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Chitchat Samsters Can Masturbate to this - Chiobu Viets Cat Fight in Balestier
- Thread starter Pinkieslut
- Start date
Gang Of Girls Wreak Havoc At Balestier Kopitiam In Supposed Siam Diu Dispute
Gang Of Girls Threw Chairs And Flipped Tables At Bak Kut Teh Stall
We’re just little more than 6 months into 2019, and we’ve seen our fair share of brawls in Singapore.
On Wednesday (12 Jun), a massive catfight broke out at a Balestier bak kut teh stall, where several women were seen throwing chairs and overturning tables.
Source
The 2-min clip was uploaded on District Singapore‘s Facebook page and has since gone viral with over 1,500 shares at the time of writing.
You can watch the video in full here.
4 ladies wreak havoc at Balestier kopitiam
At the start of the video, 2 men and a woman were seen at a table having a meal.
Source
All of a sudden, a woman in a yellow dress marched towards the trio and slammed the table. She also threw her heels at the lady.
Source
The two men stood up immediately to confront the aggressor but were swiftly met by 2 other ladies, supposedly on the side of the lady in yellow.
Source
One of them in a light blue shirt attempted to throw a chair at the lady in black but was stopped by one of the men.
Source
Another lady in a denim jacket joins the fray later on.
Source
Hurled chairs, flipped tables
Throughout the rest of the video, the 4 ladies continued hurling chairs at the woman in black.
Source
They also overturned 2 tables, causing quite a mess at the kopitiam.
Source
At one point, the gang of ladies threw an unknown object and nearly struck one of the waitresses working at the stall. Talk about collateral damage.
Source
Allegedly fought over siam diu dispute
According to Lianhe Zaobao, the altercation may be linked to a prior dispute at a Thai disco, commonly known as a siam diu.
The owner of the bak kut teh stall told Zaobao that the lady in black and the other 4 ladies are from Korea and Vietnam respectively.
She also shared that the fight broke out as the Vietnamese ladies were upset with the Korean lady for ‘snatching’ their customer.
The police have arrested 4 women between the age of 30 and 34 in connection to this incident. Investigations are currently ongoing.
Violence doesn’t solve anything
We hope that nobody was seriously hurt and that the bak kut teh stall’s business wasn’t too badly affected by the incident.
Kudos to the police for their swift action in arresting those involved in the fight.
This only shows that nothing good comes out of violence, and perhaps more importantly, that hell has no fury like a woman scorned.
Featured image from Facebook and Facebook.
Gang Of Girls Threw Chairs And Flipped Tables At Bak Kut Teh Stall
We’re just little more than 6 months into 2019, and we’ve seen our fair share of brawls in Singapore.
On Wednesday (12 Jun), a massive catfight broke out at a Balestier bak kut teh stall, where several women were seen throwing chairs and overturning tables.
The 2-min clip was uploaded on District Singapore‘s Facebook page and has since gone viral with over 1,500 shares at the time of writing.
You can watch the video in full here.
4 ladies wreak havoc at Balestier kopitiam
At the start of the video, 2 men and a woman were seen at a table having a meal.
All of a sudden, a woman in a yellow dress marched towards the trio and slammed the table. She also threw her heels at the lady.
The two men stood up immediately to confront the aggressor but were swiftly met by 2 other ladies, supposedly on the side of the lady in yellow.
One of them in a light blue shirt attempted to throw a chair at the lady in black but was stopped by one of the men.
Another lady in a denim jacket joins the fray later on.
Hurled chairs, flipped tables
Throughout the rest of the video, the 4 ladies continued hurling chairs at the woman in black.
They also overturned 2 tables, causing quite a mess at the kopitiam.
Source
At one point, the gang of ladies threw an unknown object and nearly struck one of the waitresses working at the stall. Talk about collateral damage.
Source
Allegedly fought over siam diu dispute
According to Lianhe Zaobao, the altercation may be linked to a prior dispute at a Thai disco, commonly known as a siam diu.
The owner of the bak kut teh stall told Zaobao that the lady in black and the other 4 ladies are from Korea and Vietnam respectively.
She also shared that the fight broke out as the Vietnamese ladies were upset with the Korean lady for ‘snatching’ their customer.
The police have arrested 4 women between the age of 30 and 34 in connection to this incident. Investigations are currently ongoing.
Violence doesn’t solve anything
We hope that nobody was seriously hurt and that the bak kut teh stall’s business wasn’t too badly affected by the incident.
