Yeoncheon-gun and Jeongok Nonghyup Send Off and Encourage Public Seasonal Workers

Yeoncheon County in Gyeonggi Province and Jeongok Nonghyup announced on the 22nd that they held a farewell ceremony on the 21st ahead of the departure of Vietnamese public seasonal workers.

Kim Deok-hyun, Yeoncheon County Governor (left), and Choi Jong-cheol, President of Jeongok Nonghyup, are taking a commemorative photo after holding a farewell ceremony ahead of the departure of Vietnamese public seasonal workers on the 21st. Provided by Yeoncheon County

The farewell ceremony was attended by Kim Deok-hyun, Governor of Yeoncheon County; Choi Jong-cheol, Chairman of Jeongok Nonghyup; Yoo Heung-kyung, Executive Director; Lee Soo-kyung, Executive Director of Economics; Kim Gwan-jong, Head of Yeoncheon County Agricultural Policy Division; Lee Yoon-gyu, President of Yeoncheon County Agricultural Association; and other Nonghyup officials and agricultural policy staff, who encouraged the workers.

This year, the ‘Public Seasonal Worker’ project, introduced for the first time through cooperation between Yeoncheon County and Jeongok Nonghyup, was successfully completed with an operating rate of 98%, thanks to the positive response from farming households.

The Public Seasonal Worker project is a system where Nonghyup hires foreign seasonal workers and dispatches them daily to farms that request labor, with the farms paying Nonghyup a daily usage fee. This project addresses short-term and discontinuous labor demands.

Farming households are relieved from the burden of providing lodging and meals, and can use labor at a reasonable price compared to the soaring fees in the private labor market, thereby reducing labor costs.

From May to November, a total of 2,898 foreign workers were active on 1,394 farms.

Choi Jong-cheol, Chairman of Jeongok Nonghyup, said, “We are grateful that the workers came to Yeoncheon County this year and greatly helped with rural labor. The workers have been praised by farms for their diligence and high proficiency in farm work. We hope they will come to Yeoncheon County again next year to work.”

A Yeoncheon County official stated, “Together with Jeongok Nonghyup, we provided accommodation using the Experience Village Education Center to help workers adapt early and create a stable working environment. In 2025, we are carrying out a remodeling project for foreign worker accommodations due to an increase in workers and the operation of a communal kitchen facility.”