Mangala Randeniya, Additional General Manager (International Affairs) of the Bureau says that the

Korean Human Resource Development Institute makes the necessary selections for providing jobs to
Sri Lankans in South Korea, and the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau cannot have any influence
on that.

He stated this in response to media reports that the bureau is not taking immediate action regarding
the referral of Sri Lankans for Korean jobs.

Mr. Randeniya who further commented on that,

"Sri Lankan workers are recruited for jobs in South Korea's factories, construction sector and fishing
sector by entering the website from those who pass the cut-off marks in the annual examinations
and conduct other tests. After these qualified people are entered into the website, the employment
contract provided by the employer, which is the basic document they need to come to Korea, is sent
to the bureau. The job seekers related to those agreements will be called to the bureau and if they
agree to the conditions specified by the employers, the agreements will be signed and included in
the special website of the Korea Human Resource Development Institute. In the year 2020, 1707
agreements have been signed and forwarded in this way. Also, in the year 2021, 1667 have been
signed and forwarded by the bureau. We have signed the contracts of 2347 people and sent them to
Korea so far in 2022. Accordingly, in the 3 years of 2020/2021/2022, we have sent the contracts of
5712 people to Korea.

In the year 2020, we could not send anyone to Korea because of the Covid epidemic situation, no
workers were brought to Korea. The country was completely closed. Sri Lanka was also closed due to
the Covid epidemic situation. We started shipping back to Korea in 2021. In the year 2021, the
people who signed the agreements in 2019 and 2020 and received the necessary documents for
visas left.

In the last few days, it was reported by the media that even 1000 people could not be sent. But in
the year 2021, 1108 have been sent. This group is not a group selected by the Bureau. This is a group
selected by the Human Resource Development Institute of Korea and sent to us. Also, 907 people
have been sent in 2022. All these 2108 people were selected and sent from Korea. There are other
people who signed the agreement but did not receive the CCVI (Certificate of Conformation Visa
Issue) documents. Korea's Human Resources Department will send the necessary documents to
those who have signed the agreement to check on the granting of visas. Only if they decide, even if
the contract is signed, CCVI (Certificate of Conformation Visa Issue) documents will be received. The
bureau has no authority to send all the signed contracts to Korea.

Out of the 1667 people who signed contracts in 2021, two weeks ago, the Korean Human Resource
Development Institute notified to send the names of 1428 people to Korea. We send these people to
Korea in groups of 175-200 every week. All these people are going to South Korea for a maximum of
2 months. We expect the rest of the group to start departure from July.

If the CCVI documents are received by the signatories, we have no problem with sending them.
Accordingly, 200 per week can be sent to Korea about 800 per month. The Bureau is ready to send
Sri Lankans to South Korea without any inefficiency."