Kudos to the police for their swift action in arresting those involved in the fight.
This only shows that nothing good comes out of violence, and perhaps more importantly, that hell has no fury like a woman scorned.
Featured image from Facebook and Facebook.
Korean Chiobu attacked by Vietbus
Lup Sup Brawl: Vietnamese “Hang Flower” Girl Calls Hometown Kakis to Beat Up Korean Rival
By Redwire Singapore
June 14, 2019
Saranghae? Not this time!
Alleged customer-snatching at a bitter lup sup bar (“dirty” bar) led to a brawl at the nearby Balestier Bak Kut Teh shop at 365 Balestier Road between a Vietnamese lady and a Korean lady.
Both women are said to be working at the nearby lup sup bar as “hang flower” girls (girls who entice men to buy flower garlands from the bar for them and earn a commission from the sale).
The Korean “hang flower” girl (dressed in black (allegedly snatched a customer from the Vietnamese “hang flower” girl (dressed in yellow).
That incensed the Vietnamese lady and she roped in 3 friends from her hometown to track and beat up the Korean lady.
The incident took place at about 5.30am on Tuesday (12 Jun).
The Vietnamese lady and her friends found the Korean lady having dinner with 2 men at the bak kut the shop and attacked her.
Shop staff tried in vain to stop the chair-throwing, stiletto-flinging and cleavage-swinging scuffle.
The Vietnamese gang of ladies was seen leaving and re-entering the shop several times to attack the Korean lady.
Police officers subsequently arrived and stopped the fight.
Police say that 4 women, aged between 30 and 34 years old, have been arrested and investigations are ongoing.
Lup Sup Brawl: Vietnamese “Hang Flower” Girl Calls Hometown Kakis to Beat Up Korean Rival
By Redwire Singapore
June 14, 2019
Saranghae? Not this time!
Alleged customer-snatching at a bitter lup sup bar (“dirty” bar) led to a brawl at the nearby Balestier Bak Kut Teh shop at 365 Balestier Road between a Vietnamese lady and a Korean lady.
Both women are said to be working at the nearby lup sup bar as “hang flower” girls (girls who entice men to buy flower garlands from the bar for them and earn a commission from the sale).
The Korean “hang flower” girl (dressed in black (allegedly snatched a customer from the Vietnamese “hang flower” girl (dressed in yellow).
That incensed the Vietnamese lady and she roped in 3 friends from her hometown to track and beat up the Korean lady.
The incident took place at about 5.30am on Tuesday (12 Jun).
The Vietnamese lady and her friends found the Korean lady having dinner with 2 men at the bak kut the shop and attacked her.
Shop staff tried in vain to stop the chair-throwing, stiletto-flinging and cleavage-swinging scuffle.
The Vietnamese gang of ladies was seen leaving and re-entering the shop several times to attack the Korean lady.
Police officers subsequently arrived and stopped the fight.
Police say that 4 women, aged between 30 and 34 years old, have been arrested and investigations are ongoing.
Koreans come here to sell? and Korea is a develop nation,,,that means singkies are earning a better income to afford kim chee boos,,,,,pap is truely the best to develop the country beyong kim chee land
Yucks! Bak kut teh strewn all over tge floor! I am glad i don't have to kiss any of them.
kim chee land in economic trouble big time... lots of unemployed.
looks really hot
, but better check under the helmet 1st!Singapore’s sex trade: licensed brothels, ‘sugar babies’, and laws you can run rings around | South China Morning Post
Friday, 29 Jun 2018, 1:55PM
“Owning a brothel, pimping, online advertising of sex work, recruiting a woman, all are illegal,” says Vanessa Ho, director of sex worker advocacy group Project X. Soliciting prostitution in public places is also illegal in the Lion City.
The Orchard Towers entertainment complex is known as the “Four Floors of Whores”.That doesn’t stop such activities from taking place. Freelancers like Jaafar solicit on the streets, advertise their services online, and work under the cover of escort agencies. Then there’s Orchard Towers, in the middle of Singapore’s busy shopping district, housing bars and clubs frequented largely by Western visitors and sex workers. The entertainment complex is cheekily known as the “Four Floors of Whores”.China’s answer to Google Maps shows where to find prostitutes
On the sex-themed website Sammy Boy Forum, one escort agency advertises the services of Singaporean women. Alicia, a Singaporean Chinese purported to be 20, for example, is a “sweet and lovely student”. She weighs 45kg, is 1.62 metres tall, has a fair complexion, and costs S$650 a night – room not included. Alicia will do a house call for an additional S$50, but if a client finds her lacking on sight, he can reject her within five minutes, and pay a fee of S$50.
