Ulaanbaatar
Mongolia, South Korea to pay more attention on workforce-related issues
Politics
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On July 28, Minister of Labor and Social Protection A.Ariunzaya held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to Mongolia Lee Yeo-hong to discuss measures being taken by the Government of Mongolia with aims of getting through the economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, partnership opportunities within the framework of countermeasures during the pandemic, and the matter of social protection and employment of Mongolian citizens living in the South Korea. Noting the necessity to accelerate people-to-people exchanges to further develop bilateral relations, Ambassador Lee Yeo-hong said, “As of currently, there are about 50 thousand Mongolian citizens living in the Republic of Korea. We will pay more attention to the improvement of the Mongolian citizens’ social protection and matters relating to the workforce being received from Mongolia through employment contracts. As the quota of workers is not being fully met, the issue of providing Mongolian citizens with job positions will be given more attention.” Minister A.Ariunzaya said, “Partnership between our two countries mostly focuses on the workforce and health and labor areas. From the Mongolian side, we are currently working on digitalization of registration in not only the labor sector but also all other sectors. There is a high necessity of developing a joint database for this matter between the two countries. As a result, it will become accessible for citizens looking to work in the Republic of Korea to learn about job positions currently available. In terms of the people illegally staying in the country, there are some matters regarding the protection of their rights and interests that must come to a mutual understanding.” In the scope of the Memorandum of Mutual Understanding on Dispatching and Receiving Labor Force in accordance with the Employment Permit System established between the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Mongolia and the Ministry of Employment and Labor of the Republic of Korea, 790-1,300 Mongolian nationals have annually worked in the country in the last seven years. In 2006, a social protection agreement was established between the governments of the two countries, exempting Mongolian citizens from pension insurance contributions in the host country and allowing them to receive back the premium they paid.
