Tens of thousands of South Koreans will descend on the capital Seoul this weekend to apply for "iron ricebowl" jobs with the city government, officials said Thursday.

Tens of thousands of South Koreans will descend on the capital Seoul this weekend to apply for "iron ricebowl" jobs with the city government, officials said Thursday.

Special package tours and an extra train service have been laid on to cater for the rush of people sitting an annual qualifying exam on Sunday.

Civil service jobs still guarantee life-long (iron ricebowl) employment while layoffs are getting more common in private firms.

The city government said 85,000 people, including some 40,000 from the provinces, would be competing for 1,133 positions.

"The biggest merit that the civil service job has is undoubtedly job security," a Seoul city spokesman told reporters, also citing the "not that bad" pay and other fringe benefits.

The Seoul city government draws more job seekers than others because unlike other local authorities, it allows applicants from outside the city.

National rail operator KORAIL said it would lay on an extra train this Sunday from the southern city of Busan and tickets for it have already been sold out.

Tickets on regular high-speed train services to Seoul on Sunday morning were sold out weeks ago.

The city government holds exams for separate types of job on different days to ease congestion. The second exam on August 17 will attract some 43,000 applicants.