Assuming she works five days a week – and is booked up each night – Alicia is raking in about S$13,000 a month.
A legal brothel in the Geylang red-light district in Singapore. Photo: AlamyHo says the sums prostitutes charge for sex services in Singapore vary widely, depending on where the woman plies her trade. “It can be as low as S$10 for a three-minute hand job, up to S$1,000 for a massage with sex,” she says.
Scarlet, a 21-year-old student who became a “sugar baby” three years ago, explains the legalities and realities of prostitution. “If the sex worker isn’t attached to an agency, 100 per cent of the money goes to her,” she says. “However, if the lady is attached to an agency, the agency’s cut can range from 20 per cent to 70 per cent. But even as an independent worker, a good amount of my earnings is spent on advertising.”
Hong Kong rapist who researched robbing prostitutes online jailed for 11 years
Although Singapore does not stick too closely to the letter of the law, there are crackdowns. In May, 32-year-old Roderic Chen Hao Ren was sentenced to two years in jail and fined S$83,000 for operating a “virtual brothel” – a website advertising the sexual services of women at rates ranging from S$450 to S$600 an hour. He reportedly took 40 per cent of the women’s earnings.
Last year, Quek Choon Leong, 34, was jailed for 33 months for running a vice ring of 32 prostitutes, supported by his wife and 10 other staff.
Trying to eradicate vice is always a futile effort
Vanessa Ho
In another indication of how the government is trying to keep a lid on illegal activity, the Ministry of Home Affairs said last month it had recorded a 40 per cent rise in the number of unlicensed massage parlours in Singapore between 2013 and 2016. These establishments, the ministry said, are often a front for vice activities.
Its findings prompted the introduction of a new Massage Establishment Bill to clamp down harder on operators, increasing fines tenfold to S$10,000, and introducing prison sentences of up to two years. The bill just has had its first reading.
Licensed brothels are allowed to operate in designated areas such as Geylang. Photo: AlamyIn an attempt to regulate the sex trade, Singapore allows licensed brothels to operate in designated areas. The licensing process, controlled by the police, is murky and the number of establishments is not made public.
Ho describes the practice as part of the police’s “ring fencing” tactic for keeping prostitution in check. “Trying to eradicate vice is always a futile effort,” she says. “It is more important to allow zones for such activities.”
She estimates the number of licensed brothels at between 80 and 90, based on listings on the Sammy Boy website, where clients share prices and rate the women’s services.
Women working these brothels are also required to hold a licence, issued by police. They are given a yellow card bearing their name and photo, and results of the regular check-ups they are required to have, for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Prostitutes are licensed in Singapore, but other women work illegally in the trade. Photo: Alamy
The licensing of brothels is controversial because they operate in so-called designated red-light areas, where the law against pimping is not enforced, critics say. (These areas include the Geylang district, Keong Saik Road, Flanders Square and Desker Road.)
They argue that the brothels operate counter to the Women’s Charter, an act passed in Singapore in 1961 that prohibits knowingly living “wholly or in part on the earnings of the prostitution of another person”, and carries a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine not exceeding S$10,000.
“It is not just a grey area. It flies in the face of the rule of law,” Ho says.
Sex worker abuse ‘on the rise’ in Hong Kong and most of the alleged abusers are police officers
Dr Nicolas Lainez, who wrote a 2011 report for the Vietnam-based Alliance Anti-Trafic, wrote that the brothel owners’ profit is not considered a cut from sexual services but a charge for room rentals, among other costs.
“This subterfuge allows the brothel owners to circumvent the law that states that living on the earnings of prostitution is an offence as stipulated in the Women’s Charter,” he says.
Another place in Asia where prostitution is legal is Hong Kong, which also forbids soliciting, causing or helping another person to be a prostitute, and living off the earnings of a prostitute. However, there are no licensed brothels in Hong Kong, nor designated red-light areas. Wan Chai, on Hong Kong Island, has long been the unofficial red-light district, with bars and discos popular among Western clients, while Mong Kok in Kowloon is known more among locals for its illegal brothels and streetwalkers.
