At least two people died in clashes between the protesters, who were barred from taking part in the Korean language test for employment in South Korea, and police on Friday at Balkumari in Lalitpur.

Police said that protesters—Sujan Raut, 23, and Birendra Shah of around the same age—who were injured in clashes with the police, died in hospitals. The actual cause of their deaths was immediately not known and would be confirmed after postmortem examinations, according to police.

“As per the information available so far, Shah received a bullet in a thigh which might be a cause of his death,” Superintendent of Police Navaraj Karki at the Metropolitan Police Range, Lalitpur told the Post. “Raut was injured while running away from the clashes and died later.”

Raut breathed his last at the Kist Medical College Hospital and Shah was pronounced dead at Patan Hospital.

Police said the clashes erupted after the police used force to prevent the protesting youths from storming the EPS Centre building at Balkumari.

Earlier, the protesters had torched the car of Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala on the road. The minister was reportedly not in the car.

The protest started after those who had earlier failed the language proficiency test for shipbuilding jobs took to the streets demanding they be allowed to appear in a separate language test for the manufacturing sector.

Following the twin deaths, the Home Ministry has formed a three-member probe committee headed by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Lalmani Acharya, from Kathmandu Valley Police Office, with Amar Deep Sunuwar, assistant chief district officer of Lalitpur, and Basu Sigdel, deputy investigation director at the National Investigation Department as the other members.

“The team has been ordered to submit its report within seven days after finding out the details of what happened,” the ministry said in a press statement.

According to the Ministry of Labour Employment and Social Security, over 30,000 people had appeared in the ‘Employment Permit System [EPS]–Test of Proficiency in Korean’ language, a specialised Korean ability test, to qualify for shipbuilding jobs.

“A few of them passed the exam for shipbuilding positions, while the majority failed. And those who did not pass the exam for shipbuilding jobs protested after being denied the opportunity to appear in the exam for manufacturing jobs,” said Dandu Raj Ghimire, director general at the Department of Foreign Employment.

Ghimire, who was spokesman for the Ministry for Labour and Employment until recently, told the Post that the ministry could not allow them to appear in the exam due to South Korea’s new policy, which bars the same individual from applying for different jobs in the same year.

The EPS section of the Department of Foreign Employment, in a notice issued on July 30, said that those who failed the Korean language test for shipbuilding jobs could still participate in future language tests for other job categories. However, on August 4, the department issued another notice stating that applications for language tests could not be filed for separate jobs within a single year, citing a letter sent by the Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRD Service of Korea ) dated July 31, 2023.

“The protestors were aware of the Korean government’s policy,” said Ghimire.

After the government allowed 18 people who had earlier failed a test for shipbuilding jobs to take a new language test citing an order by the High Court, Patan, others, who had failed the test, started protesting, arguing that they too should be allowed to sit the language test for manufacturing jobs.

In an interim order last week, the High Court, Patan had ordered the government to allow the 18 people to appear in the language test for manufacturing jobs.

Amid clashes between the job aspirants and police on Friday, the High Court, Patan ordered that everyone who had earlier failed in the language test be allowed to take part in the language proficiency test exam.

A single bench of High Court judge Chandramani Gyawali ordered the government to allow the new writ petitioners and others facing similar problems to appear in the Korean language test, arguing that the government made it clear that it was working to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security on Friday urged the protestors to call off protests and sit-ins, stating that the government was making preparations to allow all those who had taken the language test for shipbuilding jobs to appear in the test for manufacturing jobs as well.

Subsequently, the Department of Foreign Employment on Friday opened the door for applicants for shipbuilding jobs, to submit applications even for manufacturing jobs. January 1–3 is set aside for submitting applications. “This provision applies only to the applicants of shipbuilding jobs,” the department said in a notice.

South Korea has emerged as a more attractive destination for foreign employment for Nepali youths compared to Gulf countries and Malaysia because of relatively higher pay and other benefits. That’s why, a large number of Nepali youths take part in the EPS language proficiency test every year despite the limited quota for jobs.

“As many as 143,000 people have applied for language proficiency tests for manufacturing jobs in South Korea,” said Ghimire.

Most Nepalis working in South Korea went there under the EPS system, according to the Nepali embassy in South Korea. Last May, the embassy told the Post that there were nearly 40,000 Nepali workers in South Korea, and most of them came under the EPS system.

The latest clashes for Korean jobs also suggest the country’s inability to create good job opportunities, experts say.

“People are desperate to go abroad as they are finding it hard to get a good job in Nepal and even those who are employed don’t have enough savings owing to low pay,” said Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, former vice-chair at the National Planning Commission.

Published on: 2 January 2024 | The Kathmandu Post