Nepal-Korea ink service commitment pact

Nepal and South Korea today signed service commitment agreement — the final agreement among the three that Nepal has signed with South Korea to send aspirant job-seekers to Korea under EPS programme.
South Korean Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC) chief Kim-Young-Dal and Keshar Bahadur Baniya, director general of EPS division under the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management (MoLTM) signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.
According to the agreement, South Korean government will take Korean Language Proficiency Test (KLPT) and Nepal government will help conduct the exam.
However, the government is planning to give management contract to hold KLPT exam to TU. The exam will be conducted on any Saturday between the last week of February and first week of March. The exam fee will be $30 (around Rs 2000).
Though the exam centres will be at different parts of the country also — to provide easy access to job aspirants from across the country — the test would be conducted by the Koreans and the exam papers will be sent to Seoul. The result will be published from Seoul.
However, one can learn Korean language in the government registered language institutes or self and sit for the KLPT exam. The government has called language institutes to register with the EPS section of ministry to impart the language training. Among the 215 registered institutes, only 171 institutes were qualified. Few language institutes have also not met criteria.
To pass the KLPT, one has to score 120 marks in two subjects — 60 per cent in aggregate in each subjects. The successful applicant will then be enrolled and forwarded to the job seekers' roster in Korea. Upon examining the roster details, HRDC will forward the list to the companies seeking foreign migrant workers.
The employers will select workers from among the recommended ones. Once the workers are selected, the employers will sign labour contract with them and apply for certificate for confirmation of visa issuance.
After that an applicant has to pass through pre-departure process like medical check-up, orientation and training before job. All the cost of a worker will not exceed Rs 1,25,000.
Nepal and South Korea has signed an agreement to send Nepali workers to South Korea in July and in December 11, they have signed implementation agreement.