The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency on Sunday donated goods worth 17,000 euros ($22,600) to Koreans who worked as miners and nurses in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s to make money to send home, the agency said.

KOTRA prepared 100 boxes of Korean foods, blood glucose monitors and other items with sponsorship from several companies in Germany.

The goods were donated to the World Federation of Korean Guest Workers in Germany.

The donation ceremony was held at the Korean Cultural Center in Essen, Germany.

According to KOTRA, 7,936 miners and 11,057 nurses were dispatched to Germany from 1963 to 1977, and about 20 percent still reside in the European country. They remitted about $10 million to Korea, approximately 10 percent of its exports in the early 1960s.

Currently, they are in their 60s and 70s, and some are said to live a poor life off pensions as small as 700 to 800 euros a month.

In June, KOTRA held a fundraising event in Frankfurt to help the former Korean miners and nurses.

“We made a donation to convey our gratitude to their hard work and contributions to the development of Korea,” said Chung Jong-tae, president of KOTRA Europe. “KOTRA will expand activities to contribute to the Korean community in Germany.”

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)