Arghakhanchi, Sept. 11 -- When friends and neighbours began leaving for foreign jobs, Khem Pandey followed the same path. Twenty-two years ago, he left his village in Argha Beltari of Sandhikharka Municipality-10 for India, where he spent seven years working. He then moved to Malaysia and worked there for another six years.

After 13 years abroad, however, Pandey returned home with a different ambition: to build a livelihood in his own village.

He later prepared to go to South Korea in the hope of earning more. He studied Korean in Kathmandu, sat the language test and was selected. But when he learnt that he would have to work in the agricultural sector there, he reconsidered.

"If I was going to work on someone else's farm in South Kore...