Karnali to Korea dream dashed in Kathmandu

Sujan Rawat had come to Kathmandu from Karnali in the hope of somehow making it to Korea to pay off family debt. His dreams and that of his family back home was dashed on Friday on the Ring Road in Kathmandu.

He was one of the two aspirants hoping to go to Korea who were killed in a police charge at Balkumari in Lalitpur.

Applicants for Korea jobs had gathered at the Korean Employment Permit System (EPS) office in Balkumari to protest a recent decision that disallowed them from applying for a mandatory Korean language test. 

The angry protesters set fire to the car of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala. As the violence intensified, riot police was deployed to control the situation. They charged the agitators with batons as well as firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

Rawal had left his room earlier in the morning looking for his older brother who had also joined the protest. Having arrived in Kathmandu just a week before, Rawat did not know his way around but managed to reach Balkumari.

Rawat was just walking on his side of the road when the police suddenly charged at him, said Roshan Katuwal, a relative.

“He wasn’t there to protest, he was minding his own business when the police took him for one of the demonstrators,” he told Nepali Times. “A heavy blow to his chest is what killed him.”

Rawat was taken to the nearby KIST Hospital but there wasn't much doctors could do to save his life.

“He was brought in unconscious at 12:40PM, he succumbed to his injuries at 1:17PM while undergoing treatment,” Amish Pathak, executive officer of KIST Hospital told us. “He had a blue bruise on his chest.”

Rawat had followed his older brother to Kathmandu from Dailekh Bazar where his family ran a small shop. But when his father was diagnosed with a brain tumor, the family could not afford treatment. They incurred debts, the responsibility of which had fallen on Rawat to clear.

“His father passed away less than a year ago and now this has befallen the family,” added Katuwal. Rawat has a mother and a younger sister and a brother back home who had all their hopes pinned on Rawat.

Rawat himself wanted to continue his studies after completing high school. But his family situation meant he didn't see any other option but to migrate overseas to pay off the loans. 

As soon as he reached Kathmandu, Rawat enrolled himself in a Korean language class and was preparing for the EPS exam.

Birendra Shah of Achham was seriously injured in the police charge on Friday, and taken to Patan Hospital but he died during the treatment.

The government has announced Rs1 million in compensation for the families of Rawat and Shah, as well as suspension of the key security officials involved until further investigations.

The protest was triggered by a notice published by the EPS office which stated that for the applicants to be eligible to apply for the test, they should not have done so in 2023.

In many ways, the protest is a representation of the frustration and desperation of the youths against the political system that does not even ensure basic rights and jobs to the people. Oftentimes, labour migration is their only hope.

Following the notice, 12 individuals including Tarka Bahadur Paul filed a writ in the Patan High Court on 28 December. The single bench of Judge Chandramani Gyawali gave an interim order not to stop anyone from filling out the application form for the Korean language test, stating that it was a violation of their rights.

The court's order states, '...as the petition presented by these petitioners will be addressed during the final hearing, from the point of view of the irreparable damage to the petitioners and inconvenience, it is not reasonable to deprive the petitioners of filling the application form, and interested persons of the same nature as the petitioners...'

As per the order, all the agitating youths will now be able to apply for the EPS exam. But Rawat and Shah will have lost their lives in vain.

There are about 80,000 Nepali migrant workers in Korea’s farms and factories and their situation is better than other countries in the Gulf. Salaries are higher and labour rights are guaranteed.

Which is why there is such high demand from Nepali migrants for jobs in Korea. The EPS exam system is supposed to streamline the selection process, but it ended up costing the lives of two promising young lads.