People fill out application forms for job interviews at a job fair in Seoul in this June photo. (Image credit: Yonhap / Korea Times)

Korea’s Ministry of Labor cancels job fair for Japanese companies

The diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea become worse day by day. Japan has officially removed South Korea from its whitelist of trusted trading partners on Friday and retaliation is now apparently coming from Seoul to Tokyo.

On Monday, South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor announced to cancel a job fair on September for Japanese companies as a response of Shinzo Abe administration’s decision.

The Seoul Career Vision was scheduled to be conducted in the country’s two biggest cities, Seoul (24 Sept) and Busan (26 Sept). The September’s job fair is a collaboration between The Ministry of Employment and Labor with Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) alongside Korea’s Human Resources Development Services.

In recent years, companies from Japan always participate in the job fair together with other foreign companies with privilege large portion. Even last year, the events were only for Japanese corporations.

The ministry’s decision to scrap a job fair for Japanese firms leads to frustration from online employment communities.

However, the government will keep supporting young people and job seekers who are planning and preparing to work for Japanese firms.

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, 5,783 Koreans reportedly worked in abroad and 1,828 (32 percent) of them were hired by Japanese firms.

With the removal of South Korea from Japan’s whitelist, anti-Japan sentiment in the country is increasing.

Previously, the country was surprised by the appearance of an online community named No No Japan on July 11. The online community becomes a platform for Korean to share information about Japanese brands. In this platform, users can publish a list of Korean products as the substitution of Japanese goods.

South Korea internet users also use #BoycottJapan hashtag to support the boycotts movement in the country.

Source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2019/08/371_273428.html