Tuesday, August 2
Lecture 2

In-Jin YOON
In-Jin Yoon is professor of the Department of Sociology, Korea University and the current
president of the Association for North Korean Migrants Studies and the former president of the
Association for the Studies of Koreans Abroad. He received his Ph. D. from the University of
Chicago and taught at the Asian American Studies Department of the University of California,
Santa Barbara. His major publications include On My Own: Korean Businesses and Race Relationsin America, Korean Diaspora: Migration, Adaptation, and Identity of Overseas Koreans, and North
Korean Migrants: Lives, Consciousness, and Support Policy for Resettlement, South Koreans’
Perceptions of Migrant Workers and Multicultural Society, and Migration and Transnational
Space in Northeast Asia, Mutual Perceptions of North Korean Migrants and South Koreans,
Trends and Tasks of Studies of Koreans Abroad. His research interests include social psychology,
minorities, international migration, and multiculturalism. His email address is yoonin@korea.ac.kr
and homepage is http://www.korea.ac.kr/~yoonin.

15

International Migration, Transnationalism, and Multiculturalism in East Asia 1
Paper
1. Introduction
Globalization has caused a dramatic increase in the number of migrants worldwide—from 75
million in 1965 (ILO, 2000) to more than 200 million in 2008 (IOM, 2008). According to the IOM,
in 2009 migrants accounted for 2.9% of the world population. Migrant workers are estimated to bearound 90~95 millions, accounting for 41.7~49.7% of all migrants. Migrants leave their homecountries for the purpose of immigration, labor, asylum, marriage, study abroad, and visit, andmake significant impacts on politics, economy, society, and culture of both the countries of origin
and destination.
Asia has become one of the most significant and “globalized” regions in the world not only interms of the cross-border movement of capital and goods, but also in terms of the movement ofpeople. Foreign permanent residents increase rapidly in East Asian countries as a result of thegrowth of labor/marriage migration and study abroad. In this process, transnational social networks
form by linking both the countries of origin and settlement, ethnic places emerge in host societies,
and foreigners and natives engage in various forms of social interaction inside and outside theethnic places.
International migration is a major cause of social, demographic and economic developments of
all Asian nations. As of 2009, foreigners accounted for 1.5% in Japan, 2.2% in Korea, and 2.4% in
Taiwan, and the three countries are transforming rapidly into multiracial and multicultural societies(Yoon, 2009: 65; Akaha, 2010: 59). Despite these demographic changes, however, many East
Asian countries have not made corresponding changes in both national consciousness and legal
institutions. The growth of foreign permanent residents, whether they are legal or undocumented,
require the modification of the national identity that used to regard territory, ethnicity, andnationality as a parallel set, and demand the division of nationality and citizenship. If we
discriminate individual’s citizenship by his or her nationality, we deny the fact that he or she lives
as an actual living person in the host society. Nowadays, discourse of transnational human rights
gain popular support in the international community, and relationships between individuals and thepolitical community are restructured along transnational lines. In this context, East Asian countries
now face the task of redistributing individual rights between loyalty to the country and universal
human status.
As such, international migration has become one of the most important social phenomena. The
need for scholarly research and policy development has grown correspondingly. Discourse on
migration involves many perspectives. There has been a growing recognition that migration is an
essential and inevitable component of the economic and social life of every state—including bothsocieties of the chosen destination country and the country of origin— and that orderly and1Paper prepared for presentation at the 2011 Summer Institute, August 2, 2001, Waseda University.

16

properly managed migration can be beneficial for both individuals and societies worldwide. Not
only that the researches on international migration have been examining the sizes andcharacteristics of international migration, other complex dimensions of migration researches havebeen incorporating several perspectives such as development, human rights, diaspora,trans-nationalism, multiculturalism as well (IOM, 2008; Castles and Miller, 2009). Under thedevelopment perspective, many researches have focused on labor migration, remittances,brain-drain or brain-circulation, and the movement of human labor force and other commodities,
mainly analyzing how they affect both economies of the sending and receiving countries.
In the perspective of human rights, many researches have examined and searched ways toprotect human rights of migrant workers, women, children, refugees, undocumented immigrants,
and victims of human trafficking. Also, through the lenses of diaspora and trans-nationalism,
immigration and history of settlements of expatriates, trans-national network and relationships
between the expatriates and their countries of origin, and return migration were researched. Manyother researches have been incorporating the perspective of multiculturalism; this perspective
examines the changing demographics, cultural diversity, resulting social and cultural changes, andresponses of the government and citizens to changing environments. In addition, rising
environmental, medical and security issues in the countries of origin and destination have been
analyzed. Last but not least, the impacts of international migration on the international community
and the latter’s response to the former have also been actively discussed (Akaha and Vassilieva,
2006).
In this paper, I would like to evaluate the overall statuses and characteristics of internationalmigration in the East Asia, migration-related issues and problems, and its social and economic
impacts on both countries of origin and destination. More specifically, I want to examine therelationships among 1) migration and development (labor, remittance, brain-drain or –circulation),2) migration and human rights (the origin and development of Korean diaspora), and 3) migrationand multiculturalism (demographical and cultural diversity, multiculturalism acceptability andpolicies). I strongly believe that these explanations and analysis will be able to facilitate theunderstanding of many social phenomena currently occurring in the East Asia.
2. Trends and Patterns of International Migration in East Asia
The directions and sizes of international migration in the East Asia and Southeast Asia largely
depend on each nation’s level of economic development and demographical changes. During thePhase One, the population outflow occurs among the nations with low level of economic
development and high level of working-age population. So far, Cambodia, Mongolia, China,
Myanmar, North Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, Laos, and Vietnam belong to thisstage. During the Phase Two, where the economic development and working-age population
remain at the average level, the population outflow and inflow occur simultaneously. Thailand
belongs to the Phase Two. On the other hand, during the Phase Three, the inflow of population
occurs due to labor shortage and low birthrate. Brunei, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia,
and Taiwan belong to the Phase Three. Subsequently, the relationship between the economic
17

