정모주제 2. 7 Tuesday Foreign resident in Korea

[kuma.두홍]

Foreign residents top 1.4 million  prepared by Lauren

   The number of foreign residents has steadily grown, reaching some 1.4 million and accounting for 3 percent of the country’s population as of the end of October, according to the Ministry of Justice Friday. But the nation’s laws and public recognition on immigration have not been altered to accept foreigners as members of Korean society, experts say.

    The ministry’s data was released ahead of the United Nations-designated International Migrants Day which falls on Sunday. The number of foreign residents, which stood at about 570,000 a decade ago, surpassed the 1 million mark in 2007, 1.2 million in June last year, and 1.3 million last March. As migrant workers took up the largest portion among them, the rate of the total foreign population has depended on the ups and downs in the economy, according to the Migrant and Diaspora Research Institute.

   “The growth rate slowed in the second half of 2008 when the financial crisis struck the country, with the number of foreign residents rising by only about 10,000 between 2008 and 2009. But as the economy got better, the number is rising again,” said Kwak Jay-seok, a director of the institute.

   Of the foreign residents, immigrant workers accounted for 604,000, or 43 percent of the total. The ministry estimates some 54,700 among them were staying here illegally. More than half of the workers are Chinese, especially ethnic Korean-Chinese, followed by Vietnamese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Thais and Uzbeks.

   Immigrant spouses took up 10 percent of foreign residents. Here also, Chinese were the largest ethnic group, followed by Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipinos and Cambodians. Some 86 percent of them were women. The third largest foreign resident group was students, with more than 90,900 studying here.

    Lack of understanding on immigration

Despite the growing number of foreign residents, the nation is not properly dealing with them and lacks relevant laws to help them, Kwak said. “Korea’s policy on foreigners is too much focused on ‘multicultural family’ and the term ‘multiculturalism’ is embellished. But on the other hand, nationalism, racism and xenophobia are still preval‎!ent, especially against migrant workers, with people discriminating against them,” he said. “Korea with a rapidly aging society and the world’s lowest birthrate, needs immigrants for economic growth.” After foreigners come, society should have a proper system so that they can stay stably and will not face discrimination, Kwak said.

   “In the current visa system, for example, migrant workers have to leave the country after working for three years under the work permit system. Instead of forcing them to leave, the country should make use of experienced employees. The visa and work systems don’t meet market demand,” he said.

   He also called for more integration programs, along with measures to prevent discrimination, human rights infringement, and employers’ theft of migrant workers’ salaries.

Q1.  Do you remeber the first time when you met or talked to a foreigner? When it was & how did it go?

Q2.  Are you working with foreigners or do you have any foreign friends in Korea? What do you think about them comparing to Korean friends or colleagues?  

Q3.  What is your understanding on multiculturalism & how do you want it to apply to Korean society??

Q4.  Do you want to learn various culture? What kind of culture do you like?

Q5   How do you think about growing the number of foreigners in Korea? Think of the merits and the demerits.

Q6.  Do you care about marrying with a foreigner? Then, what about your new-father or mother in marriage?

Q7. There are number of foreign born or adopted Korean-foreigner in Korea. Do you consider them as Korean or foreigners? why?

[Eileen연주]

워니 언니를 모시고 함께 참여해보도록 하겠어용ㅋ

[kuma.두홍]

워워~~ 수고하삼!!

[몽키D루피(서춘호)]

토픽 감사합니다...참석요...^^

[kuma.두홍]

늘 감사합니다~~ 유부당 forever!!

[Coconut 승덕]

고맙습니다. 참석할게요.

[kuma.두홍]

감사합니다 코코넛님~ 올려주신 타픽은 작업해서 사용하도록하겠습니다!!

[kuma.두홍]

^^ 네 확인후 처리하겠습니다~ 그리고 이내용은 '준회원게시판'이 더 어울리겟네요^^ 감사합니다~

[maria 유빈]

토픽 감사요~~ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[kuma.두홍]

네^^ 참석해주셔서 더 감사합니다~

[Coconut 승덕]

오늘 모임은 쉬어야겠네요. 온 몸이 으슬으슬하니 몸살 기운이...
건강 하나로 버텨왔는데 ㅠ.ㅠ 금요일에 건강한 모습으로 뵐게요.

[kuma.두홍]

봅 빨리 회복되시면 좋겠제요~~ 푹쉬세여^^

[kelly 고은]

저 참석이요 ^^~

[kuma.두홍]

반갑습니다~ 준회원 게시판에 간단한 소개 부탁드리죠! 정모서 뵈요~

[Steve(형준)]

참석할게요。

[kuma.두홍]

ㅠㅠ............... 반가비^^;

[Julie(주희)]

정참 예정입니다~^^

[Windycity]

참석예정입니다.