Gov't to devise new support road map for foreign workers in H1

SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Tuesday it plans to formulate an integrated support road map for migrant workers within the first half of this year, reflecting expert opinions gathered at various forums. Vice Minister Kwon Chang-jun announced the schedule at a National Assembly forum, saying foreign employment policies will have to shift to a comprehensive and integrated perspective encompassing introduction, utilization, support for stay and settlement. He stressed that the government will finalize the integrated support road map for foreign workers to help build a sustainable labor market and implement it without disruption. "(The government) will support the growth of unskilled foreign workers and expand opportunities for skilled, highly qualified personnel to stay in the long term. The employment permit system will be revised in a way that creates a win-win situation by considering both the human rights of foreign workers and the jobs of domestic workers," he said. The number of foreigners employed in South Korea has reached 1.1 million, but critics say foreign workforce policies have failed to comprehensively address actual industrial demands or protect the rights and interests of migrant workers because oversight is divided among ministries depending on visa type. At the National Assembly forum, Lee Kyu-yong, a senior research fellow at the Korea Labor Institute, said that the current foreign workforce policy has a fragmented structure, and its focus should shift from the inflow of migrant workers to their effective utilization. Lee suggested that an integrated management system should be established covering the entire life cycle of foreign workers, from introduction and selection to initial adaptation, skill formation, career development and repatriation. Professor Nho Yong-jin of Seoul National University of Science and Technology proposed replacing the existing professional and nonprofessional classification with a three-stage track for simple manual, mid-skilled and high-skilled labor, as labor shortages in industrial sectors are expanding to skilled trades. Meanwhile, the labor ministry operated a foreign workforce integrated support task force from December to February to gather opinions from labor and management, field experts and relevant agencies, and held two forums last month. Vice Minister of Employment and Labor Kwon Chang-jun speaks at an event in Seoul on April 15, 2026, in this file photo provided by his ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) ycm@yna.co.kr(END)