South Korea’s Woori Bank yesterday
opened a lounge for migrant workers from Mongolia at its Gwanghi-dong branch in
downtown Seoul. It is intended to act as a sort of shelter for
Mongolians, and is equipped with about 300 books and a variety of CDs and DVDs
in Mongolian. A bank spokesman said any Mongolian worker is allowed to use the
facility free of charge. Free rental services are also available.

The lounge also provides visitors with basic Korean textbooks and Korean dictionaries to help them
access the nation’s culture and society. “I hope this small shelter will be a
space in which Mongolian workers relieve their homesickness and interchange
among themselves,” Woori Bank CEO Lee Chong-hwi said at the opening ceremony. He also promised to offer financial services suitable for expatriate employees and to be engaged in social contribution activities
for them.

Among those who participated in the opening event were Mongolian
Ambassador Gerel Dorjpalam, and O. Damdinsuren, a Mongolian-language
professor at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Unlike normal branches with
five-day workweek system, the branch is open on Sundays to offer services like foreign exchanges for Mongolian workers who don’t have time
to visit banks on weekdays.