Immigration Integration and Multiculturalism Policy of South Korea

• In Event: 450 - Section on Sociology of Population Paper Session. Immigrant Integration and Inequality around the World

Abstract

In South Korea, concepts of migrant integration and multiculturalism are not clearly distinguished, and terms such as multicultural policy, multiculturalism policy, foreign policy, and immigration policy are often used almost synonymously and interchangeably. However, when we examine closely Korean government’s policies and programs regarding immigrants, most of them are about assisting immigrants to adapt to Korean society with little attention to cultural rights.
The main target group or beneficiary of the government’s migrant integration policy is people of international marriage and their children. Migrant workers, who account for a larger share of immigrants in Korea, are not considered a major clientele of migrant integration programs.
Korean people and society as a whole are pretty sympathetic toward immigrants, especially toward female marriage migrants and their children. Because of the general public’s positive and benevolent attitudes toward immigrants, the Korean government allocated a generous budget for migrant integration programs.
Because immigrants and ethnic minorities are not numerous and non-threatening and had arrived in Korea in different time periods, Korean society has responded to each group in a separate manner. When their number was small and the economic burden was negligible, such a piecemeal approach was not a problem. As their number increases and people feel burdensome, however, an integrated approach is needed to enhance fairness and efficiency of government policy.

Authors

• In-Jin Yoon, Korea University

• Seongkyung Cho, Korea University