The South Korean ambassador in Dhaka, Suk-Bum Park, on Sunday observed that recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in his country depends on how authorities of Dhaka do the preparatory work. ‘As we do not have any pre-determined quota for recruiting Bangladeshi nationals under the Employment Permit System, the number of workers we will take depends on how the BOESL deals with this,’ he said after the signing ceremony at the lone public recruiting agency’s office.

In March South Korea officially announced that it would recruit 10,000 overseas workers from four countries — Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Kyrgyzstan — in the 2007-2008 period under the Employment Permit System.

A deal styled ‘Service Commitment Agreement’ was signed between the two countries for recruitment of Bangladeshi workers under Korea’s EPS for foreigners.

Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd, and Kim Yong Dal, president of the Human Resources Development under the Korean labour ministry, signed the agreement on behalf of their governments.

When he was asked when the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers would begin, the top Korean envoy said that it was too early to answer that question, but he hinted that the first batch of Bangladeshi workers would join their jobs in Korea by February.

Abdul Matin Chowdhury, expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment secretary who was also present at the signing ceremony, said that the names of aspirant Bangladeshi workers who had passed the Korean language test would be sent to the HRD in Korea. Then the list of Bangladeshi nationals will be submitted to the Korean employers.

‘The final selection depends on the Korean employers,’ said the secretary.