Foreign Workers Allowed for Parcel Loading and Unloading Jobs... Ministry of Justice Announces Legislative Notice

On January 28th, workers are moving delivery packages at a courier logistics center in Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Foreign workers are expected to be allowed to work in parcel loading and unloading sorting tasks.

According to the legal community on the 16th, the Ministry of Justice announced a legislative notice yesterday for a partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Control Act, focusing on "expanding the scope of industries where foreign workers can be employed."

Under the current Immigration Control Act, foreigners with a visit employment (H-2) visa status can only work in 39 industries specified in the enforcement decree, such as manufacturing with fewer than 300 employees, livestock farming, and fisheries.

With the Ministry of Justice's amendment, if the enforcement decree is revised, it will become possible to deploy foreign workers in parcel sorting work (loading and unloading), wholesale trade of fruits, vegetables, and spices (at agricultural product distribution centers), meat transportation, mining, and other sectors.

The Ministry of Justice explained the purpose, stating, "The Foreign Workforce Policy Committee decided to expand the scope of employment allowed for foreigners with visit employment status to resolve labor shortages in industrial sites, leading to the amendment of the enforcement decree."

So far, the business community has demanded "regulatory relaxation" to allow the employment of foreign workers in parcel loading and unloading tasks, which suffer from severe labor shortages due to high labor intensity, but the labor community has opposed this, insisting that improving the poor working conditions at parcel companies should come first, causing repeated failures.

The Ministry of Justice plans to announce the amendment for public comment until April 26, and then revise the enforcement decree after going through the Cabinet meeting and other procedures.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.