Facing a shrinking population, chronically low birth rate, and rapid aging, South Korea is contemplating opening its borders for skilled workers, especially from countries like India.
In talks with India for about four years, the South Korean government plans to source blue-collar walkers from India.
India has offered to send its skilled workforce to South Korea basis the same model – Technical Intern Training Program (TITP), which it has worked out with Japan.
Under the Memorandum of Cooperation signed with Japan in 2017 to significantly expand the bilateral cooperation between India and Japan in the skill development sector, the selected candidates from India undergo three-to-five years of internship in Japan.
Japan had TITP three decades ago in 1993, and has beem sourcing skilled manpower from many countries including Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Nepal, India, etc. It also introduced Specifield Skilled Workers (SSW) plan too and signed MoU with India in 2021.
“After receiving interest from South Korean for sourcing skilled manpower from India, we sent the draft plan as well as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to the government of South Korea in 2019-20. However, apart from Covid-19 pandemic, what delayed the matter was that South Korea wanted to include world bank funding component to fund the skill program,” a highly placed source in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), told Asian Community News Network, who preferred not to be identified.
Source: Asian Community News
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