South Korean job seekers can access details online

Rasika SOMARATHNA

Sri Lankan youth who apply for jobs in South Korea could now access details regarding their status of applications, employment contracts and job confirmation via on line.

They could obtain details by visiting Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment(SLBFE) website www.slbfe.lk and proceeding to section EPS-Employment Permit System.

Job aspirants seeking information have to upload their national ID number, passport number, date of birth and examination index number to obtain details.

The SLBFE said the above has been included as a security feature to prevent an outside party to that of the candidate obtaining details. The Korean Human Resources Development Department will periodically upload data in the system providing the latest information to job applicants.

According to SLBFE sources, relevant information about all job applicants who passed the Korean language proficiency test have been already uploaded. In 2011 a total of 9998 applicants passed the test and 2460 from among them have left for jobs in South Korea.

The number of Sri Lankan's migrating for jobs in South Korea has increased considerably in recent times. Last year, 5,346 persons migrated for employment to Korea and the figure is expected to exceed 9,000 this year .

Meanwhile, it was recently announced that Sri Lanka has become the top labour sending country to the South Korean job market. Korean authorities said Sri Lanka's top ranking status was due to efficiency and the innovativeness of workers and transparency of the authorities.

Sri Lanka faced the ignominy of being kicked out from the Korean job market a few years ago, due to the high number of complaints received against its workers.

The SLBFE and the Foreign Employment Ministry at the time took swift remedial measures to arrest the decline and improve the standard of workers.

"Out of 15 countries, the Sri Lankan government now holds the highest employment quota" South Korean ambassador in Sri Lanka Jong Moon Choi said in a recent interview with the 'Daily News'.

The ambassador on behalf of the Korean government recently presented a memento to President Mahinda Rajapaksa in recognition of this feat. Sending Sri Lankan workers to South Korea started under an initiative mooted by President Rajapaksa during his tenure as the Labour Minister in the early 1990s.

Over 25,000 Sri Lankans are presently employed in South Korea.