Abstract
Until the mid-1980s, Korea was a major labor exporter to Arab countries. The flow of international labor migration was reversed in the late 1980s as domestic wages increased and as construction projects declined in the Middle East. Conversely, a massive influx of migrant workers, mostly from Asian countries, took place since the beginning of the 1990s. The large proportion of irregular foreign workers has been a feature of international mgiration in Korea. The government has been trying to address this problem since 1992. In recent years, three policy issues have been discussed: the impacts of foreign workers on the national economy, choosing between the industrial training program and the employment permit system, and special laws for foreign workers. To cope with the challenges of international labor migration, particularly the problems generated by irregular migration, prudent policy measures are urgently needed which should be beneficial to the national economy and the migrant workers.
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