Out of the total applicants, 3,663 candidates (6.2 percentage) have passed the test conducted by Human Resource Department (HRD) of EPS –Korea on September 26 and 27. Nine percent or 2,768 candidates passed the language test, securing 80 percent and above marks, for industrial sector, while 895 or 3.2 per cent passed for agricultural sector with marks equal to and above 78 per cent.

For the fifth round of EPS tests, 62,514 applicants had filled the application forms distributed in Kathmandu, Dharan and Butwal from August 13-16. Of them, 52,485 male candidates and 6285 female candidates appeared for the examinations.

Of the total pass candidates, 3463 males and only 200 females were able to clear the EPS language test. According to a Seoul-based Nepal Embassy official, the demand of female workers are low in Korea which could be the reason for less number of female candidates clearing the test.

EPS Nepal Director Dilli Ram Bastola said that all the procedures of the passed candidates will be completed within November- December and they could leave for Korea within January 2015.

The Korean government approves and finalises the yearly quota of the respective countries by the end of December.

The South Korean human resource department has allocated 5,700 jobs to Nepali workers for 2014 under the EPS. South Korea had hired 5,234 Nepali migrants in 2013. It has also increased the minimum salary of migrant workers by seven percent.

Nepali youths started to enter Korea as migrant workers after Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the South Korean government on July 31, 2007. Since then, nearly 22,000 Nepalis have found employment in the country through four EPS tests. South Korea is one of the most lucrative labour destinations for Nepali migrants.