development and international migration is highly flexible and scalable, and therefore, it can steer
the direction of international migration. For example, Thailand has shifted from the Phase One to
the Phase Two after 1995, and South Korea has jumped to the Phase Three since the 1980s. The
flows of international migration among the East Asian and Southeast Asian nations generally takethe form of moving on to the Phase Two or the Three (from the One to the Two). Yet, the case ofThailand is an exception—both inflow and outflow of migrant population occurs while remaining
at the Phase Two.
<Table 1> Descriptive Framework for International Migration and Development inEast and South-East Asia

Phase

1. Level of economic development
2. Rate of growth of working-age
population (RWP)
3. Dominant direction of migration

Countries currently
at this stage

Phase 1

1. Low (per capita GDP less than US$ 2,000
in constant 2000 United States dollars)
2. High RWP
3. Out-migration

Cambodia
China
DPRK
Indonesia
Lao PDR

Phase 2Phase 3

1. Intermediate(per capita GDP US$ 2,000-US$ 4,000)
2. Moderate RWP
3. Both out-migration and in-migration
1. High (per capita GDP greater than US$ 4,000)
2. Low or negative RWP
3. In-migration

Mongolia
MyanmarPhilippines
Timor-Leste
Viet Nam

Thailand
Brunei DarussalamRep. of Korea
Japan
Singapore
Malaysia

Source: IOM (2008: 117, Table 14)

As viewed from <Figure 1>, the flow of international migration in Asia takes several different
forms of movement 1) from Asia to North America, 2) from Southeast Asia to Australia, 3) fromSoutheast Asia to East Asia, 4) within the Southeast Asia, and 5) from South America to Japan (asa returning migration). In the past, the boundaries between the nations of origin and destination
have been clear and straightforward. However, like Thailand, Malaysia, and China, many nations
go through both inflow and outflow of population nowadays. Furthermore, some recent immigrants
do not move from their origin nations to destinations directly, but pass thorough several transientcountries. This is expected to further complicate the flow of international migration comparing to
the past (Castles and Miller, 2009: 145).

18

<Figure 1> International Migration in the Asia-Pacific Region
Source: Castles and Miller(2009: 128)
According to the 2000 statistics from UNDESA, out of total 191 million migrants in the world
53 million migrants reside in the Asia (UNDESA, 2004). Moreover, Graeme Hugo estimated thatin 2005, more than 20 million Asian workers have left their home countries and lives in foreign
nations (Hugo, 2005). Most of the workers are working in the Philippines, and the results of the2005 statistics show that about 4.75 million workers are working and residing in the Middle East,
Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. On the other hand, Nepal has thehighest number of exporting migrants to abroad— more than four million people are working at
Middle East, India and Malaysia according to the 2003 statistics. Taking a regional look, Southwest
Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal) has sent 14,789,000 workers to abroadwhile Southeast Asia (the Philippines, Indonesia, etc.) has sent 8,313,300, Central Asia (Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan) has sent 1.9 million and East Asia (China, South Korea, North Korea,
and Japan) has sent 1,523,000 workers to abroad.
Countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia not only do send off workers to other nations, butthey also do accept and import many migrants. The nation with the highest number of domestic
migrants is Hong Kong—there were 2,742,000 migrant workers accounting for 38.8% of the total
population in 2009. The next highest is Malaysia, and there are 2,358,000 migrant workers
accounting for 8.4% of the total population. In Japan, there are 2,176,000 migrant workers
accounting only for 1.7% of the total population. Although the absolute number of migrant workers
remains low, the 1,967,000 migrant workers accounted for 40.7% of the total population.

<Table 2> Statistics of International Migration in East Asia and Southeast Asia
19

Refugees

Country or Area

Total
(thousands)

Average annual
Percentage of Percentage ofrate of change
total population female migrants(percentage)

Net migration
among theforeign-born(thousands)

Total(thousands)

Net migration

Remittances

Average annual
Total
Average annual net migration
Percentage of(millions of US
net migration
rate
total GDP(thousands)(per 1,000
dollars)
population)

2010

2010

2010

2005-20102005-2010

End-2008

2005-2010

2007

2007

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

(11)

(12)

World

213,944

3.1

49.0

1.8

24,359.8

15,150.4——

380,050

0.7More developed
regions

127,711

10.3

51.5

1.7

14,715.3

2,081.02,700.5

2.2

134,457

0.4

Less developed
regions

86,232

1.5

45.3

2.0

9,644.5

13,069.4-2,700.5-0.5

245,593

1.9

East Asia

6,485

0.4

55.0

0.9

460.5

303.3

-291.5-0.2

36,448

0.4

China

686

0.1

50.0

3.0

110.8

301.0

-346.2-0.3

32,833

1.0

Hong Kong

2,742

38.8

57.0

0.2

81.1

0.1

22.7

3.3

317

0.2

Macao

300

54.7

51.7

1.5

26.2

..

