South Korea Jobs: The Malawi Government Says Exported Labourers Will Be Safe

The Government of Malawi has vowed to go ahead with its plans to export human labour to South Korea, dismissing reports that Moon Sung Hwan, director at the Africa Division of South Korea's foreign ministry, told international media that there is no formal agreement.

The Malawi Government is in the process of sending 100, 000 youths agead between 18 - 25 to South Korea, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates as part of a strategy to create employment opportunities for its productive youth population and prop up its national kitty.

President Joyce Banda told the nation on her return from South Korea in February this year that she had struck an agreement with Seoul to export human labour.

The international media quoted Hwan on May 31 as saying: “Our government has not received any official request from
Malawi that they want to send their workers to our country.”

Ministry of Labour spokesperson, Linda Kawamba, told Zachimalawi that the government would go ahead with the plan to export humna labour to South Korea, a country with one of the world’s fastest-aging populations. The development has prompted the country to increase sevenfold the number of visas it offers to immigrants.

"We will go ahead with the programme, and everything is going according to plan because visas are being processed from youths who emerged successful during interviews conducted in all parts of the country. In fact, exporting labour to South Korea will help address the challenge of unemployment in the country," Kawamba said.

She said the government had hired people who will be monitoring the situation among the youth who will make it to South Korea, adding that the government would not hesitate to repatriate its citizens in the case of reports that that were being illtreated in South Korea.

"We will be free to withdraw our youth the moment we receive reports of inhuman treatment. Otherwise, we would like to assure Malawians that there is nothing to fear. South Korea is a nice country. All we want to do is to make sure that our youths are legally employed, as apposed to those (youths) who go and work in other countries illegally," Kawamba said.

Malawi is not on the list of 15 countries that provide human labour exports to South Korea.