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Hundreds of Vietnamese demonstrated outside a Hanoi labor brokerage demanding to know why they had not been allowed to travel to South Korea to take up construction jobs, while the government said the company was not authorized to arrange work abroad.
Protesters told the Lao Dong newspaper that Educa Vietnam Trading and Service Joint Stock Company informed more than 200 people they would be flying to South Korea at 11:10 p.m. on Sunday.
They said the brokerage told them the exit and entry lists carried the seal of the company sponsoring them and they had Immigration Department approval to leave Vietnam and enter South Korea.
But just before the flight was due to take off, the company told the workers their departure had been postponed, leaving hundreds stranded at the airport and Hanoi’s My Dinh stadium. Many angry workers said they had paid nearly 300 million Vietnamese dong (US$12,200) to the brokerage.
Dozens of workers were sitting outside Educa Vietnam's headquarters late on Monday, some telling Lao Dong they couldn't get back to their home provinces because there were no buses.
One woman told reporters the company told them the flight was delayed because nine people had canceled their trips.
On Monday afternoon, a company representative told media: “The reason for the flight delay was because workers weren’t present according to the previously registered list.”
“We made a commitment to the South Korean side that there would be no additions or reductions to the number of workers. At the last minute workers didn’t show up and couldn’t be contacted.”
The company spokesperson said Educa Vietnam had returned all the money owed to the workers.
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A representative of the Labor Ministry's Department of Overseas Labor Management told Lao Dong on Tuesday that Educa Vietnam did not have a government license to send workers abroad.
In spite of government warnings, many workers had fallen victim to brokers claiming to offer them jobs in South Korea but then failing to deliver on their promises, a ministry spokesperson said.
Many Vietnamese nationals work as farm laborers in South Korea on an E8 visa. Their jobs are arranged directly between provinces and cities in Vietnam and South Korea, according to the Labor Ministry.
The ministry spokesperson said city and provincial authorities prepare the paperwork and oversee procedures to send workers to South Korea without using intermediaries such as labor brokerages.
Translated by RFA Staff. Edited by Mike Firn.