International Migration and Multiculturalism in Asia and South Korea:
With a Focus on the Korean Experience1

In-Jin Yoon (Korea University)

Asia on the Move

Asia has become one of the most significant and "globalized" regions in theworld not only in terms of the cross-border movement of capital and goods, but also interms of the movement of people. It accounts for some 28% of the world's internationalmigrants. It is also the leading source of family and authorized economic migration tomost of the world's immigrant-receiving regions and countries. The nine largest
immigrant-exporting countries (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan,
the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand) together contribute between one half and two
thirds of all documented immigrants and refugees to the international migration stream(IOM, 2005: 103). Over 20 million Asian workers are estimated to be living outside theirnative countries. In addition to migrant workers, visitors and tourists, students who
study abroad, and marriage migrants cross national borders at an increasing rate andestablish complex networks of interpersonal relationships. As a result, Asia has becomea transnational space for the economy, culture, family, community, and identity.

Trends and characteristics2

The various subregions of Asia have been characterized by specific migratory
movements. Traditionally, South Asia is identified as a subregion of origin of migration,
1

Paper prepared for presentation at the International Joint Symposium on “ Sociopolitical Transformation in Globalizing Asia: Integration or Conflict?”, Waseda
University, February 20-22, 2008. This paper is draft so that please do not cite without
the author’s permission.
2
Information on trends and characteristics of international migration in Asia was
obtained from the 2003 OECD report on trends in international migration.

1

East Asia as a subregion of destination and South-East Asia as a subregion of bothorigin and destination. At the same time, however, migration flows have developed indifferent directions, particularly within the various regions, so that it is difficult tomaintain the traditional characterizations. In East Asia, for instance, migration from
China, although unauthorized, has become important in Japan and South Korea, andKoreans continue to enter Japan. South Asia cannot be considered just a subregion oforigin, in view of the substantial migration from Bangladesh and Nepal to India.
Asia contains a vibrant and changing mix of countries of destination, countries
that send and receive workers, and countries of origin. Of course migration within andfrom the region as a whole is not new — the 19th century was marked by great wavesof migration of indentured labor especially from South Asia and parts of China to theWest, while the current population mix of large parts of Southeast Asia is the result ofat least a century of migration patterns, largely from within Asia.
However, recent migration has been rather different in terms of its nature andits duration. The movement of more educated and skilled professional workers has been
dominantly to developed countries, either to the United States, or Western Europe oreven to Australia and New Zealand. By contrast, the movement of unskilled or relatively
less skilled workers has displayed a much more diverse pattern, with a large andgrowing extent of intra-Asian region migration. This reflects the basic features of
economic migration patterns from and within Asia: that they are structural and demanddriven, rather than determined by the supply conditions of labor.
While almost all the countries of developing Asia have some amount of labor
surplus and therefore are in a position to export workers, the ability of these countries
to send workers elsewhere has depended essentially upon the willingness of othercountries to receive them. This, in turn, has dictated the pattern, whereby the richer
countries which are preferred destinations have increasingly chosen to accept only
those workers who fill existing gaps in their own labor markets or add to the pool ofhighly educated workforce in general.

Issues of international migration in Asia

2International migration in Asia generates such diverse issues as brain drain orbrain circulation, return migration, feminization of migration, female trafficking,marriage migration, and remittances. Those issues cause significant changes andtransformation of both sending and receiving countries.

1) Brain drain or brain circulation
Brian drain refers to the migration of highly-educated skilled scientists andtechnologists from developing countries to developed countries like the United States.
In the past, theorists of international migration focused on the one-way movement fromdeveloping countries to developed countries in search of better employment
opportunities and higher standards of living. Nowadays, however, internationalmigration is longer a unidirectional movement. Rather, it is a bidirectional flow. Millions
of international migrants return home every year, many remaining permanently, whileothers emigrate again. Some return because they are required to do so by hostcountries, others return because they have accomplished their goals as migrants andstill others find that the costs of migration outweigh its benefits. Migrants who returnhome often bring expertise and savings. Some use their savings to start businesses that
contribute to job creation, even if on a modest scale. Some pass their expertise along toothers as teachers or trainers. Some form part of a new critical mass of skilled workers
that may launch new ventures in their countries and promote economic development.
As a result of bidirectional direction of migration, in some parts of the world,
the old dynamic of "brain drain" is giving way to "brain circulation." Most people
instinctively assume that the movement of skill and talent must benefit one country at
the expense of another. But thanks to brain circulation, high-skilled immigration
increasingly benefits both sides. Economically speaking, it is blessed to give and toreceive.

