Kathmandu, June 11

Almost 70,000 job aspirants appeared for the Korean Language Test (KLT) exam under the Employment Permit System (EPS) of the Korean government.

The EPS Korea Section, under the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), had conducted the KLT to fulfil the labour demand for 2018 from South Korea, yesterday and today in the Capital.

“Out of over 75,000 applicants for the KLT, almost 70,000 job-seekers appeared for the KLT exam. However, the exact number of exam attendees will be calculated by Monday evening,” informed Baburam Khatiwada, director of EPS Korea Section under DoFE.

The EPS Korea Section had collected forms between March 22 and 31 for the Korean Language Test. Altogether 75,607 job aspirants had submitted the online application forms this year. The number of applications for KLT had increased this year compared to 61,637 applications for the test last year. “We received more applications for KLT this year as we had introduced the online application system,” explained Khatiwada.

According to Khatiwada, 10,200 individuals will be selected for the job placement in South Korea for 2018 from among the 70,000 exam attendees. The labour demand for next year is over three-folds higher compared to the demand for 3,100 individuals this year.

The KLT this year was conducted through 26 examination centres in the Kathmandu Valley. Though KLT was conducted in Kathmandu and Pokhara last year, it was held only in Kathmandu this year after Korean government expressed reluctance to establish an exam centre in the Lake City.

Khatiwada informed that more than 50,000 applications received for KLT this year was for agricultural sector in South Korea and the remaining were for production and manufacturing sectors. Out of the total applicants for KLT, almost 9,800 were female.

Nepal has been sending workers to South Korea under EPS since 2008. As per EPS Korea Section, almost 44,000 Nepali workers have gone to South Korea under EPS between 2008 and 2016. Similarly, more than 11,000 workers have already returned to Nepal after completing their 58-month job placement in South Korea.

According to officials of EPS Korea Section, the basic monthly salary of a Nepali worker in South Korea is 1,236,000 won (around $1,075).