![[Robert Fouser] Accepting migrants in South Korea](https://i3.wp.com/res.heraldm.com/phpwas/restmb_idxmake.php?idx=640&simg=/content/image/2024/10/31/20241031050896_0.jpg&w=860&resize=860,0&ssl=1 "[Robert Fouser] Accepting migrants in South Korea")
Final week, the Ministry of the Inside and Security reported that 2,459,542 overseas residents had been dwelling in South Korea as of November 2023. Within the ministry’s case, the time period “overseas residents” contains overseas nationals dwelling within the nation for 3 months or extra in addition to most naturalized residents. The variety of overseas residents, which is near reaching virtually 5 p.c of the inhabitants, is the very best in South Korean historical past.
The continued enhance within the variety of overseas residents means that South Korea is on its option to turning into a multicultural and multiracial society. Tendencies are clearly shifting in that path, however questions and issues stay amongst massive swaths of the general public.
The primary group of issues stems from Korean media studies of “issues” in different superior nations in Europe with a better share of migrants than South Korea. Studies deal with the difficulties societies have in absorbing migrants and varied types of discrimination they face. The studies usually conclude with hints that South Korea can keep away from these issues by limiting the variety of overseas residents to people who profit the nation’s “nationwide curiosity.”
The primary drawback with these studies is that they overlook the variations among the many nations and their historical past of migration whereas additionally overlooking different circumstances which have relevance to South Korea. For the reason that nineteenth century, ethnolinguistic id has been a strong pressure in defining nations in Europe. Via revolutions, unifications and separations, nations centering on a dominant ethnolinguistic group have emerged. The newest wave of ethnolinguistic-based separations occurred within the early Nineteen Nineties after the collapse of communism in Central and Jap Europe.
Nations in Western Europe, in the meantime, started welcoming staff from elsewhere to energy booming economies through the restoration from World Conflict II. As nations constructed round ethnolinguistic id, migrants had been labeled “foreigners” at first, however over time, they settled down and raised households whereas persevering with to contribute to society. In response, ethnolinguistic id in these nations has reworked in favor of extra multicultural identities. A lot of the damaging studies are primarily based solely on the difficulties that latest migrants face. These difficulties will fade in time as they quiet down and discover their method, simply as earlier waves of migrants have.
As an ethnolinguistic state, South Korea is in an identical place to many Western European nations through the first wave of postwar migration. Migrants are accepted primarily for his or her potential to contribute to the economic system, however usually are not seen as immigrants and stay “foreigners,” usually dwelling on the margins of society.
This results in an necessary query, which displays the second group of issues. Does South Korea have the constructions in place to permit migrants to quiet down and turn into Korean?
At current, the query is tough to reply as a result of completely different teams of migrants are handled otherwise. Native governments have provided comparatively extra beneficiant assist for “marriage migrants,” lots of them girls from Southeast Asia who marry native Korean males. International blue-collar staff, in contrast, are thought-about “momentary” and anticipated to go away on the finish of their contracts.
To reply the query, South Korea wants vigorous public discussions concerning the relationship between Korean ethnolinguistic id and the South Korean state. What’s the place of nonethnic Koreans in South Korea? How ought to South Korea steadiness ethnolinguistic id and multiculturalism?
To this point, most public discussions of migrants in South Korea have centered on the necessity for migrants to compensate for shortages of staff and of brides for Korean males. Insurance policies have been directed at encouraging individuals to come back to Korea for these functions. Extra not too long ago, discussions have centered on the necessity to enhance the variety of worldwide college students to compensate for declines within the variety of Korean nationwide college students.
Discussions of the necessity for educated white-collar professionals, in contrast, deal with their position in serving to to “globalize” and convey new views to institutional tradition in Korea. They’re seen extra as an amenity than a necessity and are thus simply expendable.
As a substitute of specializing in particular instrumental wants, the dialogue ought to deal with the broader necessity to keep up South Korea’s vitality as a society. This dialogue, after all, goes past migrants to incorporate a spread of insurance policies. Viewing migrants from the lens of social vitality naturally results in discussions about the way to settle for them as everlasting and valued members of society.
Robert J. Fouser
Robert J. Fouser, a former affiliate professor of Korean language schooling at Seoul Nationwide College, writes on Korea from Windfall, Rhode Island. He will be reached at robertjfouser@gmail.com. The views expressed listed below are the author’s personal. — Ed.
