 |
| Jobseekers look at postings during a job fair for Japanese companies at Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) in this November 2018 photo. / Korea Times file |
By Kang Seung-woo
With a job fair here for Japanese companies shelved following diplomatic rows between Seoul and Tokyo, the government is now looking elsewhere to help young people seeking jobs at foreign firms.
According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, Tuesday, the government plans to hold another job fair in November that will invite companies from the United States, Europe, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan.
"Given that the number of countries that young jobseekers hope to work in is growing and more foreign companies want to employ Koreans, the ministry has decided to hold a career fair with firms from various nations," a ministry official said.
The announcement came after the employment ministry scrapped its plan earlier this month to hold a job fair for companies mainly from Japan and ASEAN due to worsening relations between Korea and Japan, sparked by Tokyo's export restrictions on Seoul.
The initial event, slated for Sept. 24 in Seoul and Sept. 26 in Busan, was supposed to focus on recruiting Koreans who hope to work for their companies, given that there has been growing demand to employ promising Koreans, particularly from Japanese firms.
"After reviewing whether to retain the job fair, we have reached a conclusion that it would be desirable to revamp and expand the event. To invite more global companies, we have decided to delay the job fair by two months," the official said.
The newly designed job fair will not exclude Japanese companies from its participant roster, a decision that took into consideration some frustration from jobseekers who complained that the government was blocking them from finding jobs in Japan after the ministry scrapped the first job fair plan.
The government-hosted biannual job fair, the Seoul Career Vision, also co-organized by the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, has helped 3,700 people land jobs all over the world annually since 2007. In this year's first-half fair, 184 companies from 15 countries participated, 115 of which came from Japan.
According to the labor ministry, 5,783 Koreans found employment overseas in 2018, 1,828, or 32 percent of whom were employed by Japanese companies.
The ministry also said although the Japan-focused job fair is not taking place, the government will continue to support those who are preparing to work for Japanese companies.
"Other than a job fair, we are running various programs to help Koreans find jobs at foreign companies and they will continue without a hitch," the official added.
One such program is K-Move School, a training program that provides training courses of three to 12 months for young people who want to work overseas.
Meanwhile, in response to the Korean government's decision to cancel the job fair for Japanese companies, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly said it would trouble Korean jobseekers.
According to the Mainichi Shimbun, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said Abe was "concerned" about Korean students failing to get opportunities to work in Japan. But many Korean critics believe his remark was intended to say the Korean government's decision would have a negative impact on Korea itself.
![[INTERVIEW] North Korean defectors bear brunt of remittance scams](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/75c261156ac7415fad92dc1d7c1b30cf.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Foreign-born entertainers seek to revolutionize local industry](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/4a6b2bd3d23044d699dee3c5bb956863.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
