The move comes just days after the arrest of 32-year-old Canadian Christopher Paul Neil, a suspected pedophile who taught at a school in Korea for three months before fleeing to Thailand this month.

There are currently 16,000 foreigners working in Korea as English teachers.

Over the past five years, over 800 foreign English instructors have been caught with forged degrees or having worked in Korea without proper visas. Some have even been found to have taught under the influence of drugs.

Lawmakers said Wednesday that the new law will scrutinize the criminal and medical histories of all education work visa applicants before a visa is granted.

Arirang News