The new labour contract has, however, increased job term from current three years to four years and 10 months. According to the contract, the EPS workers can renew their job term for the next job term but in the gap of three months. Similarly, biometric identification — eyes and fingerprints — and police report will now be mandatory.

 

“We have renewed the labour contract with South Korea,” informed joint secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Employment Binod KC. “Minister for Labour and Employment Kumar Belbase signed the contract on Friday,” he said, adding that South Korea has forwarded the contract paper through their embassy in Kathmandu. “South Korean labour minister Lee Chan-woo had signed the contract paper before sending it to his Nepali counterpart.”

 

The ministry has forwarded signed contract paper to Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday to send it back to South Korea. Labour contract with South Korea is renewed every two years. South Korea has been offering lucrative jobs to thousands of Nepali youths through EPS since 2008. 

About 13,000 Nepalis have been working in manufacturing and agriculture sectors in South Korea under the EPS. The EPS workers earn around $1,000 (Rs 88,000) in a month while the job searching cost comes to about $970 (Rs 85,360) making it a most lucrative and popular destination among Nepalis since the process began in August 2008.

 

About 32,000 Nepali youths have applied for the jobs in 2008, while it has increased to 42,000 in 2010 and 51,000 last year. About 15,298 Nepalis had passed Korean language test —Test of Proficiency in Korean — in August 2011 and of them around 5,000 have already reached the destination in last six months. South Korea has been planning to recruit 7,000 Nepalis in 2012 and remaining in the following year.