2) The Feminization of Asian Migration
Women constitute almost half of all immigrants in Asia. In several countries,
considerably more women than men are emigrant workers: In 2005, for example, over
65% of the nearly 3,000 Filipinos that left the country every day for work or residence

3abroad were women. In 2002, two women left Sri Lanka for every male emigrant.
Between 2000 and 2003, 79% of all migrants leaving Indonesia to work abroad were
women. The 1997 financial crisis in Asia led to the emigration of many women frompoorer countries. By 2000, an estimated two million Asian women were working inneighboring countries. A large number of female migrants from Asia have also been
arriving in industrial countries, such as Canada and Australia, for family reunification.

<Table 1> Female migrants as percentage of all international migrants
Region

1960

1970

1980

1990

1995

2000

2005

Asia

46.4

46.8

44.6

45.2

45.2

45.4

44.7

Eastern Asia

47.4

48.6

46.8

49.1

50.1

52.8

53.5

South-central

46.4

46.9

45.9

47.6

48.0

48.0

47.9

45.4

46.9

46.1

4

46.3

47.6

48.6

39.8

40.1

38.8

Asia
South-eastern
Asia
Western Asia

6.1
46.9

44.9

40.7

39.9

Source: World Migrant Stock: The 2005 Revision Population
Database
Many of Asian female migrants become domestic workers in other Asian
countries as well as in other regions, especially the Middle East and Europe. The ILO
reports that in 2003 there were 200,000 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong (SAR,
China) and 155,000 in Malaysia. One third of the labor migrants within the region are
women, the great majority of whom work in domestic services or entertainment, sectors
often not covered by national labor laws.
Throughout the 1990s, many of these women also ended up working in thelargely unregulated sex industry, which accounted for an estimated 2~14% of the GDP
in four South-East Asian countries. The industry is fueled by dire poverty,
discrimination and unemployment in Asia. In South-East and East Asian countries that
admit migrants exclusively for temporary labor, the share of women in labor migration
flows has been increasing sharply since the late 1970s.

4Among female migrants from Asia who move to work, low-skilled women
predominate. They are concentrated in a relatively small number of occupations.
However, highly skilled Asian women also migrate for work abroad, although many end
up doing menial labor. For instance, many Filipino women who have tertiary level
education have become domestic workers overseas. The demand for nurses is a major
pull factor, especially to meet shortages in wealthier countries. In 2003, an estimated
85% of employed Filipino nurses were working abroad. In Singapore, 30% of the nurses
registered in 2003 were born outside the country.

3) Female Trafficking
One third of the global trafficking in women and children occurs in South East
Asia, where there are an estimated 230,000 victims. The Greater Mekong Subregion,
comprising Cambodia, Yunan Province of China, Lao People's Democratic Republic,
Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam, are major trafficking areas, as is Indonesia. Thailand,in addition to being a destination country, serves as a source and transit hub for
trafficked persons to other Asian countries, Australia, the United States and Western
Europe. South Asia has the second largest number of internationally trafficked persons,estimated at 150,000. India and Pakistan are major countries of destination for
trafficked women and girls and are also transit points into the Middle East. ILO
estimates that once victims are in destination countries, traffickers net $32 billion ayear – half generated in industrialized countries and almost one third in Asia.

4) Marriage migration
Due to a high demand for foreign brides, migration for marriage is increasing in
Asia. In many East and South-East Asian countries, the increase in women entering theworkforce – coupled with a trend towards delaying or forgoing marriage andchildbearing altogether is leading to a demand for more ‘traditional’ brides in order tomaintain the household. In Taiwan Province of China, brides now represent about half ofthe total migrant population. Since the 1990s, nearly 100,000 Vietnamese women havemarried Taiwanese men. There is also a surge in the numbers of women migrating to5South Korea to marry local men. Significant numbers of Filipino women have married
men in Japan, Australia, North America and Europe.