I am not just a prostitute. I’m actually a professional entertainer for the men in Singapore
Lisa Jaafar
In 2016, Hong Kong accounting sector lawmaker Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong suggested the government establish a legal red-light district to consolidate and confine the sex industry. Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu rejected the suggestion, saying prostitution in the city was already under control. He said setting up an official red light district would mean require big changes in government policy on the issue.
Unlike Singapore, Hong Kong does not outlaw classified ads for prostitution or websites that allow clients to make appointments. Sex workers get around the brothel rule by servicing clients in “one-woman brothels” that they can claim is their flat.
Despite the existence of licensed brothels in Singapore, many women still end up working illegally, including in an unknown number of unlicensed brothels. Some have even been found operating in public housing estates, The Straits Timesreported last month.
Despite its prudish reputation – the government bans adult magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse – Singapore allows prostitution in designated areas, of which Geylang is the largest and best known. Photo: AFPThere is clearly a demand for prostitutes in Singapore, Ho says, and women keep coming to the city from nearby countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and China.
Project X says there are many informal sex workers who work only occasionally, making it difficult to estimate the number. Two years ago, police arrested more than 5,000 unlicensed sex workers – mostly foreign women visiting on tourist visas.
Lainez says many are poorly educated with low-paying jobs back home. They came to Singapore for sex work to earn a higher income.
South Korean arrested for trafficking Thai women for sex trade
Singaporean Jaafar falls into the same category. She failed to complete the Primary School Leaving Examination and has limited job options.
“Postnatal and body therapist, telemarketing, factory worker, cashier, stall assistant,” she says when asked about her previous jobs. She entered the sex trade 12 years ago when she needed to support her children after getting divorced.
“It is clearly not easy work, but they are caught in a very difficult place,” says Nicholas Harrigan, a sociologist from the Singapore Management University. “I would think the ethical thing to do is to look at how we can make their work safer and less precarious.”
They should be able to ply their trade safely, without harassment, and with dignity, Harrigan says.
After all, says Jaafar: “I am not just a prostitute. I’m actually a professional entertainer for the men in Singapore.”
Friday, 29 Jun 2018, 1:55PM
“Owning a brothel, pimping, online advertising of sex work, recruiting a woman, all are illegal,” says Vanessa Ho, director of sex worker advocacy group Project X. Soliciting prostitution in public places is also illegal in the Lion City.
On the sex-themed website Sammy Boy Forum, one escort agency advertises the services of Singaporean women. Alicia, a Singaporean Chinese purported to be 20, for example, is a “sweet and lovely student”. She weighs 45kg, is 1.62 metres tall, has a fair complexion, and costs S$650 a night – room not included. Alicia will do a house call for an additional S$50, but if a client finds her lacking on sight, he can reject her within five minutes, and pay a fee of S$50.
Assuming she works five days a week – and is booked up each night – Alicia is raking in about S$13,000 a month.
Scarlet, a 21-year-old student who became a “sugar baby” three years ago, explains the legalities and realities of prostitution. “If the sex worker isn’t attached to an agency, 100 per cent of the money goes to her,” she says. “However, if the lady is attached to an agency, the agency’s cut can range from 20 per cent to 70 per cent. But even as an independent worker, a good amount of my earnings is spent on advertising.”
Hong Kong rapist who researched robbing prostitutes online jailed for 11 years
Although Singapore does not stick too closely to the letter of the law, there are crackdowns. In May, 32-year-old Roderic Chen Hao Ren was sentenced to two years in jail and fined S$83,000 for operating a “virtual brothel” – a website advertising the sexual services of women at rates ranging from S$450 to S$600 an hour. He reportedly took 40 per cent of the women’s earnings.
Last year, Quek Choon Leong, 34, was jailed for 33 months for running a vice ring of 32 prostitutes, supported by his wife and 10 other staff.
Trying to eradicate vice is always a futile effort
Vanessa Ho
In another indication of how the government is trying to keep a lid on illegal activity, the Ministry of Home Affairs said last month it had recorded a 40 per cent rise in the number of unlicensed massage parlours in Singapore between 2013 and 2016. These establishments, the ministry said, are often a front for vice activities.
Its findings prompted the introduction of a new Massage Establishment Bill to clamp down harder on operators, increasing fines tenfold to S$10,000, and introducing prison sentences of up to two years. The bill just has had its first reading.
Licensed brothels are allowed to operate in designated areas such as Geylang. Photo: AlamyIn an attempt to regulate the sex trade, Singapore allows licensed brothels to operate in designated areas. The licensing process, controlled by the police, is murky and the number of establishments is not made public.
