Korea Gears Up for Immigration Policy Overhaul

Chung Ah-young

Chung Ah-young. 2006. ¡°Korea Gears Up for Immigration Policy Overhaul.¡± The Korea Times, June 9, 2006.


outh Korea is gearing up to change its immigration policy in an effort to enhance the human rights of foreign residents and provide better support for those exposed to poor living and working conditions nationwide. Voices for immigration policy reform are getting stronger as the nation is becoming a multicultural society in which an increasing number of foreign workers and immigrants who have married Koreans live.

The Immigration Bureau Thursday held a seminar on immigration policy at its headquarters in the Korea Chamber of Commerce (KORCHAM) in Seoul, with experts and civic groups participating, to urge the government to remove discrimination against foreigners living in Korea. Many immigration experts called on the government to set up an independent and extended agency to solely deal with immigration policies.

Kang Myung-duk, chief of the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, said that the government policy toward foreign residents is under pressure to change in line with efforts among government agencies such as the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Labor.

Kang said that it is necessary to enact a law concerning foreigners to guarantee their legal status and protect their human rights, and for social integration. The current laws only cover administrative aspects, which focus mostly on ¡°controlling¡± foreigners in such matters as their traveling procedures and residential and national status.

However, Kang said that immigration policy should be concerned with the various categories of foreigners in Korea as aliens vary from long-term residents, permanent residence status holders, Koreans with overseas nationalities and married immigrants with mixed-blood children, through to asylum seekers.

Concerning the issue of dual nationality for Koreans with overseas nationality, Kang said that the authorities are planning to use a permanent residence qualification system similar to that of dual nationality in order to utilize their potential and help them land a job, allowing them to take part in economic activity in Korea.

Seol Dong-Hoon, a sociology professor of Chonbuk National University, pointed out that the current immigration bureau has merely played the role as a ¡°gatekeeper¡± for foreigners and Koreans. ¡°The Immigration Bureau should be reborn as a higher immigration agency, given the importance of its functions to integrate foreign residents into Korean society,¡± Seol said.

Seol said that the current immigration bureau should be upgraded as a upgraded agency to cope also with foreign residents who stay in Korea not only for traveling but also for immigration and asylum.

According to the justice ministry, the number of foreigners living in Korea could hit 1 million by 2010. The number of foreigners residing in the country rose by 30 percent to 722,000 in 2005 from 552,000 four years earlier. The nation has recently launched a committee under the Prime Minister¡¯s Office, which is supposed to coordinate the policies between the different government ministries. Since the introduction of a work permit system for migrant workers in 2003, about 330,000 foreigners have come to Korea for jobs.

But, more than half of them are reportedly suffering very poor working conditions due to their status as illegal workers. Also, an increasing number of foreign women are marrying Korean men. International marriages numbered 43,121 in 2005, representing 13.6 percent of all marriages in Korea. Such marriages account for 35.7 percent of marriages in rural areas.

Previously issues regarding foreign people visiting and staying here have been overseen by different government offices, including the health, labor, foreign and justice ministries. According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, foreign women married to impoverished Korean men will receive support to help raise their children and meet minimum living costs from next year, even before gaining Korean citizenship. Chung Ah-young. chungay@koreatimes.co.kr.