South Korea to hire 8,000 filipino workers until 2011

South Korea, in a memorandum of understanding that iT signed with the Philippines on Sunday, guaranteed the hiring of 8,000 Filipinos to work in South Korea every year for the next three years.

And to build wind-powered facilities in the Philippines, two South Korean companies have made a $200-million investment pledge. Such facilities could lessen the Philippines’ dependence on fossil fuels and strengthen its fight against global warming.

Korea East West Power Co., Ltd. (EWP), a wholly owned subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Co. (Kepco), committed in principle to invest $50 million in Alternergy Philippine Holdings Corp.’s wind power projects in the Philippines.

Export Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) pledged to provide up to $150 million in loans to finance wind-power projects that EWP and Alternergy will undertake in the Philippines.

The pledges were contained in another memorandum of understanding on the construction of wind power plants in the Philippines signed by Kexim Chairman Kim Dong-soo, for the South Korean firm, and Trade Undersecretary Elmer Hernandez for the Philippine government.

President Gloria Arroyo, who is visiting South Korea, witnessed the signing, together with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.

The memorandum of understanding on employment permit system was signed by Philippine Labor Secretary Marianito Roque and South Korea’s Labor Minister Lee Young-Hee at the Blue House, the executive office and official residence of Lee.

Roque said that the memorandum reflects the high regard of the South Korean government for Filipino workers, adding that, originally, the contract tenure for workers only lasts for two years but was extended to three years.

He said that that under the memorandum, Filipinos will be hired in the manufacturing industry and other business sectors in South Korea.

During a dialogue with Filipinos in South Korea, President Arroyo asked them to pray for peaceful resolution of the tension in the Korean peninsula, saying the eruption of conflict could destabilize the region.

“I was asked by OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] if war would erupt. I told them to pray particularly now that the UN Security Council is discussing the issue to prevent any eruption of hostilities,” the President said in a speech before the Filipino community on Sunday.

“You pray for South Korea and also for the Philippines, your home country, our beloved Republic of the Philippines,” she added.

It was reported also on Sunday that North Korea fired a short-range missile off its east coast, in the latest in a series of similar launches after Pyongyang’s nuclear test this week, according to South Korean media.

Mrs. Arroyo and Lee had discussed steps that would strengthen the diplomatic relations between Manila and Seoul.

In his welcome address, the South Korean president cited the 60 years of diplomatic relations between South Korea and the Philippines, saying the Philippines has a “special place in the hearts and minds of the people of Korea.”

“Following the end of the Second World War, out of all the members of Asean, the Philippines was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea,” he said. Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

“In 1950, when the Korean War erupted in the (Korean) peninsula, the Philippines dispatched 7,000 of its servicemen to fight alongside the Koreans, to fight against aggression and communism and for that the Philippines has a very special place in our hearts,” Lee added.

Mrs. Arroyo, who came to South Korea on a state visit in 2003 and attended the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting held in Busan, South Korea, in 2005, expressed happiness at visiting the country once again.

After their bilateral meeting, the two heads of government witnessed the signing of six agreements between their countries. — Angelo S. Samonte, Manila Times