5) Remittances
Remittances are a major part of the economies of the South Asian countries.
The Sri Lankan Government has stated that overseas remittances “have now become
the backbone of the country’s economy.” About a million overseas contract workers
from that country (60% of them are female domestic workers) sent home $1.2 billion in
2002. Of the roughly $6 billion remitted annually to the Philippines in the late 1990s,
migrant women transferred one third. Bangladeshi women working in the Middle East
sent home 72% of their earnings on average.

6) Transnational communities
Governments understand that their citizens working abroad can be development
assets and are strengthening ties with them. Collective remittances by migrantassociations that support small-scale development projects are already improving life incommunities of origin, often with the support of local and national authorities. As
consumers,

migrants

contribute

to

the

expansionof

trade,

tourismandtelecommunications in their countries of origin and destination. And migrants often
become entrepreneurs, either in their countries of destination or at home, once they
return, spawning businesses that can generate wealth and create jobs.
In addition, migrants promote foreign investment in countries of origin, as
investors themselves, and also by reducing barriers to trade and tapping their businessconnections. Networks linking scientific and technical personnel at home with theirmigrant counterparts abroad enable the transfer of knowledge and of productive andtechnological know-how.
Combining elements of traditional immigrant culture with distinctly high-techpractices, these organizations simultaneously create ethnic identities within the region
and aid professional networking and information exchange. These are not traditional
political or lobbying groups—rather their focus is the professional and technicaladvancement of their members. Membership in Indian and Chinese professional

6

associations has virtually no overlap, although the overlap within the separate
communities—particularly the Chinese, with its many specialized associations—appears
considerable. Yet ethnic distinctions also exist within the Chinese community. To an
outsider, the Chinese American Semiconductor Professionals Association and the North
American Chinese Semiconductor Association are redundant organizations. One,
however, represents Taiwanese, the other Mainland Chinese.
Whatever their ethnicity, all these associations tend to mix socializing—overChinese banquets, Indian dinners, or family-centered social events—with support for
professional and technical advancement. Each, either explicitly or informally, offers
first-generation immigrants professional contacts and networks within the local
technology community. They serve as recruitment channels and provide role models of
successful immigrant entrepreneurs and managers. They sponsor regular speakers andconferences whose subjects range from specialized technical and market information to
how to write a business plan or manage a business. Some Chinese associations giveseminars on English communication, negotiation skills, and stress management.

Trends in international migration in South Korea

Until the 1980s, South Korea was mainly an immigrant-sending country. The
South Korean government encouraged emigration to reduce population pressure in thenation and gain remittances sent home by Koreans abroad. Since the 1988 Seoul
Olympic Games, however, South Korea experienced a sharp decline in emigration but a
rapid increase of foreign visitors and residents. During the past decade, the number offoreign visitors to South Korea increased 64% from 7,506,804 to 12,312,871 in 2006
and the number of foreign residents increased 135% from 386,972 in 1997 to 910,149 in
2006. In August 2007, the number of foreigners residing in South Korea reached 1
million, representing 2% of the total South Korean population.

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<Figure 1> Number of Foreigners residing in South Korea, 1994-2007

The increase of foreign residents has been driven mainly by two different
flows: foreign migrant workers and marriage migrants. Foreign migrant workers began
to enter South Korea in the early 1990s and continued to increase since then. Therewas 142% increase of foreign migrant workers from 1995 to 2005 (140,000 in 1995 to
345,000 in 2005).

