From Laos to S. Korea: Global help cultivates local fields

In other news.

May is an especially busy month for farmers here and seasonal workers from neighboring countries are offering much-needed assistance.

Our Park Kun-woo tells us more.

A vast area of crop fields stretches across Cheongyang-gun County in Chungcheongnam-do Province – a countryside region where farming is central.

It's easy to find land and vinyl greenhouses here, but much harder to find people to farm them, especially in May, Korea's peak farming season.

That's a sharp contrast to the past, when entire villages in rural regions worked side by side in the traditional "dure" system during busy times.

But with Korea's aging population and younger people moving to cities, rural labor shortages have become a growing challenge.

That's where new helping hands are stepping in – foreign "seasonal workers" employed legally under Korea's E-8 visa program from 2017.

Dressed in farming gear, those workers began their work early, braving the heat and humidity.

On this day, they cleared frost-protection plastic from the soil and carried heavy metal pipes used to support crops, all while wading through muddy fields.

"I've only been working alongside them in this pepper field for a few minutes, and I'm already starting to sweat. But it's these foreign workers who help local farmers do this every single day."

Though language can be a barrier, many see this as a chance to learn.

"Working here isn't too hard, especially knowing I can send money home to my family. Communication can be difficult at times, but I'm learning a lot, using farming machines and new techniques that I hope to take back and use on my own farm someday."

And farmers describe their help as vital.

"They're like lifelines for us. Without this workforce, farming in our rural community simply couldn't continue. Without their help, my wife and I could only manage a much smaller piece of land."

Due to its popularity, the number of these workers is growing, with nearly 70-thousand foreign seasonal workers coming to Korea this year alone, thousands more than the year before.

Local governments are expanding agreements with other cities abroad and even considering longer-term visas.

While the spring remains busy in the countryside, the shoulders of local farmers bearing the weight of our food supply are now a little lighter, thanks to help from afar.

Park Kun-woo, Arirang News, Cheongyang.