About 21,600 Vietnamese workers sat a South Korean language exam in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Nghe An Province on September 8 and 9.

This is the first time a South Korean language test has been held in the country after South Korea in May agreed in principle to a memorandum of understanding to receive 3,500 workers from Vietnam this year.

Vietnam began sending workers to South Korea in 1993, but the latter stopped receiving Vietnamese workers in August 2012 due to the high rate of laborers who overstayed their visas. The trade resumed in 2013 but is limited by agreements reached by both countries on an annual basis.

The exam was jointly organized by Vietnam’s Center of Overseas Labor and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea.

More than 10,000 workers, most of whom below 20, attended the Hanoi University of Industry and the University of Labor and Social Affairs in the capital.

Attendees were required to show up before 7 a.m. Tran Thi Nhat Le, a 20-year-old female worker from the northern province of Bac Giang, more than 50km from Hanoi, arrived at the test site early. She said she wanted to test her language skills to see if she was qualified to work in South Korea. “It is difficult to get a chance to work in South Korea as there are too many people competing for a limited number of positions,” Le said.

Security forces check registration cards before letting workers in. If they pass the exam, the results will be valid in two years. Those who fail will have another chance to sit the exam in November.

A registration card.

Attendees are checking their names and test rooms. The competition test is as fierce as admission tests for colleges and universities in Vietnam. Some people didn't bother queuing and tried to climb over to check for their names and test rooms early.

Attendees queue to enter their test rooms. Dang Sy Dung, deputy director of Vietnam’s Department of Overseas Labor Management, said the South Korean side sets the exam questions and marks the exam. The exam questions are confidential and are sent from South Korea so no individual or organization is able to interfere with the exam results. Laborers should not trust anyone who says they can change the exam results, Dung warned.

Attendees are checked to make sure they are not carrying electronic devices.

Some, however, intentionally cover their mobile phones in foil so they can carry them into the exam rooms.

Nguyen Tien Tung, chief inspector from Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social affairs, inspects an exam room. Attendees were given 50 multiple choice questions to answer.

Some mobile phones were covered in pieces of rubber for protection and thrown into the exam rooms. Attendees who violated the exam regulations were banned from sitting the test for two years.

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