In December of 2006, their number reached 450,000, and 180,000 ofthem were unauthorized workers who often overstayed their visa expiration date. The
largest sending country is China and half of Chinese migrants are ethnic Koreans (orKorean Chinese). Other sending countries include the Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh,Indonesia, Thailand, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Russia, India, Nepal,
Kazakhstan, Myanmar, and Iran.
Married immigrants began to enter South Korea since the 1990s. In the early
1990s these foreign women were the brides of Korean farmers who could not find local
Korean women willing to marry Korean men in the countryside. In the early stage ofmarriage migration, the Unification Church played an important role in introducing
foreign women to rural areas in Korea. Later, provincial governments that wanted toboost the population size of their districts sponsored international marriage between
Korean farmers and foreign women. Commercial marriage brokers or agencies
mushroomed to capitalize the boom of international marriages. While there was little
regulation, international marriage between Korean men and foreign women increased
rapidly from 34,710 in 2002 to 104,749 in 2007. The cumulative number of international
marriages during the 1990-2007 period is 364,000. The rate of international marriage ismore striking than its absolute number. International marriage accounted for 11% of

8total marriages in Korea in 2006, and in rural areas its rate reached some 33%. In April
2006, 30,727 children were reported to be children of multicultural families, and 7,000of them were in school.

<Figure 2> Number of international marriages in South Korea, 1990-2005

Foreign brides come mainly from developing countries of Asia. China andVietnam have been the two main source countries, but marriages with Japanese and US
women have increased gradually. Also, there was a shift from marriages with Japaneseand US men to marriages with Chinese men during the past decades.

9<Figure 3> Source countries of international marriage

As a result of international migration, ethnic communities began to form,
especially in industrial areas where migrant workers are concentrated. The most wellknown example is the Borderless Village in Ansan, Kyonggi Province where foreigners
from various nationalities and local Koreans develop symbiotic relationships. Also,transnational family and social and economic linkages between South Korea andneighboring Asian countries emerged out of international marriages. The increase ofnaturalized Koreans and their multicultural children provided an impetus for change of
Koreans’ concept of national identity that used to depend on blood lineage and cultural
homogeneity. Initially migrant worker problems involved labor supply and human rights
issues. Now other issues related with social integration are important: marriage, family,
naturalization, citizenship, education, health and medical service, welfare, community,
assimilation, and identity.
The above discussions point to the fact that South Korean society has entered
the first phase of multiethnic and multicultural society and the current process seems
irreversible. If the current trend continues, the proportion of foreigners residing inSouth Korea will increase to 2.8% in 2010, 5% in 2020, and 9.2% in 2050 (Song, 2007:
91). In the increasingly multiracial/ethnic society, people’s values and social policies

10need to be multicultural enough to accommodate new members and achieve social
integration and unity out of diversity.

Multiculturalism discourses in South Korea

Starting from 2000, issues of multiculturalism and multicultural society are
actively discussed and debated in Korean society. Today’s multiculturalism discourse
reflects increasing racial and cultural diversity of Korean society as a result of
increasing international migration. It can be also viewed as an active response of
Korean society to constant problems of mistreatment and human rights violations offoreign migrant workers and married immigrants who have difficulties in adjusting to
Korean society and culture. Multiculturalism is viewed by some progressives as a newmodel of social integration amidst cultural diversity.
It is difficult to define multiculturalism because it includes a wide range ofvalues and ideologies. However, it generally refers to a belief or a doctrine that all
citizens in a society can proudly maintain their own cultural identities andsimultaneously have a sense of belonging to the society. It also refers to government
policy initiatives to implement such ideals and values. Basing on the Canadianexperience, Troper (1999) defined multiculturalism as a set of several different, but
related, phenomena; (1) the demographic reality of a Canadian population made up ofpeoples and groups representing a plurality of ethnocultural traditions and racial
origins; (2) a social ideal or value that accepts cultural pluralism as a positive anddistinctive feature of Canadian society; and (3) government policy initiatives designed
to recognize, support, and some might argue-manage cultural and racial pluralism atfederal, provincial, and municipal levels.
From demographic standpoint, Korean society is said to enter the first phaseof multicultural society and multicultural society and the current process seems
irreversible. If the current trend continues, the percent of foreigners in Korea will reach
9.2% in 2050, making Korea a truly multicultural society.
From the viewpoint of cultural tolerance, values and behaviors of South
Koreans are far from multiculturalism. As an ethnically homogeneous state, Korea has