10.0

19.3

399

2.1

North Korea

37

0.2

53.1

0.2

1.7

..

—

—

..

..

Japan

2,176

1.7

55.0

1.7

244.6

2.0

30.0

0.2

1,577

0.0

Mongolia

10

0.4

54.0

2.0

1.2

0.0

-2.0

-0.8

194

4.9

South Korea

535

1.1

52.7

-0.6

-5.2

0.2

-6.0

-0.1

1,128

0.1

South-Eastern
Asia

6,715

1.1

49.6

3.5

1,212.2

152.6-293.3-0.5

31,893

2.9

Brunei
Darussalam

148

36.4

45.5

3.5

25.3

..

0.7

1.8

..

..

Cambodia

336

2.2

51.7

2.0

41.4

0.2

-1.0

-0.1

353

4.2

Indonesia

123

0.1

44.5

-2.0

-9.5

0.4

-146.0

-0.6

6,174

1.4

Laos

19

0.3

48.0

-1.4

-0.8

—

-15.0

-2.4

1

0.0

Malaysia

2,358

8.4

45.2

3.0

362.6

36.7

26.0

1.0

1,803

1.0

Myanmar

89

0.2

48.7

-1.0

-1.1

—

-100.0

-2.0

125

0.6

Philippines

435

0.5

51.1

3.0

67.4

0.1

-180.0-2.0

16,302

11.3

Singapore

1,967

40.7

56.0

5.5

501.0

0.0

100.0

22.0

..

..

Thailand

1,157

1.7

48.4

3.3

207.9

112.9

60.0

0.9

1,635

0.7

Timor-Leste

14

1.2

52.6

3.0

2.3

0.0

2.0

1.8

..

..

Vietnam

69

0.1

36.6

4.8

15.9

2.4

-40.0

-0.5

5,500

8.0

Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population
Division, 2009, Table on Internaional Migration 2009.

The international migration of East Asia and Southeast Asia recently show following trends.
First, the scale of migration has been increasing gradually— the number of migrant workers in Asia
has increased 1.7 times, while the number of migrant workers in East Asia has increased 2.4 times
from 1960 to 2005 (Martin, 2009: 3).
Second, the form of migration itself has got further complicated. According to Castles (2002),
20

the migration after the 20th century can be divided into three categories— permanently-settling
migration, temporarily-working migration, and asylum-seeking migration— however, this division
is no longer clear and strict. Illegal (or undocumented) immigration is gradually increasing, andmoreover, rather than permanently settling down in one destination nation, migrants now often findeasy to relocate themselves to other nations or back to their nations of origin (Hwang, 2009: 11).
Also, the clear distinction between the nation of origin and destination is getting vague. Several
Southeast Asia nations are becoming both importer and exporter of migrant workers contrary to thefact that they were mostly known as exporter of migrant workers in the past. For example, South
Korea is accepting migrant workers from Southeast Asia in order to resolve labor shortage, but isalso sending Korean workers to Japan, and they form several ‘newcomers’ communities in Japan(Yoon, 2004).
Moreover, it was the low-skilled workers who enter the country of destination, usually insearch of employment, in the past; however, highly skilled and business migrants and other types ofpeople with high levels of human capital move within the internal labor markets of transnational
corporations and international organizations. Many countries try to attract such migrants byoffering special ‘skilled and business migration’ programs. They are given better opportunities andenvironments to settle down as permanent residents. And as they settle and interact closely with thelocals in the community, the migrant-accepting country goes through significant social and culturalchanges.
Third, international migration has been facilitated through widening, deepening and speeding
up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life. The key tool ismodern information and communication technology, including the internet, improved telephone
connections and less expensive air or other transportation systems. This has allowed people fromvarious backgrounds (e.g., age, class, region) to participate in international migration. The
brokerage system has made it easier for potential migrants to go abroad, but it has also raised
sharply the referral costs and left migrants vulnerable to violations of their human rights.
Fourth, the ‘feminization of migration’ has been highlighted. In the past, the majority of
migrants were single male labor migrants, but nowadays women become significant part of labor
migration and marriage migration. Especially, female migrants take up half of the total populationof migrant workers in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Moreover, women are migrating inincreasing numbers and entering the domestic services, a phenomenon which scholars refer to as‘the global care chain.’ The term ‘global care chain’ was first used by Hochschild (2000) to refer to“a series of personal links between people across the globe based on the paid or unpaid work ofcaring.” The chain typically entails an older daughter from a poor family who cares for her siblings
while the grandmother or other relative members work as a nanny caring for the children of a
migrating nanny who, in turn, cares for the child of a family in a rich country (Hwang, 2009: 12).
Fifth, the migrant-sending and receiving nations have been drawing more active policies inorder to manage exporting processes, better treatments of immigrants and social integration of
permanent migrants effectively. In the past, the sending nations have been overly focused ontransmitting many migrants as possible in order to resolve domestic economic crisis, mainly
through remittances. However, as they recognize their citizens’ economic contribution, they are21now showing higher interests in protecting their citizens from the violation of human rights andother problems. As a result, in this process, the possibilities of diplomatic disputes between the
migrant-sending and receiving nations are gradually rising.
Sixth, there has been an increasing number of undocumented immigrants and their growing
occurrences of human rights violations and problems with social integration. The undocumented
immigrants are not guaranteed with basic human rights in the countries of settlement, and so aretheir children who are born in their country of residence. The children are actual members of theircountry of residence, and therefore, better social adaptation and integration measures are urgently
needed for them.
Seventh, the international migration has become institutionalized, and the transnational
networks have been formed between the countries of origin and settlement. Migrants in the hostsociety form diaspora communities, and maintain close relationships with their home countries as
they continuously contribute to their home countries’ economy.
In the next chapters, I wish to discuss current situations and characteristics of developments,
human rights, diaspora, and multiculturalism related to migration. In this way, the internationalmigration is forming the social and cultural basis for East Asian community.
3. Migration and Development
International migration affects the development of both migrant-sending and migrant-receiving
countries in the manner of labor migration and remittances, brain drain or brain circulation.
Low-skilled migrant workers contribute to the economic development of the receiving country byworking in so-called ‘3-D jobs’ that natives are reluctant to do, and contribute to family welfare
and the national economy of the origin country by sending remittances. The migration ofinternational students and highly skilled workers was viewed negatively as brain drain in the past,
but in recent years, it is being recognized as brain circulation that transmit knowledge and skills
between the home and receiving countries and thereby contributing to the economic developmentof both.
1) Labor Migration
Over the past 20 years, the number of migrant workers in the Asia-Pacific region has been
increasing rapidly by 6.0% per year on average. In addition, in the same period the direction oflabor migration headed toward Asia rather than outside of Asia. In the mid-1970s, the major streamof labor migration headed toward the Middle East, but it changed its course to Asia in the 1980s
thanks to its rapid economic growth. According to statistics from ILO, 90% of migrant workers in
the 1970s and 80s headed outside of Asia, but in the 1995-2000 period, 40% of Asian migrant
workers were found to migrate within Asia (ILO, 2006: 44).
The main factors of labor migration would be productivity and wage difference between sending
countries and receiving countries, young labor force growth, aging population, development oftransportation and communication, geographic proximity, immigration policies of sending
countries. These factors are still valid for explaining labor migration in East Asia and Southeast
22