Ho describes the practice as part of the police’s “ring fencing” tactic for keeping prostitution in check. “Trying to eradicate vice is always a futile effort,” she says. “It is more important to allow zones for such activities.”
She estimates the number of licensed brothels at between 80 and 90, based on listings on the Sammy Boy website, where clients share prices and rate the women’s services.
Women working these brothels are also required to hold a licence, issued by police. They are given a yellow card bearing their name and photo, and results of the regular check-ups they are required to have, for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Prostitutes are licensed in Singapore, but other women work illegally in the trade. Photo: Alamy
The licensing of brothels is controversial because they operate in so-called designated red-light areas, where the law against pimping is not enforced, critics say. (These areas include the Geylang district, Keong Saik Road, Flanders Square and Desker Road.)
They argue that the brothels operate counter to the Women’s Charter, an act passed in Singapore in 1961 that prohibits knowingly living “wholly or in part on the earnings of the prostitution of another person”, and carries a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine not exceeding S$10,000.
“It is not just a grey area. It flies in the face of the rule of law,” Ho says.
Sex worker abuse ‘on the rise’ in Hong Kong and most of the alleged abusers are police officers
Dr Nicolas Lainez, who wrote a 2011 report for the Vietnam-based Alliance Anti-Trafic, wrote that the brothel owners’ profit is not considered a cut from sexual services but a charge for room rentals, among other costs.
“This subterfuge allows the brothel owners to circumvent the law that states that living on the earnings of prostitution is an offence as stipulated in the Women’s Charter,” he says.
Another place in Asia where prostitution is legal is Hong Kong, which also forbids soliciting, causing or helping another person to be a prostitute, and living off the earnings of a prostitute. However, there are no licensed brothels in Hong Kong, nor designated red-light areas. Wan Chai, on Hong Kong Island, has long been the unofficial red-light district, with bars and discos popular among Western clients, while Mong Kok in Kowloon is known more among locals for its illegal brothels and streetwalkers.
I am not just a prostitute. I’m actually a professional entertainer for the men in Singapore
Lisa Jaafar
In 2016, Hong Kong accounting sector lawmaker Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong suggested the government establish a legal red-light district to consolidate and confine the sex industry. Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu rejected the suggestion, saying prostitution in the city was already under control. He said setting up an official red light district would mean require big changes in government policy on the issue.
Unlike Singapore, Hong Kong does not outlaw classified ads for prostitution or websites that allow clients to make appointments. Sex workers get around the brothel rule by servicing clients in “one-woman brothels” that they can claim is their flat.
Despite the existence of licensed brothels in Singapore, many women still end up working illegally, including in an unknown number of unlicensed brothels. Some have even been found operating in public housing estates, The Straits Timesreported last month.
Despite its prudish reputation – the government bans adult magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse – Singapore allows prostitution in designated areas, of which Geylang is the largest and best known. Photo: AFPThere is clearly a demand for prostitutes in Singapore, Ho says, and women keep coming to the city from nearby countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and China.
Project X says there are many informal sex workers who work only occasionally, making it difficult to estimate the number. Two years ago, police arrested more than 5,000 unlicensed sex workers – mostly foreign women visiting on tourist visas.
Lainez says many are poorly educated with low-paying jobs back home. They came to Singapore for sex work to earn a higher income.
South Korean arrested for trafficking Thai women for sex trade
Singaporean Jaafar falls into the same category. She failed to complete the Primary School Leaving Examination and has limited job options.
“Postnatal and body therapist, telemarketing, factory worker, cashier, stall assistant,” she says when asked about her previous jobs. She entered the sex trade 12 years ago when she needed to support her children after getting divorced.
“It is clearly not easy work, but they are caught in a very difficult place,” says Nicholas Harrigan, a sociologist from the Singapore Management University. “I would think the ethical thing to do is to look at how we can make their work safer and less precarious.”
They should be able to ply their trade safely, without harassment, and with dignity, Harrigan says.
After all, says Jaafar: “I am not just a prostitute. I’m actually a professional entertainer for the men in Singapore.”
wtF
this time it is not the chinks ?
those chink haters definitely must self masturbate
to relieve their frustration
The charbors from club kingdom disco nearby
Kim Chee land is richer and more developed than singkieland as they are a world class manufacturing hub,,,anyway it shows pap the best if singkieland more economically well off than kim chee land
Don’t be surprised your Chiobu Kimchi Escort is double degree holder!
