Sri Lankan Embassy in Korea in pioneering role

'Kaleidoscope of Korea' at Cinnamon Grand:

Experts said diversity in Korea offers opportunities to the country, as well as the home country of all migrant workers. Sri Lanka is one of major countries sending workers to Korea and according to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Korea, Korea and Sri Lanka could gain from the migrant worker program.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa created the Foreign Employment Ministry last year to deal with migrant workers' affairs and improve their working conditions in foreign countries. Remittances from these workers not only help the economic growth of Sri Lanka by increasing savings in the economy, but also helps improve bilateral relations between the two countries in the long run. Stemming from this mission, the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Korea, Asitha Perera was given two mandates by the President. - one was to increase trade and bring in more investments, something that all Ambassadors are assigned to do, and the other was to fix the considerable division and hostility between the Sri Lankan community in Korea and his Embassy, which had little or no contact prior to his arrival. Migrant workers first came to Korea under the stewardship of President Rajapaksa in 1994, who was then the Minister of Labour.

Over the years, Korean assistance to Sri Lanka, in the form of grants, loans and investment in infrastructure development has been ever present and accounted for USD 15 million in the year 2006. Subsequently, since Perera started work in Korea, the level has increased ten-fold with investment in the development of highways, hospitals, laboratories and sports centres in Sri Lanka among others.

Migrant workers

There are over 18,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers in Korea located all over the country and they work anywhere from six to seven days a week, and quite often, migrant workers are not provided free time to visit their embassies. But Perera has taken the Mahinda Chinthana mobile outreach and services program to over 16 different cities, big and small. "I realized that expecting Sri Lankans to come to the Embassy is not viable and so what I thought was, if they are unable to come to the embassy, then we can do two things - one is to keep the embassy opened on holidays and the other is to go visit them no matter where they are in Korea.

Our program helps to consolidate links between the embassy and Sri Lankans and also facilitate their requirements in terms of counsellor and labour related matters," he said.

Together with the National Savings Bank in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Embassy in South Korea has already conducted over 40 Mahinda Chinthana mobile services in cities such as Ansan, Gumi, Chanwon, Daegu, Kwangju and Busan. And in return, the Embassy will continue to help the migrant workers to open accounts with the National Savings Bank. "Weekends mean a trip to one of the cities, towns or villages outside Seoul which have a number of Sri Lankan migrant workers," he said.

On Saturdays, he meets Sri Lankans and their employers to try and iron out any differences or shortcomings as well as consolidate the employer-worker relationship.

"I also go to the hospitals to visit Sri Lankans that were injured in industrial accidents. We have at least a few dozen of them," he said. On Sundays, the entire diplomatic team at the Sri Lankan mission meet the Ambassador for the services part of the trip. The Embassy answers questions and offers services to Sri Lankans as well as Koreans to visit Sri Lanka.

Important role

Besides counsellor services, Perera also brings the commercial wing of the embassy in case someone is looking to invest in Sri Lanka, something that is not uncommon.

The Sri Lankan Embassy also plays an important role in bringing Sri Lankan products and services to the people of Korea, providing assistance in the facilitation of stalls at exhibitions in Korea - to the extent of providing airfare in some instances.

Gratis facilities including free exhibition stalls obtained by the Sri Lanka Embassy in Seoul which consequently facilitated the participation of Sri Lankan companies in Korea has saved over USD 80,000 for the country. "But the bulk is labour related services for the Sri Lankan migrant workers," he said. This gives Sri Lankan workers in Korea a chance to extend their passports or apply for a new one, try and fix any labour-related problems, or certify documents.

To increase the number of Sri Lankans working in Korea while at the same time reducing the number of accidents, the Government has been working with the private sector to place a greater emphasis on education such as a specific skill, language and culture training. "Some of those industrial accidents are the results of the lack of understanding the Korean language," Perera said. "It gives me a lot of satisfaction to link up directly with Sri Lankans," he said.

Today, in return, the Government brings the culture of Korea to the people of Sri Lanka through the annual exhibition "Flavours of East Asia". The Korean Food Festival, which is a part of this exhibition and titled 'Kaleidoscope of Korea', will be held at the Cinnamon Grand from today till October 18, showcasing the many flavours of the country to Sri Lankans.