Asia. As shown in <Figure 2>, wage gaps between manufacturing and construction industries,
where most migrant workers engage in, are very large.

<Figure 2> Wage Levels in Manufacturing and Construction Industries in
East Asia and Southeast Asia
Source: IOM (2008: 141)
Wages of manufacturing and construction industries in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore andSouth Korea are 10 times the wages of their counterparts in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines,
and Malaysia. This wage difference between developed countries and developing countries attracts
young workers from developing countries to developed ones.
Previous research reported that the unemployment rate in receiving countries does not affectsignificantly the influx of migrant workers. We can find the evidence from the observation that the
number of migrant workers declined temporarily during the financial crisis in 1997 but bounced
back quickly. The overall standard of living as measured by income per capita and educational
level turned out to be a more decisive factor of labor migration. When the standard of living of
natives improves, they avoid difficult, dirty, and dangerous occupations, and migrant workers arerecruited to fill in the labor shortage in the domestic labor market.
The majority of Asia’s migrant workers are low-skilled, but not a small number of professional
and technical workers also move abroad. Notably, Filipino doctors, nurses, and teachers migrate toWest Asia and to developed countries of the West, Bangladeshi doctors to Malaysia, Indian
software engineers and designers to the United States. In addition, young Asian students study
abroad and settle down permanently after completing their studies and acquiring permanent
residency and citizenship in developed countries in East Asia, North America, and Oceania. The
proportion of foreign students with Ph. Degrees in science and engineering who settle down in the
United States during the 1990-1999 period was very high; 87% among Chinese students, 82%
among Indian students, and 39% among Korean students.
The growth of Asia’s professional migrant workers is partly due to the activities of Asia’s
23

multinational firms that have increased overseas investment and expanded the size of businessservice workers and overseas resident employees. As multinational firms have expanded trade andforeign direct investment, Asia’s professional, technical, and managerial workers began toexperience more frequent moves within the internal labor market formed between headquarter andsubsidiary firms
For the reasons mentioned above, international migration of Asia’s professional and technicalworkers has increased rapidly in the early 1990s. India sent 300,000 professionals and techniciansto Silicon Valley in the United States from 1999 to 2000, now every year 60,000 Indians migrate to
the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, and elsewhere. The Philippines sent
445,000 professionals abroad from 1992 to 1998, and Bangladesh dispatched 11 million
professionals and technicians abroad as labor contract workers (ILO, 2006: 47).
2) Remittances
In the past, remittances that expatriates sent to their home countries was not regarded importantbecause the amount was small or they were used for very private purposes. Recently, however, thescale has become larger and there has been an increasing recognition that they affect importantly
individuals, family, local communities, and even the national economy of the home country.
Reasons for such a renewed recognition are as follows.
First, considering only the official statistics, transfer funds in the last 10 years has increased
exponentially. According to recent statistics from The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and theWorld Bank, 130 billion dollars in worldwide were remitted and 79 billion dollars (61%) were
known to be remitted to developing countries. International Organization for Migration (IOM)
estimated that the amount remitted through informal channels can be up to 300 billion dollars(Asian Migration News, 16-31 January, 2005).
Second, in the past the economic effect of remittances was underestimated because they were
thought to be spent for living expenses or construction or repair of houses. Taylor and colleagues(1996) found, however, that even remittances used for consumption have a multiplier effect so thatthey lead to other types of economic activities and consequently revitalize the local economy.
Third, the money migrants remit turned out to be more effective in reducing poverty andimproving economic conditions in the field because it goes directly to their family. On the other
hand, official economic aid of foreign countries, such as foreign direct investment (FDA) andforeign direct investment (FDI), go through many institutions before they reach the needy people,
and as a result their effect of improving economic conditions of local people is reduced in half.

