(123rf)
(123rf)

The South Korean government announced Friday plans to allocate some 22,700 foreign seasonal workers in the second half of this year, supporting rural farming and fishing communities experiencing labor shortages during the harvest season.

The Ministry of Justice, which held a council meeting to review the allocation of overseas seasonal workers with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on Tuesday, announced it would assign 22,731 foreign workers to 100 local governments nationwide.

The ministry stated that the decision reflects the urgent labor demands of farms and fisheries ahead of the upcoming harvest season.

With the addition, a total of 95,700 foreign seasonal workers will be hired to work at South Korean farms or fisheries this year nationwide. Among them, 86,633 employees will work in agriculture, while 8,876 will be allocated to fisheries. Seoul has earlier announced plans to employ 72,684 of such workers in the first half.

The 2025 figure for foreign seasonal workers represents a 41 percent increase compared to last year’s 66,778.

The government is also aiming to enhance language support services to minimize language barriers between foreign workers and local employers.

Though the ministry previously assigned one interpreter when more than 100 workers with the same nationality were employed and up to two interpreters for more than 300, it decided to assign more interpreters for each language based on specific demand from the respective local governments.

The measure was made to reduce misunderstandings and miscommunication, while improving work efficiency and the retention rate of workers.


sj_lee@heraldcorp.com