Farmers harvest Chinese cabbages, or “baechu” in Korean, at a field in Haenam, South Jeolla Province, on Nov. 6, 2020, as the season arrives for “gimjang,” or kimchi-making. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreigners seeking employment in South Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS) will be offered access to a free online Korean language course starting next year, a state-run resource development company said Monday.
The Human Resources Development Service of Korea said it has forged a partnership with King Sejong Institute Foundation to produce an online course on the EPS-TOPIK exam and make it available free of charge for migrant worker candidates starting in the first half of next year.
The exam conducted by the labor ministry tests the language skills of potential foreign employees to make sure they can perform their duties in Korean efficiently and go about everyday life without language problems.
EPS is a migration labor program under which workers from 16 Asian countries are allowed to work in fields of low-skilled manual work, such as fishing, farming and manufacturing, under special visas.
The course will be made available in the first half of 2022 in Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Bangladesh, and later be expanded to all 16 countries under the EPS program, the company said.
(Yonhap)
