The labor ministry held a public forum in Seoul on Thursday on the introduction of a system to employ domestic workers from overseas.

The move comes after the ministry unveiled plans late last year for a trial run of a measure in which a state-authorized business hires domestic workers from other countries and offers services.

Currently, only Chinese of Korean descent, spouses of a permanent resident in the nation and spouses of Korean nationals who have the proper visa are permitted to be hired as domestic workers.

If the government introduces the employment system, domestic workers from Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, will be allowed to take up the position in South Korean households.

The head of the labor ministry’s Foreign Workforce Division, Lee Sang-lim, said the government will comprehensively consider the experiences of other countries, the situation in the nation’s labor market and public opinion on ways to introduce such an employment system given that the nation has never had such a procedure before.