South Korea has given Vietnam a quota of 12,500 laborers to be exported to the country under a government-to-government recruitment scheme this year, the highest among 15 countries included in the scheme.

The quota was mainly given in the fields of manufacturing, construction, agriculture and seafood, Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of Overseas Labor Management Department, said at a press conference in Hanoi on Monday.

According to Quynh, South Korea's Employment Permit System asks foreign workers to pass a Korean language test held by its labor ministry as one of the requirements.

Since it was initiated in 2004 to curb illegal recruitment of foreign labor, Vietnam has sent more than 43,000 laborers to Korea, and over 70 percent of them have had their contracts renewed.

Vietnamese workers were appreciated for their work ethic, intelligence and cleverness, said Lee Myung Hee, director general of South Korea Human Resources Development Agency.