Just saw this in the English edition of the Joongang Ilbo:
Ethnic Koreans holding foreign citizenship but working in Korea as illegal aliens will be eligible for legitimate employment, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.
The ministry said work permits would be issued for the ethnic Korean workers, who mostly hold day-labor jobs in construction or who work as maids, as long as they can document their actual employment.
“We are currently discussing the change in work permit procedure with the Ministry of Justice,” Kwon Ki-hong, minister of labor, said. “We plan to put the change into effect next week.”
About 220,000 Koreans with Chinese citizenship are estimated to be working illegally in Korea, the ministry said. The new regulation will not apply to undocumented aliens who have been working in the country for more than four years.
So, I guess this means “fuck you” to all those illegals from places like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mongolia, and Nigeria - many of whom kept afloat untold numbers of small and medium sized factories throughout one of the roughest economic periods in Korea’s history. But I guess if you don’t have the pure bloodlines…
Oh, and that reminds me of a piece I saw in the KT a couple of days ago:
A state-run headhunting agency said on Wednesday that it is seeking talented Koreans overseas to help shape government policies.
The Civil Service Commission, a governmental human resources center under the immediate control of the president, is turning its gaze abroad to find Korean immigrants to assist the government in making policies and improving foreign relations, commission officials said.
The Koreans overseas will be assigned roles as public officials or counselors that work between the countries they reside in and South Korea, officials said.
It is not necessary that they acquire South Korean citizenship to be hired, they said.
In its pursuit of talent the agency has built a database of 72,000 people so far, with background information on their education, careers and foreign language skills. Recommendations have been made to the president and ministers when they recruited public officials.
Note to the CSC: why don’t you start recruiting talented non-Koreans actually living in Korea while you’re at it? I know of some big-nosers (and not-so-big nosers from places like Japan) working in government ministries, but almost invariably as proof-readers/translators. Heck, until Washington appoints me proconsul to post-Communist North Korea, I’ll be more that happy to serve in the capacity of Foreign Minister of the ROK - MOFAT, kindly let me know where I can send my resume.
