One hundred and thirty one foreign workers with re-employment permits thanks to their “exemplary” working records re-entered South Korea on Thursday in accordance with a revised law, the Labor Ministry said.

The revised law, which took effect in July, allows “exemplary” foreign manual workers who have not left their designated workplaces for a certain period of time to be re-employed by the same employers three months after leaving the country.

Those 131 workers left South Korea in July after receiving the re-employment permits.

Of 2,746 foreign workers who received re-employment permits between July and Sept. 18, 1,027 left for their countries, the ministry said. Some 400-500 are expected to return to South Korea every month.

They do not have to undergo a Korean-language proficiency test and mandatory job training, it added.

The law revision was aimed at helping small firms here retain skilled migrant workers while preventing those with expired visas from overstaying. 

(Yonhap News)