123 Bangladeshi workers leave for South Korea

A batch of 123 Bangladeshi expatriate workers left for South Korea today.

Imran Ahmad, Minister of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, and South Korean Ambassador Lee Jang-keun saw them off at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

It was the 14th batch of Bangladesh workers to South Korea after the country resumed taking in foreign workers through the Employment Permit System (EPS) in December 2021, according to a statement of the South Korean Embassy in Dhaka.

South Korea had suspended accepting foreign workers in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. After the resumption, a total of 1,447 Bangladesh workers have been allowed in South Korea.

On this send-off occasion, Ambassador Lee engaged with the departing Bangladesh workers and expressed his hope and expectation for the departing workers to fulfill their intended goals and dreams in Korea.

Pointing out that the EPS workers had played an essential role in strengthening the friendly ties between South Korea and Bangladesh over several decades, Ambassador Lee expressed his commitment to deepen and strengthen the people-to-people partnership between South Korea and Bangladesh, making the best use of the EPS program.

Among the 123 workers this time, 109 workers are freshers while the rest are re-entry workers. It is expected that three more batches of Bangladesh workers will go to South Korea this month.

More than 23,400 Bangladeshi workers have been sent to South Korea under the EPS program since the conclusion of the EPS MOU between the two countries in 2007.

Through the EPS program, South Korea has been admitting medium and low-skilled foreign workers from 16 countries, including Bangladesh.