Kyrgyzstan made it into the list of countries to export workforce to South Korea, reported 24.kg, citing information received at a special press conference organized by the deputy director of the State Committee on Migration and Employment, Dosmir Uzbekov. According to Uzbekov, currently Kyrgyzstans labor-exporting rights are confirmed in a bilateral agreement only and many details still need to be ironed out.
Once in force, the agreement will allow about two to three thousand Kyrgyz citizens to travel to South Korea for income in 2007, reported the news source. For this they will need to pass a Korean language knowledge test and have a series of medical examinations. As stated by Uzbekov, although Korean authorities do not require any specific job qualifications in order to let Kyrgyz citizens work in their country, the Kyrgyz migrants will mostly be occupied in the fields of industry, construction or agriculture.
Currently about 2.5 thousand Kyrgyz work in South Korea, of which only 70 workers have legal status, reported 24.kg.
This information was originally published March 5, 2007 (www.24.kg).