Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Sri Lankan workers who rescued Korean pilot win residency
A Republic of Korea Air Force pilot conducts a final inspection on an aircraft prior to a joint flight mission with the Royal Australian Air Force's 77th Squadron during the Pitch Black 2026 exercise in Australia, July 20. Yonhap
By Lee Kyung-min
When an F-4E Phantom fighter jet plummeted into the waters off Hwaseong in August 2022, the two Air Force pilots aboard managed to eject just moments before impact. Floating in the choppy sea with fuel and thick smoke drifting across the waves, their immediate survival depended on whoever might reach them first.
Help came not from a military vessel, but from a small local fishing boat crewed by two migrant workers from Sri Lanka.
Four years after pulling the downed aviator safely from the water, those two men have earned the right to build a permanent future in the country whose pilot they saved.
The Ministry of Justice said Friday it had officially granted Skilled Worker (E-7-4) visas to both Sri Lankan nationals — whose identities were withheld by officials — recognizing their exceptional contribution to public safety and the national interest.
The decision offers a rare path to long-term residency in a country that maintains notoriously strict immigration policies. Arriving in Korea in April 2022 under the nonprofessional employment permit system (E-9), the two men were working long hours on a coastal fishing boat when the crash occurred on Aug. 12, 2022. Spotting the descending parachute through the haze, they immediately altered course alongside their Korean captain and pulled the stranded pilot aboard.
In recognition of their bravery, the Air Force chief of staff presented them with official commendations in May. Yet for foreign laborers, whose temporary visas are tied to rigid employment contracts, remaining in the country long-term presents a formidable administrative hurdle.
The move mirrors a similar precedent set in 2020, when another Sri Lankan migrant worker, Nimal Siri Bandara, was granted permanent residency after rushing into a burning house in North Gyeongsang Province to rescue an elderly Korean woman trapped by a wildfire. Facing severe burns and toxic smoke, his heroism prompted public outcries for immigration reform, leading justice officials to establish a legal framework to reward foreign nationals who risk their lives for others.
By upgrading the fishermen's status to the E-7-4 visa category, Korean immigration authorities are enabling them to break free from the restrictive cycles of temporary contract labor, granting long-term residency and job flexibility.
“Extending proper courtesy to foreign nationals who risk themselves to save our citizens builds trust across our entire society,” Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho said in a statement. “We will continue to support foreign workers who make extraordinary contributions so they can live stably in Korea.”
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.