Patriotism vs pay packet: Japan-South Korea tensions test migrant workers
- Japan has offered myriad opportunities for young South Koreans struggling to secure a foot on the career ladder in recent years
- But diplomatic tensions between the two neighbours threaten to derail the plans of some jobseekers
Recruiters say Koreans are giving Japan the cold shoulder and Japanese companies are staying away from Korean job fairs, as Seoul and Tokyo remain at loggerheads over trade and historical disputes.
The twice-yearly Seoul Career Vision job fair this autumn has been postponed from September to November to allow time to secure companies from Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia in the absence of many Japanese participants. At the last event in the spring, 115 of its 184 firms came from Japan.
Meanwhile, 72 per cent of Korean jobseekers recently surveyed by an employment agency in Seoul expressed a negative outlook on working in Japan. Some 36 per cent said they had ditched prior plans to work there, and 25 per cent said they would now not accept any job offer from a Japanese company.
Korec, a recruitment agency that connects Japanese firms with soon-to-be college graduates in South Korea, has cancelled its monthly recruitment event for September.
“Some Japanese companies have been hesitant to visit South Korea as the bilateral conflict lingers on,” said Japanese CEO Kasugai Moe.
