Korea-Thai Chamber seeks Korea opening door to Thai workers

The move in this direction was announced during a meeting between KTCC and the Thai Labour Ministry on Monday. Many Thai workers have returned to their homeland to escape danger from the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

South Korea for its part is currently facing a huge labour shortage, especially in the agriculture, fishing and industrial sectors.

The negotiation is expected to reach an outcome soon, at which point the Thai Labour Minister, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, will meet with and sign a memorandum of understanding with South Korean local government officials.

“Upon successful completion of negotiations with each of these local governments, a total of approximately 7,000 workers will be able to work in South Korea,” said the KTCC president, Kim Jong Min.

“In the case of the Thai workers who are from Israel, it will be a quick process because they are already fully qualified, and we are ready to accept them in a variety of fields, from farmers to fishermen to factory workers.”

Thai workers will be able to earn monthly wages of around 2.2 million South Korean won (around 60,000 baht), which is equivalent to the South Korean minimum wage. For some jobs, they can earn up to 100,000 baht per month or more.

“We thought that this was a great opportunity; we wanted to play a role as a bridge between the two countries,” the KTCC president said.

KTCC has advised the Labour Ministry and related agencies to speed up the process of deploying Thai labourers to South Korea, improve the worker’s South Korean language skills, and set up an association to tackle Thai illegal workers.

Meanwhile, the Labour Ministry has expressed its readiness to facilitate South Korea’s request and deploy Thai workers who are skilled in agriculture to South Korea.

The ministry also committed to sharpen the occupational and language skills of Thai workers in line with employer demands.

The first batch of workers to be trained in animal raising, including for shrimps, eels and shellfish, is expected to be deployed to South Korea next year, said Phiphat.

To tackle illegal worker issues, the ministry would negotiate with labour-related agencies worldwide to ensure all Thai workers will be allowed to work legally overseas.

The Labour Minister also revealed that a Thai association may be formed in South Korea due to the expected increase in Thai workers there.