24

<Figure 3> Money Flows to Developing Countries (Unit: 1 billion dollar)
Source: Bridi (2005)

Fourth, remittances sent to the home country can have a significant impact on development andimprovement of local economic conditions because migrants from developing countries tend tocome from specific areas of the home country. Because these areas are often underdeveloped,
remittances are the only source of income and may be an important capital for economic
development to alleviate poverty, facilitate entrepreneurship, and to improve income levels. The
effect of remittances on the macro economy of the home country is especially great for countries
with sizable flows of remittances.
From 1990 to 1999, remittances were economically important for the Philippines as theyaccounted for 20.3% of its exports and imports and 5.2% of GDP (Go, 2003: 5; recited from Hugo,
2007: 19). In 2004, India and the Philippines received 23 billion dollars and 8 billion dollars,
respectively, from abroad, these figures were as high as 3.1% of India’s GDP and 8.6% of thePhilippines’ GDP. According to estimates of Asian Development Bank, the amount remitted to
Nepal in 2005 was equal to 1.1 billion dollars and this amount represented 12% of the national
GDP (ILO, 2006: 49).
Despite the above mentioned positive effects, the heavy dependency on remittances can also
have negative effects by weakening autonomous capacity to withstand external shocks, delaying
restructuring of outdated industries, and reducing active efforts to attract foreign capital andrevitalize local economies.
In Northeast Asia, Korean-Chinese (or Chinese people of Korean descent) stand out ininternational migration and overseas remittances. According to statistics from the Ministry ofJustice released in March 2010, Korean-Chinese residing in Korea are about 423,000 including
those who became naturalized as Korean citizens. This number is 22% of the population of ethnic
Koreans in China, which was recorded at 1,923,842 in 2000 by the Chinese government. A numberof surveys report that Korean-Chinese in Korea spend 10~30% of their income for living expenses
25and remit the remaining to China. The money transferred to Yanbian was reported to amount to 700
million dollars in 2006, and this amount was 2.5 times the total revenues of the YanbianAutonomous Prefecture (Lee, 2010: 69). Remittances to Yanbian and adjacent three Northeastern
provinces are used for start-up fund for new businesses, home purchase, and education of children,
contributing to strengthen the socioeconomic foundation of the Korean-Chinese community.
3) Brain Drain or Circulation
Until recently, brain drain from developing countries to developed ones was viewed negatively
because it was thought to inhibit the development of developing countries. In recent years, however,brain circulation replaced brain drain, and research findings show that talented migrants fromdeveloping countries make positive effects on both migrant-sending and receiving countries.
According to recent statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD), 88% of immigrants residing in OECD countries are reported to receive
more than middle school education. This demonstrates the fact that only people with good humancapital are selectively drawn to developed countries. Also, the possible negative effect of brain
drain is not as great as we expect for most countries except for very small ones, because theproportion of highly skilled migrant workers abroad is not high compared to their counterparts in
the home country. For such large countries as China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Bangladesh, the rateof outmigration of highly skilled workers to OECD countries is known to be low. For small
countries in Africa and Latin America, such as Guyana, Jamaica, Haiti, however, brain drain has
more significant effects on the national economy.
The problem of brain drain is not limited to its size and can have more serious effects on thewelfare of people and national economy of the home country because it occurs more frequently
among professional and technical workers in select fields. A good example is the medical field
where people of developing countries do not have adequate medical service as a result of
emigration of medical doctors and nurses to developed countries that experience shortage of
medical professionals and recruit foreign-trained medical professionals. In countries in Europe andNorth America, 300 doctors serve 100,000 persons, whereas in countries of Africa and Southwest
Asia 25 doctors serve 100,000 persons (Hugo, 2007: 11).
4. Migration, Diaspora, and Transnationalism
International migration forms diasporic communities that consist of expatriates overseas. A
diaspora is the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral
homeland or people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location and settle down
together to form communities on the basis of sharing ancestry and residential areas (Yoon, 2004).
In the past, the word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of people with common roots,
often particularly movements of an involuntary nature, such as the forced removal, poverty, or
oppression. However, the migrants are starting to be regarded as their country of origin’s valuable
human resources, and therefore, the government’s efforts to expand overseas migrants and homecountry’s network are being increased. The stability of remittance flows despite financial crises and26

