Labor ministry awards 30 Koreans who rebuilt careers with state training cards

The labor ministry on Monday awarded 30 people who used the state-backed National Tomorrow Learning Card to change careers, with a former army officer who retrained as an accounting clerk taking the top prize, the ministry said.

The card funds vocational training for people seeking work or looking to improve their job skills. The contest, which accepted submissions from July 20 to Aug. 23, drew 619 entries — 596 written and 23 video — from which 30 winners were selected. Seven received ministerial awards.

The grand prize went to a man who served six years as a military officer and struggled to find work after discharge. Using the learning card, he earned three accounting qualifications, including a first-grade computerized tax accounting certificate, and landed a job in human resources and general affairs at a food manufacturer.

One studied artificial intelligence at night and on weekends while working a railway field job and became a key employee at an AI company; the other, a marriage immigrant, qualified as a nursing assistant and found work at a dermatology clinic.

Four other entrants received excellence awards, including a man in his 60s who closed the bicycle shop he had run for 20 years, earned forestry certifications and was rehired as a forest road manager, and a 20-something who moved from cafe manager to robot-company developer after completing a collaborative-robot course.

"The stories of this year's contest winners show that the National Tomorrow Learning Card can be a real help to people who want to take on new fields and find work," said Pyeon Do-in, director-general of the ministry's vocational skills policy bureau.

One trainee, quoted by the ministry, described the program as transformative: "I had only a university degree and nothing I could actually do, and this training gave me a foundation of skills, courage and confidence."

The ministry also released the results of a satisfaction survey of about 469,000 people who took part in vocational training last year. Overall satisfaction scored 9.20 points, up 0.10 point from 9.10 the previous year, and 89.9 percent of respondents said they would recommend their course.

The ministry said it will use the survey findings, including feedback on training content and hours, to improve courses and manage quality.