1 April 2004—Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Domingo Albert today said that the Philippines has been chosen to be among the first three countries that will be allowed to send workers to Korea under Korea’s new Employment Permit System and that this development will help prevent the victimization and illegal recruitment of our workers.  The other two countries are Thailand and Mongolia.

“This development shows the high regard the government of the Republic of Korea has for Filipino workers, especially of the mechanisms that are already in place for their recruitment and deployment, as well as Filipinos’ record of compliance with the host government’s laws”, Secretary Albert said.

To put this in effect, a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed in the middle of April between these three countries, on one hand, and with the Korean government, on the other.

Five other countries (Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, China and Kazakhstan) were named to participate in the new labor scheme, subject to their compliance with all South Korean government requirements such as the
establishment of an agency to handle and monitor the transfer of their workers to and from the country.  Korea plans to allow the entry of 80,000 migrant workers.

Meanwhile, the Korean government is stepping up its efforts to round up and deport more than 120,000 undocumented foreign workers still hiding in their country.

In the ongoing crackdown of illegal overseas Filipino workers in Korea, 22 Filipinos have already been deported, while three are awaiting repatriation.  - END