South Korea's latest big export: Jobless college graduates
13 May 2019 09:27AM
Asia
SEOUL: Cho Min-kyong boasts an engineering degree from one of South Korea's top universities, a school design award and a near-perfect score in her English proficiency test.
But she had all but given up hope of finding a job when all her 10 applications, including one to Hyundai Motor, were rejected in 2016.
Help came unexpectedly from neighbouring Japan six months later: Cho got job offers from Nissan Motor and two other Japanese companies after a job fair hosted by the South Korean government to match the country's skilled labour with overseas employers.
"It's not that I wasn't good enough. There are just too many job seekers like me, that's why everyone just fails," said the 27-year-old, who now works in Atsugi, an hour southwest of Tokyo, as a car seat engineer for Nissan.
"There are numerous more opportunities outside Korea."
Jobseekers look at recruitment advertisements during the 2018 Japan Job Fair in Seoul, South Korea, November 7, 2018. Picture taken on November 7, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
Facing an unprecedented job crunch at home, many young South Koreans are now signing up for government-sponsored programmes designed to find overseas positions for a growing number of jobless college graduates in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
State-run programmes such as K-move, rolled out to connect young Koreans to "quality jobs" in 70 countries, found overseas jobs for 5,783 graduates last year, more than triple the number in 2013, its first year.
Almost one-third went to Japan, which is undergoing a historic labour shortage with unemployment at a 26-year low, while a quarter went to the United States, where the jobless rate dropped to the lowest in nearly half a century in April.
There are no strings attached. Unlike similar programmes in places such as Singapore that come with an obligation to return and work for the government for up to six years, attendees of South Korea's programmes are neither required to return, nor work for the state in the future.
"Brain drain isn't the government's immediate worry. Rather, it's more urgent to prevent them from sliding into poverty" even if it means pushing them abroad, said Kim Chul-ju, deputy dean at the Asian Development Bank Institute.
In 2018, South Korea generated the smallest number of jobs since the global financial crisis, only 97,000.
Nearly one in five young Koreans was out of work as of 2013, higher than the average 16 per cent among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In March, one in every four Koreans in the 15-29 age group was not employed either by choice or due to the lack of jobs, according to government data.
LABOUR MISMATCH
While India and other countries face similar challenges in creating jobs for skilled labour, the dominance of family-run conglomerates known as chaebol makes South Korea uniquely vulnerable.
The top 10 conglomerates including world-class brands such as Samsung and Hyundai, make up half of South Korea's total market capitalization.
But only 13 per cent of the country's workforce is employed by firms with more than 250 employees, the second-lowest after Greece in the OECD, and far below the 47 per cent in Japan. "The big companies have mastered a business model to survive without boosting hiring," as labour costs rise and firing legacy workers remains difficult, said Kim So-young, an economics professor at Seoul National University.
A jobseeker looks at a booth during the 2018 Japan Job Fair in Seoul, South Korea, November 7, 2018. Picture taken November 7, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
Yet while increasing numbers of college graduates are moving overseas for work, South Korea is bringing in more foreigners to solve another labour problem – an acute shortage of blue collar workers.
South Korea has the most highly educated youth in the OECD, with three-quarters of high school students going to college, compared with the average of 44.5 per cent.
"South Korea is paying the price for its overprotection of top-tier jobs and education fervour that produced a flood of people wanting only that small number of top jobs," said Ban Ga-woon, a labour market researcher at state-run Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training.
Even amid a glut of over-educated and under-employed graduates, most refuse to "get their hands dirty", says Lim Chae-wook, who manages a factory making cable trays that employs 90 people in Ansan, southwest of Seoul. "Locals simply don’t want this job cause they think it's degrading, so we're forced to hire a lot of foreign workers," Lim said, pointing to nearly two dozen workers from the Philippines, Vietnam and China working in safety masks behind welding machines.
Jobseekers wait during the 2018 Japan Job Fair in Seoul, South Korea, November 7, 2018. Picture taken on November 7, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
In the southwestern city of Gwangju, Kim Yong-gu, the chief executive of Kia Motor supplier Hyundai Hitech, says foreign workers are more expensive but he has no choice as he can't find enough locals to fill vacancies.
"We pay for accommodation, meals and other utility costs in order not to lose them to another factory," said Kim. Out of a staff of 70, 13 are Indonesian nationals, who sleep and eat at a building next to his factory.
NO HAPPY ENDING FOR EVERYONE
For those who escaped Korea's tough job market, not all has been rosy.
