By Koh Hyunjeong

The Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) will add over 22,000 additional staff from abroad in the second half of this year to alleviate labor shortages in rural areas.

The Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on June 27 said a council for reviewing the assignments of SWP personnel decided to add 22,731 such workers from July to 100 local governments.

The government will also reinforce its support for the laborers through its recruitment of language communication assistants from abroad.

The additional laborers will raise the number of SWP recruits this year to 95,700, a 41% jump from 67,778 last year.

If it secures government approval, the Agriculture Ministry will also try public SWP projects as regionally funded programs from the year's second half, and the Oceans Ministry plans to pursue such projects for the first time in Haenam-gun County, Jeollanam-do Province.

hjkoh@korea.kr