The government has identified that brokers are intervening in the employment permit system, which assigns foreign non-professional workers (E-9) to domestic corporations, and is moving to draw up countermeasures. While there have been many cases of illegal broker involvement with foreign seasonal workers (E-7) who enter under agreements between local governments at home and abroad, there had been no known cases of broker involvement in the employment permit system, which operates under direct intergovernmental agreements.
According to multiple government officials on the 17th, it has been found that illegal brokers collude with Korean corporations in the process of assigning E-9 workers to place specific foreigners in jobs. The employment permit system allows corporations that have difficulty finding domestic workers to hire foreign workers by obtaining an employment permit from the government.
Foreigners seeking to come to Korea through the employment permit system must take and pass the Korean language proficiency test (EPS-TOPIK) in their home country. Domestic corporations may hire foreign workers if they have tried to hire domestic workers but failed. Employment centers propose a threefold pool of candidates to domestic corporations, and corporations may also request desired conditions such as nationality and age, creating room for brokers to intervene in this process.
For example, a broker who has received a fee from worker A passes along A's information (nationality, region, age, height, etc.) to a domestic corporation, and the corporation applies for a worker who meets those requirements. One official said, "If you filter by many conditions, it is not difficult to select a worker who gave money to a broker," adding, "There are cases in which workers from particular regions are concentrated in particular business sites, and we are verifying this."
The background to brokers intervening even in the employment permit system is the sharp increase in foreigners seeking to work in Korea. According to data provided by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the office of Yang Bu-nam of the Democratic Party of Korea, the number of applicants for the Korean language proficiency test rose from 277,870 in 2019 to 543,510 last year, nearly doubling. During the same period, the number of domestic business sites employing foreign workers increased by about 5,000.
Nur, a Bangladeshi national working at a domestic manufacturer through the employment permit system, said, "Bangladesh has about 10,000 people on the (employment permit system) waiting list, and only around 2,000 actually enter. If there are too many waiting, if two years pass after applying, you cannot enter at all."
The government is considering ways to block brokers while providing corporations with as much worker information as possible. Lee Kyu-yong, senior research fellow at the Korea Labor Institute, said, "To assign randomly (as originally intended), you should provide less worker information, but if you want to hire workers suited to the needs of the business site, you should provide as much information as possible," adding, "We need a balanced plan that enhances the choices of employers and workers while excluding broker involvement."
An official at the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, "The employment permit system is not a designated placement system (in which workers and employers can specifically choose each other), so brokers cannot attach themselves," but added, "Because so many workers want to come to Korea, we are reviewing ways to fundamentally block gaps that could allow broker involvement."