Several people who found overseas jobs with government help say they ended up taking menial work, such as dishwashing in Taiwan and meat processing in rural Australia, or were misinformed about pay and conditions.
Lee Sun-hyung, a 30-year old athletics major, used K-move to go to Sydney to work as a swim coach in 2017 but earned less than A$600 (US$419) a month, one-third what her government handlers told her in Seoul.
"It wasn't what I had hoped for. I could not even afford to pay rent," said Lee, who ended up cleaning windows at a fashion store part-time before she returned home broke less than a year later.
Officials say they are making a "black list" of employers and improving the vetting process to prevent recurrence of such cases. The labour ministry also established a "support and reporting centre" to better respond to problems.
A jobseeker stands as he gets into the 2018 Japan Job Fair in Seoul, South Korea, November 7, 2018. Picture taken on November 7, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
Many on the programmes lose touch once they go overseas. Almost 90 per cent of the graduates who went abroad with the government's help between 2013 and 2016 didn't respond to the labour ministry's requests about their whereabouts or changed their contact details, a 2017 survey showed.
Still, the grim job market at home is driving more Koreans to the programme every year. The government has also increased relevant budget to support rising demand - from 57.4 billion won (US$48.9 million) in 2015 to 76.8 billion won in 2018, data released by lawmaker Kim Jung-hoon shows.
"The government isn't scaling up this project to the extent we would worry about brain drain," said Huh Chang, head of the development finance bureau at South Korea's finance ministry, which co-manages state-run vocational training programmes with the labour ministry. Rather, the focus was on meeting growing demand for overseas experience given so many graduates are outside the workforce, Huh added.
A jobseeker looks at recruitment advertisements during the 2018 Japan Job Fair in Seoul, South Korea, November 7, 2018. Picture taken on November 7, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
A hopeful scenario would be for the economy to one day make use of the resources these graduates bring home as experienced returnees, Huh said.
For 28-year-old K-move alumni Lee Jae-young, that feels like a distant prospect.
"The one year abroad added a line in my resume, but that was about it," said Lee, who returned to Korea in February after working as a cook at the JW Marriott hotel in Texas. "I'm back home and still looking for a job."
South Korea's latest big export: Jobless college graduates
13 May 2019 09:27AM
Asia
SEOUL: Cho Min-kyong boasts an engineering degree from one of South Korea's top universities, a school design award and a near-perfect score in her English proficiency test.
But she had all but given up hope of finding a job when all her 10 applications, including one to Hyundai Motor, were rejected in 2016.
Help came unexpectedly from neighbouring Japan six months later: Cho got job offers from Nissan Motor and two other Japanese companies after a job fair hosted by the South Korean government to match the country's skilled labour with overseas employers.
"It's not that I wasn't good enough. There are just too many job seekers like me, that's why everyone just fails," said the 27-year-old, who now works in Atsugi, an hour southwest of Tokyo, as a car seat engineer for Nissan.
"There are numerous more opportunities outside Korea."
Facing an unprecedented job crunch at home, many young South Koreans are now signing up for government-sponsored programmes designed to find overseas positions for a growing number of jobless college graduates in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
State-run programmes such as K-move, rolled out to connect young Koreans to "quality jobs" in 70 countries, found overseas jobs for 5,783 graduates last year, more than triple the number in 2013, its first year.
Almost one-third went to Japan, which is undergoing a historic labour shortage with unemployment at a 26-year low, while a quarter went to the United States, where the jobless rate dropped to the lowest in nearly half a century in April.
There are no strings attached. Unlike similar programmes in places such as Singapore that come with an obligation to return and work for the government for up to six years, attendees of South Korea's programmes are neither required to return, nor work for the state in the future.
"Brain drain isn't the government's immediate worry. Rather, it's more urgent to prevent them from sliding into poverty" even if it means pushing them abroad, said Kim Chul-ju, deputy dean at the Asian Development Bank Institute.
In 2018, South Korea generated the smallest number of jobs since the global financial crisis, only 97,000.
Nearly one in five young Koreans was out of work as of 2013, higher than the average 16 per cent among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In March, one in every four Koreans in the 15-29 age group was not employed either by choice or due to the lack of jobs, according to government data.
LABOUR MISMATCH
While India and other countries face similar challenges in creating jobs for skilled labour, the dominance of family-run conglomerates known as chaebol makes South Korea uniquely vulnerable.
The top 10 conglomerates including world-class brands such as Samsung and Hyundai, make up half of South Korea's total market capitalization.
