Employment 2025

SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Sihoon Yang, Young Min Kim, Jung Mo Hong and Douglas Hwang, Yoon & Yang LLC

4. Foreign Workers 4.1 Limitations on Foreign Workers The Immigration Act and Foreign Worker Employment Act

to the Personal Information Protection Act in 2020, provisions on data privacy and personal information under the Info-communications Act and the Credit Information Act have been consolidated under the Personal Information Protection Act. Due to an additional amendment to the Personal Infor - mation Protection Act that took effect on 3 March 2023, special rules that continued to apply to pro - viders of information and communication services under the Info-communications Act are now governed under the Personal Information Protection Act. How - ever, despite the foregoing consolidation, the Credit Information Act still has certain provisions that govern data privacy and personal information as they relate to credit information. Duty To Comply An employer’s duty to comply with the Personal Information Protection Act begins from the recruit - ing stage and extends beyond the termination of the employment agreement with its employees. During the foregoing period, the employer must collect and/ or use the employee’s personal information in com - pliance with the Personal Information Protection Act. Employers may independently collect and/or use the employee’s personal information, and, if necessary, employers may also: • outsource work relating to the processing of col - lected personal information; or • provide collected personal information to third par - ties in accordance with the relevant laws. Employers are required to store the collected personal information safely. The collected personal information must be destroyed once it is no longer necessary owing to reasons such as: • fulfilling the purposes for which the personal infor - mation was collected; and • expiration of the storage period of the collected information (here, “storage period” refers to the period consented to by the employees or otherwise prescribed under the applicable laws).

Methods of employing foreigners can be largely divid - ed into two categories. The first method is through the “Hiring Foreigners With Professional Skills” sys - tem and “Other Status Stay That Permits Employ - ment (mainly those who are not professionals but simple-skilled workers)” under the Immigration Act. The second method is via the “Employment Permit System” and “Work Permit System” based on the Act on Employment, etc, of Foreign Workers (the “Foreign Worker Employment Act”). The Employment Permit System is a system that allows an employer to employ certain foreigners if that employer cannot hire domestic employees despite its recruiting efforts. The Work Permit System, on the other hand, allows a foreigner who satisfies certain conditions to obtain a work permit in South Korea to be employed with an employer of such foreigner’s choice. This system allows for a relatively broader movement of foreign workers among workplaces in South Korea compared to the Employment Permit System. In South Korea, the Employment Permit Sys - tem ordinarily serves as the default system for hiring manual labourers. As regards Koreans who hold for - eign nationalities, the Work Permit System is applied. Defining foreign workers Article 2 of the Foreign Worker Employment Act defines a “foreign worker” as a person who does not have South Korean nationality and who provides or desires to provide labour in return for wages in any business or workplace situated within South Korea. Anyone within the meaning of foreign worker must satisfy the requirements and follow the requisite pro - cedures under the Foreign Worker Employment Act to be employed in South Korea. In addition, any matters not provided under the Foreign Worker Employment Act relating to entering, leaving or staying in South Korea must be handled in accordance with the Immi - gration Act. Pursuant to Article 18 of the Foreign Worker Employ - ment Act, a foreign worker may pursue employment

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