Record Surge in Vietnamese Worker Registrations for Employment in South Korea

According to the Overseas Labor Center (Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs), in the first Korean language exam round of 2024 for workers seeking employment in South Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS), the total recruitment quota was nearly 15,400 workers. However, by mid-May, nearly 45,000 workers had registered for the exam.

The exam, conducted from March to June this year, aims to select workers for four industries: manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and fisheries. It is held in four cities and provinces: Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Thanh Hoa. The selection process consists of two rounds: a Korean language test and a skills assessment.

To ensure the safety and transparency of the exam, Dang Huy Hong, Director of the Overseas Labor Center, stated that the center had collaborated with the Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRD Korea) in Vietnam, the schools hosting the exam sites, and other relevant authorities to maintain the integrity, security, and order of the first round of the 2024 Korean language exam.

Notably, starting this year, new technology has been introduced to prevent exam fraud. Identity verification is now performed using chip-embedded national ID cards, leveraging the national population database system (Project 06), which is led and implemented by the Ministry of Public Security.

Candidates are required to register for Level 2 electronic identification via the VNeID application, which helps prevent fraudulent document use. Additionally, monitoring and verification have been enhanced through digital applications, reducing processing time for exam supervisors.

The center has also assigned two to six supervisors to coordinate with HRD Korea in verifying candidates’ identities and guiding them through the pre-exam procedures.

Beyond the existing anti-fraud measures, additional security enhancements were introduced this year, including the use of chip-reading devices and facial recognition software. Exam proctors from HRD Korea were rotated between test rooms to prevent misconduct. Furthermore, extra measures were taken to detect and prevent any fraudulent activities within the exam halls.

For the exam site in Thanh Hoa, HRD Korea requested the deployment of police officers and the installation of mobile signal jammers and Wi-Fi blockers to prevent the use of electronic devices during the exam.

The EPS program has been implemented since 2004 through cooperation between Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs and South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor. To date, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese workers have gone to South Korea under this program, contributing significantly to stable employment and social security for workers.