But only 13 per cent of the country's workforce is employed by firms with more than 250 employees, the second-lowest after Greece in the OECD, and far below the 47 per cent in Japan. "The big companies have mastered a business model to survive without boosting hiring," as labour costs rise and firing legacy workers remains difficult, said Kim So-young, an economics professor at Seoul National University.
Yet while increasing numbers of college graduates are moving overseas for work, South Korea is bringing in more foreigners to solve another labour problem – an acute shortage of blue collar workers.
South Korea has the most highly educated youth in the OECD, with three-quarters of high school students going to college, compared with the average of 44.5 per cent.
"South Korea is paying the price for its overprotection of top-tier jobs and education fervour that produced a flood of people wanting only that small number of top jobs," said Ban Ga-woon, a labour market researcher at state-run Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training.
Even amid a glut of over-educated and under-employed graduates, most refuse to "get their hands dirty", says Lim Chae-wook, who manages a factory making cable trays that employs 90 people in Ansan, southwest of Seoul. "Locals simply don’t want this job cause they think it's degrading, so we're forced to hire a lot of foreign workers," Lim said, pointing to nearly two dozen workers from the Philippines, Vietnam and China working in safety masks behind welding machines.
Jobseekers wait during the 2018 Japan Job Fair in Seoul, South Korea, November 7, 2018. Picture taken on November 7, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
In the southwestern city of Gwangju, Kim Yong-gu, the chief executive of Kia Motor supplier Hyundai Hitech, says foreign workers are more expensive but he has no choice as he can't find enough locals to fill vacancies.
"We pay for accommodation, meals and other utility costs in order not to lose them to another factory," said Kim. Out of a staff of 70, 13 are Indonesian nationals, who sleep and eat at a building next to his factory.
NO HAPPY ENDING FOR EVERYONE
For those who escaped Korea's tough job market, not all has been rosy.
Several people who found overseas jobs with government help say they ended up taking menial work, such as dishwashing in Taiwan and meat processing in rural Australia, or were misinformed about pay and conditions.
Lee Sun-hyung, a 30-year old athletics major, used K-move to go to Sydney to work as a swim coach in 2017 but earned less than A$600 (US$419) a month, one-third what her government handlers told her in Seoul.
"It wasn't what I had hoped for. I could not even afford to pay rent," said Lee, who ended up cleaning windows at a fashion store part-time before she returned home broke less than a year later.
Officials say they are making a "black list" of employers and improving the vetting process to prevent recurrence of such cases. The labour ministry also established a "support and reporting centre" to better respond to problems.
A jobseeker stands as he gets into the 2018 Japan Job Fair in Seoul, South Korea, November 7, 2018. Picture taken on November 7, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
Many on the programmes lose touch once they go overseas. Almost 90 per cent of the graduates who went abroad with the government's help between 2013 and 2016 didn't respond to the labour ministry's requests about their whereabouts or changed their contact details, a 2017 survey showed.
Still, the grim job market at home is driving more Koreans to the programme every year. The government has also increased relevant budget to support rising demand - from 57.4 billion won (US$48.9 million) in 2015 to 76.8 billion won in 2018, data released by lawmaker Kim Jung-hoon shows.
"The government isn't scaling up this project to the extent we would worry about brain drain," said Huh Chang, head of the development finance bureau at South Korea's finance ministry, which co-manages state-run vocational training programmes with the labour ministry. Rather, the focus was on meeting growing demand for overseas experience given so many graduates are outside the workforce, Huh added.
A jobseeker looks at recruitment advertisements during the 2018 Japan Job Fair in Seoul, South Korea, November 7, 2018. Picture taken on November 7, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
A hopeful scenario would be for the economy to one day make use of the resources these graduates bring home as experienced returnees, Huh said.
For 28-year-old K-move alumni Lee Jae-young, that feels like a distant prospect.
"The one year abroad added a line in my resume, but that was about it," said Lee, who returned to Korea in February after working as a cook at the JW Marriott hotel in Texas. "I'm back home and still looking for a job."
South Korea saw the number of jobless people surge by 43.3 percent, or 394,000 individuals, over the previous three months -- from 909,000 in November 2018 to 1.303 million as of February 2019, according to Statistics Korea. The number continued to rise during the cited period -- 944,000 in December 2018 and 1.224 million in January 2019.
4 ducks vs. 1 gook and 2 sinkies: 6.9 times the trouble.
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