Resources Development Service of the RoK.

According to Minh, at the meetings, the two sides agreed that they would coordinate more closely in the time to come to manage and supervise Vietnamese workers in the RoK, especially illegal ones. At the same time, they stressed, the RoK side should build and impose severe sanctions on Korean employers using Vietnamese illegal labourers.

In the near future, if the number of Vietnamese illegal labourers in the RoK is reduced, the country will resume the hiring of Vietnamese workforce under the Employment Permit System (EPS), the RoK side was quoted by Minh as saying.

Minh said he had proposed that Vietnamese workers who finish employment contracts and return to Vietnam on time will receive contract termination allowances in Vietnam instead of the RoK as before. In case labourers stay illegally in the RoK after their contracts, the money will be confiscated.

The RoK side took note of the proposal, according to Minh. -VNA