Korea heads toward a multicultural society

About a decade ago, Korea was a country where expatriates stood out in the crowd. But now it is easy to see foreign nationals scattered around the Seoul metropolitan area and outside the capital. Soap operas have touched on a Korean-Vietnamese struggling to fit into society and a Kazakh immigrant working for a Korean company. And there`s a primetime talk show solely dedicated to what foreign residents in Korea think about the country.
With the growing number of foreign brides, migrant workers and other expats, the number of foreign residents exceeded the 1 million mark as of August 2007, according to immigration office data. This is a huge leap from the 380,000 here in 1997.
The Chinese topped the list with 440,000 expatriates. About half of them have Korean ancestry. The list was then followed by the United States with 12 percent, Vietnam with 6 percent and the Philippines with 5 percent.
About seven out of 10 foreign residents are migrant workers. Korea`s multicultural society grew with their arrivals in the late 1980s. Migrant workers at that time occupied the so-called 3-D (dirty, difficult and dangerous) job sector.
With the revision of the labor law in 2007, 15 countries are sending industrial trainees to Korea. These trainees can work for Korean companies of their choice after two to six months of vocational training and Korean-language classes. The countries with the most workers are the Philippines, Vietnam, Mongolia, China and Sri Lanka. As of April 2007, about 420,000 migrant workers, including 190,000 illegal laborers, were working for Korean employers.
A large segment of immigrants is taken up by foreign brides. It is estimated that 38,000 Koreans married foreigners in 2007, accounting for about 11 percent of all marriages that year. About 80 percent were with foreign women, according to the National Statistical Office. Korea had 260,000 immigrants through interracial marriage as of 2007.
Interracial marriage has been particularly prominent among Korean farmers, who have a hard time finding spouses willing to live in rural areas. Of the farmers who tied the knot in 2006, about 40 percent, or 3,500, were with foreign brides.
Koreans` xenophobia, which in the past was criticized by many, is slowly fading due to a growing foreign community. According to a Ministry of Gender Equality survey, eight out of 10 Koreans show a favorable reaction toward their foreign neighbors, whom in the past were not received with welcoming eyes.
About 95 percent said that they were "willing to help foreign brides in the neighborhood." Over half said that the government must increase support and the budget to help immigrants adjust to Korean society.
Under the new Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that it will not only include immigrants but also Koreans in general in their agenda on multiculturalism.


"The most important thing is to change the way Koreans feel about immigrants," Lee Eun-sun, an official at the Ministry`s Multicultural Policy Team, told The Korea Herald.
Previous government policies were mainly focused on providing immigrants with direct support through Korean classes and government subsidies. Future policies will also handle national campaigns and multicultural programs to create general social acceptance toward foreign nationals and raise public awareness.
The Culture Ministry is also working on providing venues dedicated to multicultural activities from the end of 2009. Also on tap is a website to disseminate information on multiculturalism.
The Ministry will also publish guidebooks that will introduce the basic details of living in Korea. "Previous guidebooks focused on Korea`s traditional culture. But the new books will teach foreigners how to use the subway and even how to enjoy Korean food properly," Lee said.
Immigrants will also be able to play a key role in these policies. Those with good knowledge of Korea and the language will be trained to become lecturers at public schools and mentors, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Home Affairs said.
A total of 18 foreign wives fluent in Korean were already stationed at public health centers in 10 regional cities from May 26. "Foreign wives have been unable to receive medical service on time because of language barriers and financial reasons. We believe such problems will be reduced greatly," said one Welfare Ministry official.
The Ministry is also increasing the number of support centers to 80. There were 38 of last year. It plans to open 140 centers by 2010. About 1,000 Korean teachers and volunteers are registered with these centers to provide one-on-one Korean classes.
In April, the Ministry started publishing a magazine called "Rainbow+" in five languages to inform expatriates about community events.
NGOs and local governments are playing an important part in practicing these policies as well. The Songpa district community center in southern Seoul is one such example. The district-run Healthy Family-Support Center provides foreign wives classes in Korean language, cooking, child-minding, computers, sewing and Korean traditions.
Because of the lack of budget and support, the center started from scratch. But now, it has 20 volunteers and helps out 300 foreign wives. The volunteers are former students at the center.
"We had to call and persuade each one of them to come at first. But now they call us first and ask for information," said Oh Young-sook, the director of the immigrant family support team.
All of the classes, taught by the volunteers, are free of charge. Beginning in June, the center will start giving free Japanese, English and Chinese classes.
Korean and computer classes were popular in the past. Today, sewing and cooking classes get most of the attention.
"We would like to train them so they can also get an outside job. It is important that they become part of society," Oh said. "Practical education is our main focus. Most of the foreign wives here want to get a job. But they don`t even know how to write a resume or even use a computer."

By Jeong Hyeon-ji

(hannahj@heraldm.com)


2008.06.06