Over 14,000 Vietnamese labourers are expected to be sent to work in the Republic of Korea in 2014.

The news came after a special memorandum of understanding on sending Vietnamese workers to South Korea was signed between Vietnamese labour minister Pham Thi Hai Chuyen and her Korean counterpart Phang Ha-nam in Seoul on December 31.

According to this special MOU, sending Vietnamese workers as guest workers to South Korea for work under the Employment Permit System (EPS) will be resumed in 2014.

The special MOU has one year of validity starting from December 31, 2013 and will be applied to Vietnamese labourers who passed their Korean language tests during 2011 and 2012.

According to the latest document released from the South Korean Ministry of Employment and Labour, the percentage of overstayed Vietnamese workers in Korea dropped from 49.9 percent in July 2013 to 38.2 percent in October 2013.

South Korea has temporarily ceased its EPS programme with Vietnam since August 2012 after explaining that the number of runaway Vietnamese workers who overstayed their visas to work illegally in Korea had steadily increased and shown no sign of improvement.

Source: VNA