economic downturns make them a reliable financial resource for developing countries. Not only
they are contributing to home nation’s economy, they also facilitate and modernize political, socialand cultural spheres, and deliver advanced technology, knowledge, and information to the homecountries. Moreover, they also contribute as an intermediary role in attracting foreign aid andinvestments to their home nations.
According to Lucas, overseas migrants contribute to their home nations in following ways
(Lucas, 2001: 1). Overseas migrants facilitate the flow of information, improve perceptions of host
people toward the home country, and attract foreign investment to their home country. D. Biers andS. Dhume hold an example of overseas Indians who were promoted to a high-ranked officer in a
Western multinational corporation to persuade the board to establish branch offices in India (Biersand Dhume, 2000: 38). It is also well-known that overseas Chinese, who has population of about 30
million, tremendously contributed to Chinese and Taiwan economic development.
Second, migrants abroad take roles as advanced guards for export-goods of their homelands. In
1970s, overseas Koreans contributed to Korea’s export-oriented economic development bypurchasing Korean cars and electronic products. According to a research, it was found that as the
migration of skilled-workers from Asia to Canada increased, the import from Asia also had jumped
up to 74% (Head and Reis, 1998; Lucas, 2001).
Third, migrants abroad take roles as circuits both officially and unofficially to communicate
and share information with their homelands. According to Saxenian (1999), Indian and Taiwanese
IT engineers and industrialists have actively communicated with their homelands, and therefore,
have contributed much to develop their homelands’ IT industries. Overseas Koreans in North
America have also been actively engaged with Korea for sharing information and building
networks especially in the areas of science, technology, and medicine. Both local and national-level
organizations are being run by the engineers, doctors, pharmacists, and nurses, and they
periodically hold national meetings in the US. For instance, the Korea Scientists and Engineers
Association not only provides chances to share their information among the members, but they also
create job opportunities for Koreans living in Korea or in the United States.
Transnationalism theoretical approach is now recently being favored, in contrast to the theoryof diaspora, in understanding the multi-level society and culture that mutually exists between the
country of origin and residence. Transnationalism describes a condition in which, despite great
distances and notwithstanding the presence of international borders, certain kinds of relationships
have been globally intensified and now take place paradoxically in a planet-spanning yet
common—however virtual— arena of activity. Although there are various definitions oftransnationalism, it is generally defined as the processes by which immigrants forge and sustain
multi-stranded social relations that link together their societies of origin and settlement. Basch et al.
call these processes transnationalism to emphasize that many immigrants today build social fields
that cross geographic, cultural, and political borders (Basch, Glick and Blanc, 1994). Vertovec also
saw transnationalism as “a complicated and mutual relationship that connects people, organizations,and institutions across the borders of nation-states” (Vertovec, 1999). Proponents oftransnationalism seeks to bond and cross the local and global spaces, to facilitate the flow of people,
ideas, and goods among regions, to allow the coexistence of homogeneity and heterogeneity, and to27

combine what is private and public.
As for experimental research that has used the “transnational model”, much research has
appeared about the Chinese in Korea and overseas Chinese. Representative of the most successful
research among these, we can look at Ryu Hung and Wang Chun Gwang’s research. After the
1980s, in a research about Chinese who have migrates overseas, Ryu Hung (2002) of the National
Singapore University puts forth the concept of “transnationalized Chinese.” He pointed out thatafter the 1980s, a fundamental transformation occurred in the social formation of overseas Chinese,and that the new group he called “transnationalized Chinese” quickly increased and became an
important part of overseas society. He explains: “The concept of transnationalized Chinese is thatof an immigrant group that forms relations of several dimensions and connects relatives with thearea of his or her migration during the act of crossing countries, with the special characteristic
being the crossing over geographic, cultural, and political boundaries. Through transnational
immigration, they use two or more languages, they have relatives, social relationships or business
in two or more countries, and coming and going over national boundaries regularly and usually is
an important means for maintaining their livelihood.” Ryu points out that new “transnational
Chinese”, as opposed to the traditional Chinese immigrants, exhibit the following characteristics.
First, given the trans-regional character, this means that the [homeland] area is not as importantto them as it is to traditional Chinese, and the ethnic state is nothing more than a symbol of theirpolitical sovereignty; they are connecting the formations of their public activities sphere toopportunities in the fields of economy, society and culture. That is, they are forming active spaces
for their own activities. Second, there is the group formation and the diversity in adaptive methods.
Third, whereas the method of migration of traditional immigrants moved from the home country to
the residing country, they show the transformation of multiple migration methods, going from thebase country to country A, from country A to country B, etc. Fourth, though they keep their baseculture overseas, they also form a third culture through exchanges and publicity/word of mouth.
Ryu analyzes the formation causes of these immigrant groups, as the following: First, transnational
immigration of Chinese as a product of globalization is one miniature of immigration phenomena
from the era of globalization. Second, China's open reform policy promoted immigration. Third,
there is a relationship with the target country's political and economic transformation. Fourth, theappearance of many mediating structures that operate commercially caused an important effect(Ryu, 2002, cited from Piao (2006: 17)).
After the opening of reforms, Wang Chung Gwang (2005) of the Chinese Social Science
Institute discovered these facts in research about the Chinese immigrants from Zhejiang (浙江省).
After a few years, the EU economy became stagnant and as soon as livelihoods became difficult,Chinese immigrants freely used new adaptation strategies. That is, relatives and family scattered toeach of the EU's countries and did business matching the special characteristics of the region. For
example, one of the ways would be they import raw materials and engage in production in Spain
and Portugal which have tax rates and labor costs that are relatively cheap, while they buy and sellin France where the market environment is good. Each of these families became scattered todifferent countries and through this method of supplementary business and commercial activity,
they reduced expenses and risk and pursued business stability and income guarantees. Wang puts
28

