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| yna@yna.co.kr 2026-09-11 09:00:38
By Jeong Ah-ran
ULSAN, GIMHAE, ANSAN, South Korea, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- At a shipyard in Bangeojin, Dong District, Ulsan, on June 22, a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier was taking shape in one of the docks on the sprawling 6.36 million-square-meter (1.92 million-pyeong) site lined with Goliath cranes.
Mavloniy Fayorzjon, 32, wearing an orange hard hat, safety goggles and safety shoes, steadied himself on a structure 5 meters above the ground. As he tightened a wire with a tool known as a "sino" in his gloved hands, a 2-meter-long steel work platform gradually pressed against the ship's hull. Looking up at him, Jeong Jong-guk, a site manager at Daemyung SNS, a subcontractor, raised his voice over the noise.
"Our Payo is really good. He's as good as a Korean worker."
Fayorzjon, known as "Payo," is from Uzbekistan. Since joining the scaffolding support division in May 2023, he has installed and dismantled temporary work platforms on ships so other workers can work safely. Two of the six members of his team are Korean and four are from Uzbekistan. Working on an average of 18-20 platforms a day, Fayorzjon smiled and said, "I feel a sense of accomplishment when I see the ship completed safely," adding, "This job suits me perfectly."
Workers from Central Asia, including Fayorzjon, are no longer merely "auxiliary labor" filling gaps in the workforce. The common view at industrial sites is that these workers, most of them in their 20s and 30s, have become a pillar supporting South Korea's root industries. Unlike in the past, workers from Central Asia can now be found across the country performing skilled tasks beyond simple, repetitive work or serving as middle managers on teams. Yonhap News Agency has traveled through Ulsan, Gimhae and Ansan since June to report on their work and lives.
◇ From skilled shipyard workers to factory foremen in Gimhae
At the Ulsan shipyard visited earlier, migrant workers account for about 20 percent of the entire workforce, including subcontractors. Workers from Central Asia make up 10 percent of that figure. Korean workers who left shipyards during the industry downturn in the 2010s did not return even after the market recovered, leaving foreign workers to fill the gap. Jeong, who has worked in the shipbuilding industry since 1998, said, "There used to be many workers from Vietnam and Mongolia, but these days the number of workers from Central Asia has increased considerably."
Humoyun, 32, from Tajikistan, is in his sixth year at the shipyard. A member of the pre-painting department, he has worked as a lead spray painter for more than three years. Painting, which involves applying additional coats to prevent steel plates from oxidizing and corroding, is a skilled job requiring precise control of the thickness and condition of the paint film.
"At first, I spent more than a year working as an assistant and preparing the paint mix. I worked as an assistant below and became interested in spray work while watching others."
He said, "If the paint film inspection doesn't pass, we have to go back into the block and do the work again," adding, "Now I can tell right away how much I need to spray for it to pass." He first came to South Korea in 2017 to study at a university in Daegu, and his Korean was fluent.
Several migrant workers from Central Asia, including Tajiks and Uzbeks, are also members of his 12-person team. At a team-based toolbox meeting (TBM) before work, a Korean team leader said, "When foreign workers join, we usually have to turn on a translation app on our phones or call an interpreter, but Humoyun speaks Korean so well that we have him do the interpreting as well."
The presence of Central Asian migrant workers is particularly significant at small and micro-sized companies.
The outskirts of Gimhae, including Hallim-myeon, Jinye-myeon and Jinyeong-eup, are home to the country's second-largest concentration of small and micro-sized companies. According to Gimhae City, businesses with 10 or fewer employees account for 81.7 percent of all companies. Many Korean workers at these companies are well past retirement age. Young Central Asian workers are filling the vacancies left by the aging Korean workforce.
Baek Sultan, 23, from Kyrgyzstan, is one of them. He was met at the Gimhae Support Center for Foreign Workers on July 26. Working at Donggyeong Chemical, a manufacturer of shoe components in Hallim-myeon, he serves as a foreman.
Baek, who came to South Korea two years ago, worked at the company's second plant before moving to the first plant, where he currently works. On his days off, he devotes himself to studying Korean at the foreign workers' support center. An 80-year-old Korean colleague who had worked with him handed over the foreman's position, telling him, "You learn well, so you should become the foreman." The position thus passed to a junior worker young enough to be his grandson. At the factory, where Korean and foreign workers are paired one-on-one, generations were being connected across nationalities.
◇ From planning to return home after earning money to bringing families to South Korea
The rise in the number of migrant workers from Central Asia is also reflected in government statistics.
According to the Ministry of Justice's "December 2024 Statistics on Foreign Residents," Uzbekistan ranked fifth with 94,893 residents, or 3.6 percent, following China (36.2 percent), Vietnam (11.5 percent), Thailand (7.1 percent) and the United States (6.4 percent). Uzbekistan's rise into the top five from outside the top 10 in the past shows the growing share of Central Asian workers at industrial sites in South Korea.
The Central Asian share is also growing through official channels for labor migration. On July 14, the Ministry of Employment and Labor newly designated Kazakhstan as the 18th country to send workers to South Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS). Of the five Central Asian countries, this brings to four the number able to send workers to South Korea, up from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Kazakh workers are expected to enter South Korean industrial workplaces starting in 2028.
In particular, more Central Asian migrant workers who once came primarily for short-term employment and remittances are now planning long-term stays and bringing their families with them.
Kasanbek, 36, who works at Buguk Precision, an auto parts company in Jinye-myeon, Gimhae, switched last year from an E-9 nonprofessional employment visa to an E-7 specific activities visa that allows him to invite his family. "I'm working hard to save money to bring my wife and our two children, who are 8 and 6, from Uzbekistan," he said. Kasanbek came to South Korea 14 years ago at the recommendation of his older brother, who had arrived in the country earlier and was working at a company in Juchon-myeon, Gimhae.
Shin Ji-yoon, head of the education team at the Gimhae Support Center for Foreign Workers, said, "Without foreign workers, factory operations would come to a complete halt, so companies are trying in every way to help them settle here," adding, "Employers are becoming more proactive in helping foreign workers change their visas to E-7 visas."
Shin said some employers actively support employees in completing the Korea Immigration and Integration Program (KIIP), which is required for a visa change, including allowing them to attend weekday courses at Gimhae University.
Fayorzjon, whom Yonhap met in Ulsan, also said, "My goal is to settle here," adding, "I want my two sons, who are 5 and 2, to study in South Korea." He is studying Korean and completing the KIIP in preparation for changing to an E-7 visa.
As communication skills are directly linked to workplace safety and proficiency, companies are also stepping up their efforts. One shipbuilding company in Ulsan worked with the University of Ulsan to develop its own Korean-language assessment system and has operated education and evaluation programs since December 2024.
More workers are also settling in South Korea. Humoyun, whom Yonhap met earlier, lives in Bangeojin with his wife and their two children, ages 4 and 2. The only foreign member of an early-morning soccer team in Dong District, Ulsan, thanks to his outstanding soccer skills, he said, "I plan to keep living in South Korea."
airan@yna.co.kr
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