According to the department, they will select 11,246 workers in manufacturing, 3,000 in fisheries, 900 in agriculture, and 200 in construction.
Interested candidates between the ages of 18-39 will be required to pass two rounds of tests, one in Korean language and another for vocational skills.
More than 127,000 Vietnamese workers have travelled to South Korea for work since the EPS programme was launched in 2004. However, there has been a rise in the number of workers absconding after concluding their contract.
By October 2023, over 36,000 Vietnamese were working in South Korea under the EPS, including over 10,000 workers whose contracts had already expired, according to the Centre of Overseas Labour.
Japan currently hosts the largest number of Vietnamese guest workers with 80,000, followed by Taiwan 58,600 and South Korea 11,600, according to statistics from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
