♪ ansan is an industrial city in the republic of korea.

every morning brokers recruit day laborers and take them to factories. this is due to a chronic labor shortage as young south koreans shun low paid manual work. to resolve this problem, the government has been accepting foreign laborers for the last ten years under an employment system. the number of foreign workers exceeded 500,000 in 2012. and the government announceded that it will open the nation's doors to more. in fact, the country's manufacturing industry would literally collapse without foreign labor. this policy of employing foreigners to p protect domestic industry is efficiently managed by the government. while it's received high paz global bli, various problems are rising to the surface.

>> this episode of "asia insight" follows korea's global employment system which has been attracting attention around the globe. ansan is some 30 kilometers southwest of seoul. in the district of wongok-dong, over 35% of the population is made up of foreign residents. wongok-dong immigrants hail from 15 countries. including china, vietnam, indonesia and places as far as way as uzbekistan.

on weekends the town's center is a melting pot of different ethnicities. >> hey, how are you? >> recently many stores offer a wide range of products from all over asia, making life easier for the foreign population.

foreign laborers are permitted to stay in south korea for up to four years and ten months. as long as they are working they are under no particular restrictions. the south korean government introduced the employment permit system in 2004, one that is unprecedented in the world. up until then the nation only accepted foreign workers as interns. because of low wages interns would suddenly quit their jobs, leading to an increase in illegal immigrants. south korea needed a new foreign labor policy because its own high school graduates, 70% of whom go onto college, rarely apply for factory jobs.

>> what's unique about south korea's labor policy is that the government treats foreign workers as official laborers regulated by the state. jobs are limited to certain types of manual labor. but the domestic labor laws also apply to foreigners, meaning their rights are protected. in 2012 south korea was given the united nations' public service award in recognition of this policy. as it led to a drastic

production in unscrupulous private brokers. >> for asia and pacific, the winner is the republic of korea. >> work visas for foreigners are provided through the exchange of memoranda of understandings between south korea and the sending country. south korea has agreements with 15 countries. these nations are responsible for selecting candidates from men and women between the ages of 18 and 40. the absolute prirrequirement is candidates learn enough korean to get by on a daily basis. candidates can earn five times

more in korea than they condition in their own country. this year more than 60,000 foreign laborers were sent to korea, and the number is increasing. upon arrival, foreign workers are sent to one of eight training facilities arranged by the government. first of all they are given a medical examination. if any health problems are detected at this point and they are deemed detrimental to working, they are sent back home.

foreign workers stay in these franing facilities for three days while they await the results of their physical exams, they attend classes on south korean culture, manners, basic laws and other issues. once they pass the physical exam, foreigners are granted official work permits and taken to their delegated workplaces. the government continues instructing and monitoring foreign workers after they start

their jobs. that task is conducted on the front lines by job centers in each region. these centers protect the rights of foreign workers and the employment permit system itself. here companies can request foreign labor and workers themselves can receive advice and counseling about their work conditions. three years ago one man was dispatched from seoul's ministry of labor in ansan to monitor the surge of foreign workers. kim young-ik supervises the centers a manages an acquiring center himself.

another major role of the employment center is to monitor and instruct factories hiring foreign laborers. staff members visit more than 100 factories a year to check on the working conditions of foreigners. today kim is visiting a factory that makes molds for stril plastic products. the room temperature in the factory exceeds 40 degrees celsius in the summer.

14 foreign workers are employed at this factory. three koreans work on site to supervise. seven people work on the daytime and nighttime shifts. both of which lasts 12 hours. tp inspection covers not only the work environment. it also ensures that factories

comply with regulations regarding labor insurance and wages. to ensure the rights of foreign laborers the current system requires employers to provide them with seven types of insurance, including health insurance, accident insurance and severance pay insurance. violators are fineded. the company president immediately checks with his office staff.

each worker should pay their own accident insurance. if workers are not insured, employers are held responsible. if they don't take measures within ten days of receiving a warning, the worker is fined $4,300.

the employment permit system targets companies with less than 300 employees and is limited to jobs that are unpopular with koreans. companies are only eligible to apply for the system after attempting to find korean workers for two weeks or more. this is to avoid competition between domestic workers and foreigners. dr. lee kyu-yong says the system could lower wages and aggravate work conditions.

dr. lee adds what he speaks of is already affecting workers whose situations aren't affected in unemployment rates, such as day laborers and temporary workers. it's early morning and south korean day laborers gather at a street corner in ansan seeking

work.

han has been a day laborer for almost ten years now. he managed a hemt company for ten years, but the firm went bankrupt. he got a temp job at a factory, but that dloezed do closed down months. >> with an insolvent company, han ended up with massive debt. the banks blacklisted him, which makes it almost impossible for him to find full time work. every day now he searches for the demanding day labor work, which most koreans avoid. today he's working at an auto parts processing plant in the

outskirts of ansan. han is given the task of cleaning extracted parts. all day he uses a compressor to remove metal scraps attached to them. he has no colleagues to talk to or work with. he continues in silence. han also spends a lot of time alone during lunch time, too. even though in the canteen he sits with other korean workers, they rarely make conversation.

and they're surrounded by foreign workers. most factories that hire foreigners provide meals, even though it is not required by law. companies believe that providing meals and other benefits will improve their chances of getting approved to hire foreigners under the employment permit system. this factory employs 15 floor workers, 13 of whom are foreigners, hailing from vietnam, nepal and bangladesh. people of various nationalities work side by side. one young worker has been here for three years and is now in charge of training new recruits. hoang van tuy from vietnam used

to work at a metal processing factory in his home country. >> surrounded by the foreign staff is a single south korean. he's the only floor worker to have been here since the company's founding. yeon myeong-cheon has worked as a parts cutting expert for 30 years.

nine hours after han's workday began, he is finally finished for the day. he's monotonously cleaned around 1,500 of the same parts.

>> at 6:00 p.m. korean factory workers gather at the day laborer employment agency to receive their daily wages. they get an average of $36 for eight hours of basic labor. compared with these korean day workers, foreign laborers get better treatment because they are guaranteed insurance and often benefit from free meals. after everyone has collected their wages, a man in his 30s continues to wait in the office.

on this night he waited for two hours with no success. heong's workday ends at 8:00 p.m. after doing two hours of overtime. he works overtime almost every day to earn extra money. the firm also provides him with a free dinner if he works late. he has already saved more than $40,000 since coming to south korea.

he returns home on his cherished scooter, which a friend sold him at a low price. on his way home, he stops by the electronic parts making factory, where his wife works. she joined him a year after he came to korea. he has left his company dormitory and now rents a room with his wife. they both receive a small housing allowance from their employers to help cover rent. they rent this 20 square meter room for approximately $260 a month. they've gradually been able to purchase a television and furniture from their savings.

on his days off, juan likes to chat online with his son, who lives with his grandmother in vietnam. >> the foreign workers

vocational training center accepts several hundred asian workers every week. on this day, those who have completed their training are welcomed by their new employers. south korea continues to bring in foreign labor to protect domestic industry. and for foreign workers, south korea is an attractive place to find secure work. such government strategies may seem like a way to solve labor shortages in developed countries. but it's yet to be seen if they are the best solution.

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newsline, it's thursday october 2nd, i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. protesters in hong kong are showing no sign of backing down. they're demanding major roads to demand freer elections. if the chief executive does not resign by thursday, they will grow in size. families and elderly people observing holidays joined in ts