In this file photo, caregivers from the Philippines enter South Korea at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, on Aug. 6, 2024, for a pilot project to ease child care burdens in households. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Two Filipinas, who were apprehended after leaving the Seoul metropolitan government’s pilot program for foreign domestic helpers without permission, have returned home, the South Korean justice ministry said Monday.
The workers were forced to leave Thursday following several weeks of unauthorized absence from their jobs, according to the ministry.
They reportedly did not contest the immigration authority’s notification of deportation and expressed a desire to return home during the investigation.
After their departure, the workers were banned from reentering South Korea for a specified period.
They arrived in South Korea on Aug. 6 as part of a six-month project led by the Seoul city government to assign foreign nannies to households with kids or newborns to help with child care and housework, and began working on Sept. 3 after about a month of training.
They, however, left their quarters on Sept. 15, the second day of a five-day Chuseok holiday. They were supposed to return to work by Sept. 18 but did not.
The Busan immigration office and police found they illegally got jobs in Busan and arrested them at their residences early this month.
The remaining 98 workers from the Southeast Asian country have been working normally.
The reason for the two workers’ unauthorized departure from the program has not been disclosed.
The city government said it will actively cooperate with the labor ministry to improve their working conditions, including changing the wage system from a monthly to a weekly payment system through talks with the ministry.
(Yonhap)
