Slaughterhouse workers on working visas enter Korea in first for foreign employment

Foreign slaughterhouse workers have entered Korea on work visas, marking the first such case amid personnel shortages in the domestic slaughter industry, the Ministry of Justice said Tuesday.

Twelve such workers have entered the country on E-7-3 visas, or General Skilled Worker Visas, the ministry said, as part of its pilot project to invite 300 slaughterhouse workers over the next two years.

The ministry added slaughterhouses to the list of businesses allowed to employ migrant workers on the E-7-3 visa in September, in response to the industry's repeated calls for skilled foreign personnel to alleviate its severe labor shortages.

The shortages derive mainly from a lack of new entrants amid an aging existing work force, according to market sources.

The ministry has recently abolished the ceiling of two migrant workers per business, allowing employers to recruit foreign workers equivalent to 20 percent of their local staff.

"We will continue to actively reflect the voices from the field into our immigration policy," Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho said.

Yonhap