The Justice Ministry said they have stripped manufacturing giants Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Panasonic Corp. of accreditation to accept foreign trainees under the Technical Intern Training Program, for ordering such workers to perform tasks other than those specified in their contracts and other violations.
The violations, which also prompted accreditation to be revoked for two other companies, may cost the firms a chance to benefit from the nation's new blue-collar visa system aimed at addressing a national labor shortage.
The companies will be prohibited from accepting new foreign interns for the next five years, the ministry officially announced Friday, with the reprimand also suggesting that the government is stepping up efforts to curb abuses of technical trainees working under the program.