10 thousand youth waiting to fly to Korea, complaints flooding Prime Minister’s Twitter handle

KATHMANDU: On Sunday, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli tweeted thanking the US decision to provide vaccine assistance to Nepal. In the tweet, a young man named Nawaraj Karki replied to the Prime Minister, which brought different subjects to limelight.

” Namaste, Prime Minister,” Karki wrote. There are 9 to 10 thousand young people who have passed the EPS language test and are waiting to go to Korea. We kindly request you to hold high-level talks on this. Thank you. ‘

Tilak Rana has also made a similar complaint in Prime Minister Oli’s tweet.

He writes: “More than 10,000 young people who have passed the EPS  and completed the entire process are still unsure whether they will be able to go to Korea.”. We have been waiting for the last 15-16 months, hoping to go to Korea for which we borrowed money. Our problem was not solved even after we informed the authorities. Now the last hope is the Prime Minister. We hope that you will soon take the diplomatic initiative with Korea and send young people who have passed  EPS and completed the entire process to their destination and not disappoint us. Thank you. ‘

Rudra Ghimire also wrote, “South Korea has been closed for the past 14 months. It has been a long time since I completed all the work. Nobody seems to be interested in opening it. Take the initiative to solve the problems of 10,000 young people as soon as possible, thank you. ‘

These are just examples. Such complaints can be seen in the recent tweets of Prime Minister Oli. A few days ago, the Prime Minister expressed his condolences over the death of young leader Ujjwal Thapa. There were similar responses to tweets. They have also mentioned  President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Foreign Minister Pradip Gyawali, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr Rajan Bhattaraiin their tweet  A similar complaint was made in a response to a  tweet where Foreign Minister Gyawali thanked his US counterpart Anthony Blinken for announcing the vaccine assistance.

The youths who passed the EPS language test but are unable to go to Korea are drawing the attention of the government by creating a Twitter handle called ‘EPS_Pidit _Nepal‘.

It has been 15 months since the first phase of lockdown in Nepal for COVID control in Nepal. According to the EPS Korea branch of the Department of Foreign Employment, there are more than 10,000 young people who failed the language test during this period.

After the first phase of the lockdown was eased and the situation became somewhat easier, the movement to and from for employment was opened in some countries. But Korea did not do so. The annual EPS language test could not be conducted in 2020. It has not been decided whether the language test will be conducted in 2021 or not. Those who passed two years ago have not been able to go.

According to the EPS Korea branch under the Department of Foreign Employment, 1,027 Nepalis, including 958 men and 69 women, have left Nepal for Korea in 2020. But they went there before the virus spread.

As this is a matter between the governments of the two countries, Nepal should not take the initiative alone, said Indra Gautam, director of the EPS Korea branch. He claims that the government of Nepal is taking initiative from a high level.

The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security said no decision had been made. Joint Secretary Deepak Kafle, who is also the spokesperson of the ministry, told Nepal Press, “The ministry has not made any decision yet.” The Department of Foreign Employment may be aware of this. ‘

The Department of Foreign Employment was also unaware of this. Director-General of the Department Krishna Prasad Dawadi told Nepal Press, “So far no one has been called from Korea. We cannot send them until they ask us to. ‘

He said that he has received information from the HRD office in Nepal that no process has been started to get a new one. Davadi informed that the term has been extended for those living there.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there has been no discussion on sending Nepalis who have been barred from going to Korea. Joint Secretary Seva Lamsal, who is also the spokesperson of the ministry, said that no decision has been taken so far on Korea despite the government’s policy of facilitating the employers to go to other countries without any problems.

Former Foreign Minister Pradip Gyawali had said in an interaction only a few days ago that he was serious about the Nepalis who could not go to Korea. He said Korea was taking workers from only one country after COVID wave and had stopped taking workers from the rest of the country. He said that he was serious about the issue and was in constant dialogue with the youths who had not been able to go to Korea. At present, Raghuvir Mahaseth has been transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

An agreement reached between the Government of Nepal and the Government of Korea in 2007 to send Nepali workers to Korea annually. According to the EPS Korea branch, 589,618 people have applied for the language test in the last 13 years and 448,771 people have participated in the language test. Out of them, 69,760 men and 7,617 women have passed with a total of 13 per cent or 77,377.

Of those who passed, 98 per cent or 75,982 have filled the application form for the job. Out of that, 62,852 men and 4,020 women and 88 per cent or 66,872 Nepali youths have reached Korea by February 7, 2076.