Recently eased regulations seek to improve conditions for foreign workers in the country. Shown are such laborers wearing traditional Vietnamese hats on July 23 harvesting potatoes at a farm in Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province. (Yonhap News)

By Aislyu Akhmetzianova

To protect the rights of foreign workers and prevent discrimination, the Ministry of Employment and Labor has announced comprehensive measures ranging from job assistance and vocational training to work environment improvement and industrial safety.

The ministry said this on Sept. 9 at a meeting on the Employment Permit System (EPS) for the central and local governments with 17 municipal and provincial bodies at Royal Hotel Seoul in the city's Jung-gu District.

The meeting decided to ease requirements under the EPS to allow foreign workers to smoothly change their workplaces if they face unfair treatment or dangerous work conditions.

Improvements to the EPS will also allow longer-term employment for such laborers without needing to depart or reenter the country. Workplaces found to have violated workers' human rights will face stronger restrictions on hiring such staff.

A 24-hour multilingual center for labor law counseling based on artificial intelligence will provide customized answers to issues. The meeting also decided to raise support, inspections and sanctions to improve the living environments of foreign workers.

The meeting's attendees also shared exemplary cases of local governments including in the provinces of Jeollanam-do and Gyeonggi-do and the southern coastal city of Ulsan.

"The key principle is to make sure that foreign workers are treated fairly without discrimination and can work in a safe environment," Vice Minister of Employment and Labor Kwon Changjun said. "We will further bolster the cooperative structure between the central and local governments in policy toward foreign workers."

aisylu@korea.kr