forth this concept of “transnational social spaces” through this research. According to him, eventhough immigration does not assimilate into the mainstream society of the country it enters, theability to adapt well arises from the advantage that immigration possesses. They are able to plan agrowth strategy in the country they enter through being able to use information, resources, themarket and human relations. In general, if immigrants come to form these spaces between the
countries they leave and the country they enter, a “multinational social space” is also able to beformed in the regions where the level of integration is high between regions (Wang, 2005, citedfrom Piao (2006: 18).
If Ryu and Wang pay attention to the activities of the transnational character of Chinese
immigrants who go overseas, Gransow (2001, cited from Piao (2006: 19) applies this in her
research about China's domestic population movement and social transformation. In research about
the social formation, population movements, and commercial development of the Guangdong
region in southern China, Gransow points out that the theoretical model of Western Europe’s socialtransformation --called the “traditional-modern”-- cannot be accurately applied to the present socialtransformation of China. She stresses that under the background of globalization, research about
China's social transformation must go beyond the "national state" model. She asserts that the
Guangdong region is turning into a "globalized area" according to the manpower that has gatheredin each region of China, and according to the area governments and Chinese businessmen that camefrom abroad. She indicates that the “concept of transnationalism” that is used here points out
relationships of the several dimensions that are forming between overseas Chinese and mainland
China that represent the reality and the ability to cross national state pattern/model of family,
kinship relations and language that originate in the social network of connections of transnational
companies and population movements.
As we can see from above, in sociological research on human migration that uses the“transnational” model, the focus of the research is mostly on the network of relationships that are
being formed in the transnational space, and the life strategies of the immigrant groups that use
them, and the influence it has on their livelihoods. Transnational phenomena appear prominently inmany economic, social and cultural domains of overseas Koreans today. Human interchanges andthe movement of capital between the mother country and the country of residence are increasing
daily. For example, Los Angeles’ Koreatown has grown into a central area of economic exchange
between South Korea and the United States and is now more than just an ethnic community of
Korean Americans (Park, 2005). Culturally, overseas Koreans have combined cultures from thehomeland with the country of residence and made new cultural styles/forms and cultural spaces.
Psychologically, overseas Koreans have come to have a transnationalized social identity. As second
and third generation overseas Koreans create new forms of culture, a situation will arise where
social identities will not align with national identities (Yoon, 2007b). Given this, transnational
identities that are not included in national-state systems will steadily increase. For these reasons, weneed explanations that use not just a diaspora concept, but also a transnational concept of thesituation of overseas Koreans. We need to search for policy plans that correspond with generationalchange and re-illuminate government policies about overseas Koreans in the same system from atransnational viewpoint.
29

5. Migration and Multiculturalism
From the 1960s until the 1980s, First World capitalistic countries of Europe, North America
and Oceania began to accept foreign migrant workers from underdeveloped countries in Africa,
Asia and Latin-America to resolve issues of labor force shortage. This rapid inflow of migrant
workers brought about demographic changes, and tremendously influenced the receiving countries’
economy, politics, society, culture as well as their national identities. Under the banner ofmulticulturalism, these western countries tried to integrate their newcomers into pre-existing social
systems (Park, 2006). Among them, Canada was the first to adopt multiculturalism as a national
policy. Although it started primarily to intercept the French Canadian segregation movements in
Quebec, it later developed into a policy that seeks cultural protection and provides equal
opportunities for ethnic minorities. Since the 1990s, multiculturalism has expanded into countries
in North America, Australia, Europe and many more. For these countries, multiculturalism is a way
to accommodate increasing demands and social pressures from ethnic minorities while recognizing
their cultures, and their presence while maintaining a democratic political order (Kim, B. 2007). As
Kymlicka (2005: 31-36, as cited in Kim, B. 2007) pointed out, the reasons for the emergence ofmulticulturalism in western societies are as follows: (1) an influx of migrant workers as a result ofextended life expectancy and the low level of birthrates in First World countries; (2) an enhanced
awareness of protecting the rights of domestic and ethnic minorities due to the human rights
movements of the 1960s; (3) an affirming process to pro-democracy; (4) geological security anddecreased necessity to control or oppress ethnic minorities with the end of the Cold War era; and(5) greater range and mutual agreement for liberal democracy. In sum, multiculturalism has
emerged to solve issues arising from demographic changes and subsequent racial discriminationfrom the increase of non-western newcomers that caused maladjustment for ethnic minorities anddissonance between majority-minority groups.
Since the turn of the 2000s, multiculturalism has been actively discussed in East Asia,
including Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The concern for multiculturalism has been emphasized since
the rapidly growing number of migrant workers, female marriage migrants. They also have foundthe need to assure and protect immigrants’ basic human rights as well as to bring social integration
under the umbrella of demographical and cultural diversity. However, each country has dealt thematter rather differently.
Japan has incorporated the idea of ‘multicultural coexistence,’ which does not fully perform
multiculturalism but searches the ways for the foreigners to coexist with Japanese as residents of
their communities. Increasing numbers of Japanese descendants from South America—known as
South American Nikkeijin—have been immigrating to Japan under the provisions of the industrial
trainee system enacted specifically to recruit such individuals in order to maintain blood-oriented
immigration policies.
In Taiwan, the labor agencies and brokerage systems are infamous for the unscrupulous
practices on vulnerable migrant workers, and the laws overlook the migrants’ well being andhuman rights. They also generally lack a gender perspective and disregard the unique situation of30

