Article From SBS:

‘9 times higher salary guaranteed’…Stay alert, Korean ‘Brain Drain’ Flows to China

[Anchor]

Have you heard of the ‘1-3-9 condition’? It means semiconductor companies in China guarantee that they will pay 9 times the annual salary for 3 years to hire well-trained Korean workers. Due to these exceptional conditions, the phenomena is spreading to other industries including cosmetics and the game industry.

Journalist Han has more about Korean ‘brain drain’ to China, which can affect national competitiveness.

[Journalist]

Researcher Kim, department head in a Korean semiconductor company.

He has been considering an offer he got from a semiconductor company in China a few days ago.

It is estimated that there are about 100 Koreans who’ve received an offer like Mr.Kim.

China has declared an ‘talent hiring war’ by offering Korean talent a 9 times higher salary, a luxurious house, and an international school for their children.

The reason China hungers for Koreans is to keep up with the latest in semiconductor technology [without having to wait for Chinese workers to be as well trained].

Since China had made the semiconductor industry its core business, there aren’t enough workers, despite having invested 21 trillion won in the industry.

Korean researcher who moved to a Chinese semiconductor company: “It is true that there are a lot of these kinds of offers from Chinese companies to Korean technicians. Rather than how to run a factory, what kind of product that can be made is more important and this depends on the people that make it.”

However, they risk of changing jobs to Chinese companies.

Jaegeun Park, professor of semiconductor nano-processing at Hanyang university: (It needs to be considered) Whether (Chinese companies) pay what they have guaranteed. In the past, there were lots of cases in the past when LCD companies in China didn’t keep their promises. There is no Korean who continued working for that kind of company or came back to Korea with much success.

Despite these concerns, the rate of turnover to China is getting higher in industries other than semiconductors, such as the cosmetics, game, aviation, and petrochemistry industries.

Employment instability, excessive working hours, and a closed organisational culture were chosen as reasons for turnover by Korean researchers who moved abroad. The Korean government and private companies should consider those reasons.

Comments From Naver:

ted0****

Korean companies do nothing for their workers. How can they expect them to stay?

blue****

I bet cruel treatment toward natural sciences and engineering caused this situation. The treatment should be improved as soon as possible.

kimd****

Patriotism can’t feed you, so well done guys.

kkk8****

You can’t live on patriotism alone.. I understand them.

페이스북 최한나

It was real that Korean talent goes to work abroad.

yngw****

With those conditions who else doesn’t want to move out?

aved****

If you are competent enough, please leave. We need to change ourselves, shaking off our servile spirit, start thinking about our futures, and taking our rights back. And then, big companies and people in a higher rank will start to check themselves.

djar****

3 years x 9 times=27. Instead of working for 27 years you can get the same amount just working for 3 years.

jbpa****

Medium-sized businesses want to hire well educated people who have graduated from prestigious universities, but their treatment is horrendous. If you can, it is not abnormal to work abroad.

reds****

Korea gives you nothing back, even if you are patriotic. Grab a chance for your success and happiness.

amad****

Wasn’t it nice to exploit Koreans with low wages and treat them like disposable products? Now prepare for hell.

syc2****

Korea doesn’t do anything for us but if someone moves to China they’re regarded as a traitor.

leow****

The reason Korea is mooching off the world powers is they don’t invest in talented people. There is no concept of fostering talent in the long term.

disk****

What has Korea done for people? We hoarded gold during the IMF crisis and we have the highest average annual working hours in the OECD.. We are working so hard but where’s the reward from the government? Do you want us to collaborate like we did in 1988? Nope. In those times there was an idea of helping each other sharing food and etc but it doesn’t exist anymore. Patriotism already disappeared. Conservatives don’t seems to know this expecting Koreans will be like they were in the past. This country changed and people think about only themselves.

enej****

Damn Korea is losing technology, talented people and just everything, ke ke. If I ever get an offer I will leave this country right away.

1210****

So, what the government wants us to be paid in patriotism.

leec****