Authorities in South Korea have issued a ban on Vietnamese workers from 10 provinces and 40 districts.
Tong Hai Nam, the head of South Korea’s Department of Overseas Labor, said the decision was taken to deal with the high numbers of illegal workers entering the country from these parts of Vietnam, VN Express reported.
The provinces banned are Hai Duong, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Hung Yen, Nghe An, Than Hoa, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh. If the number of legal workers in South Korea does not drop, the ban will continue in 2020.
Only last month the South Korean embassy opened two visa offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City after rumors of the current visa policy changing generated a demand for South Korean visas.
According to official statistics, there were more than 45,398 Vietnamese migrant workers in South Korea.
By the end of last June the majority of them were registered under the Employment Permit System.