women migrants.
On the other hand, South Korea is relatively propelling the most active and anticipatory
multicultural policies as they are very tolerant of accepting migrant workers and marriage migrants
out of the three East Asian nations (Yoon et al., 2008). The discourses of multiculturalism in South
Korea progressed as they approached multiculturalism under the immigration policy perspective
rather than the foreign workforce usage perspective as a key to labor shortage (Kim, N., 2007). The
central government and local governments supported international marriages as resolving South
Korea’s low fertility rate and aging population, and created many ‘multicultural friendly’
policies—that meets the global trend— in order to assist social integration of female marriage
migrants and children of multicultural families (Kim, H., 2007: 75). Furthermore, multiculturalism
has spread onto many civic organizations in creating many programs for supporting female
marriage migrants and children of multicultural families. These organizations find rather easy toattract funds from the central government and gain much social supports compared to organizing
programs and organizations for illegal immigrant workers (Lee, S., 2007: 100).
A multicultural society is not just a place where people of different racial and ethnic
backgrounds live together but also a place where people of different statuses and relationships
cohabit. Here, discordance between official membership and actual membership occurs. In orderfor the majority and minority groups to coexist, it is necessary to develop a new principle of social
solidarity and integration, and to endow socially marginalized groups with legitimate social
membership and rights. As Kymlica (2001) defined multiculturalism as a form of politics ofrecognition, emphasizing equal rights to racial, cultural, and sexual minorities, we need to develop
a more expanded social membership that enables peaceful coexistence between the majority andminority groups.
Foreign residents in East Asian countries comprise of only 2 or 3% of the total population andthe percentage of long-term foreign residents is even lower. Therefore, one can say it is premature
to call East Asian societies multicultural ones. Yet, the number of foreigners and the level of racialand ethnical diversity keep growing, and therefore, it is undeniable that East Asian societies are
slowly transforming into multicultural societies. Low fertility and aging will reduce the total
population, especially the economically active population and it would be inevitable East Asian
countries to admit more foreign labor force in order to keep up with the current level of economic
growth and living standards. Furthermore, in addition to migrant workers, marriage migrants andforeign students enter East Asian countries in increasing numbers and many of them manage tosettle permanently. As a result, East Asian societies will become more diverse in terms of race,
ethnicity, and culture, and achieving social integration out of diversity has become the major task
for East Asian societies. In a situation like this, multiculturalism is thought to be an unavoidable
choice as an ideology and policy of multicultural coexistence among various multicultural groups.
In other words, it is not about whether to accept immigrants or not, but is about to allow which
immigrants and how to facilitate their incorporation into society. Also, it is not about whether toaccept multiculturalism or not, but is about to what kind/form of multiculturalism will be
implemented. Therefore, our next discussion of multiculturalism should go beyond theoretical
discourses and step toward seeking solutions to concrete and actual problems of a multicultural31

society.
6. Conclusion
International migration does not remain at a personal level where one chooses to move abroad
for pursuit of better life. Instead, it is rather a complicated and collective choice where family
well-being is considered as a priority. Also, it begins and develops under the basis of long-built
political, economic, social and cultural relationships between the countries of origin and destination.
Such collective events demonstrate the close links between economic and political change andpopulation movements in two or multiple nations. However, attempts made by nation-states and theinternational community to regulate migration have been sporadic and ad hoc—driven byspectacular events rather than by any long-term perspectives. There is an urgent need for aninternational strategy to ensure that international migration corresponds with agreed political,
economic and social goals. International migration needs to take place in an orderly way so as tosafeguard the human rights of migrants, to prevent exploitation by agents and recruiters, and to
avoid conflict with receiving populations. Due to fast increasing number of international migration,
the East Asia nations--those are highly racially and culturally homogeneous--are changing into
multi-racial or multicultural societies. The way of pursuing social solidarity and integration on thebasis of ethno-nationalism became no longer working or effective in a multicultural environment.
Therefore, a newer approach toward social solidarity and integration needs to be developed.
However, most of East Asia nations and their citizens maintain the old nation-states’ consciousness
and legal frameworks, and therefore, many multicultural minority groups are marginalized or
unable to be successfully integrated to the societies. Also, because the numbers of foreigners inmany East Asia nations remain at a very low level as 2% of the total population, the racial or ethnic
conflicts are not significantly visible as it is in the Western societies. However, within ten years or
so, the second generation of the immigrants and the overall population of immigrants’ will rather
actively start to fight against social prejudices and discrimination and seek for equal social andcultural rights. It is inevitable that the East Asia will face unprecedented challenges of multiculturalsocieties.
In addition to cross-country movement of capital and goods, East Asia is one of the mostvibrant areas of international migration in the world. International migration has not only
significantly contributed to the economic development, but also has formed transnational networks
that facilitated ethnic and cultural diversity within individual countries in the East Asia.
The international migration in East Asia mainly confined to the issues of labor supply anddemand in the past, but now it is expanding to the issues of marriage, family, naturalization,
citizenship, education, welfare, identity, and ultimately encompassing complex social problems andsocial integration.
In order to comprehend the complex and transnational social phenomena better, acomprehensive research with the transnational perspective is needed— researches that aims tounderstand transnational networks, migrants’ usage of such networks and living strategies, andoverall socio-cultural, political and economic influences on both country of origin and residence.
32

Also, in order to respond proactively to the conflicts and problems of multicultural societies, manyfurther systematic researches are necessary on the following topics: 1) the characteristics ofimmigrants, 2) the levels and patterns of social adaptation among the residing nations, 3) thedeterminants of social adjustment and maladjustment, and 4) the mutual recognition and interaction
between the immigrants and the locals. Moreover, more researches on the policies and roles ofcentral and local governments in a multicultural society are also required.
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