11been traditionally unfamiliar with the problems of ethnic minorities. Koreans’ strong
pride in ethnic homogeneity helps them think that “being different” is “being wrong”
and develop prejudice and intolerance toward foreigners and minorities. In August 2007,
UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination warned the danger of theprevalent notion in Korean culture of “pure bloodness” that causes various forms of
discrimination against so-called “mixed-bloods” in all areas of life, and recommended
the Korean government to take appropriate policy initiatives to eliminate racial
discrimination and prejudice. Although Koreans’ attitudes toward foreigners andminorities have improved significantly during the past decades, but Koreans still treat
foreigners differently according to the development level of countries of origin. It
appears that Koreans are tolerant and considerate only when foreigners do not competewith Koreans and threaten Korean culture and social system.
From the policy standpoint, the Korean government makes rapid progress insome areas but in other areas it maintains a rigid and oppressive stance towardforeigners and minorities. It takes measures to support undocumented workers, married
immigrants and children of interracial marriage who are often called “Kosians”, but its
policy is geared to facilitating assimilation of foreigners to Korean culture and societyrather than recognizing and protecting their unique cultures and identities.
Thus, Korea’s multiculturalism is still at the toddler stage where people’s consciousness
and policy and system do not follow the pace of demographic changes. It is yet to see if
Koreans’ consciousness and the government’s system will become truly multicultural orremain ethnic inside and multicultural outside.

State-led multiculturalism

The South Korean government has taken a series of policy initiatives to
respond to the multicultural trends of Korean society. It legislated the Discrimination
Prohibition Act for a comprehensive and effective response to discrimination inaccordance with the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission in2006. That Act would include specific references to discrimination on the basis of race
being considered an illegal and prohibited act. In addition, as part of efforts to meet the12growing demand for supporting the adjustment of foreigners to Korean society, theBasic Act on the Treatment of Foreigners in Korea had been passed and had come into
operation in July 2007. The legislation included provisions such as extending support
for married immigrants and their children to help their social integration, assistingeducation of the Korean language and culture, as well as providing childcare. Moreover,foreigners who had obtained Korean nationality could, for three years, also enjoy thebenefit of a range of measures and policies to assist their social integration.
With regard to the situation of foreign migrant workers and industrial trainees,a number of important steps had been taken to promote the human rights of migrants.
The Industrial Trainee System had been phased out and finally abolished as of 1
January 2007. Accordingly, the Employment Permit System, which had been adopted in
2003, and had been in effect since 2004, had become the sole gateway for foreign
workers employment in South Korea. The abolition of the previous system was
expected to provide an opportunity to solve various problems, such as the infringementof foreign workers' human rights and the illegal use of foreign workers.
With regard to refugees, the Korean government had been making efforts toimprove the refugee recognition procedure and refugee relief policies. For example, toprotect the human rights of refugee applicants, the government was working on
legislatively prohibiting the forced repatriation of applicants whose refugee statusdetermination procedure was not yet complete. Moreover, a legal framework would
soon be laid down to create refugee support facilities and to allow employment for
refugee applicants and for those permitted to stay on humanitarian grounds, if they met
certain minimum requirements.
Regarding protective measures to victims of racial discrimination, foreigners
were entitled to the same rights as Korean nationals with regard to protection, remedies
and compensation in the case of acts of discrimination. Foreigners were also provided
with foreign language interpretation services and notified of available services. In
addition, starting from 10 May 2007, undocumented foreigners were granted permission
to stay and even work in Korea until any procedure for remedy, such as the provision of
medical treatment or compensation for industrial accidents, was completed.

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As for human rights education, starting in 2009, human rights education would
gradually be included as a topic of study in a wide range of school subjects at the
primary and middle school level. Teaching of the value of human rights would beincorporated in a comprehensive and systematic manner. Also, training programs on theprevention of human rights violations were now being offered to law enforcement
officials dealing with foreigner-related matters.
As for measures to assist children of married immigrants, in May 2006, thegovernment had established and initiated an Educational Plan for Children from
Multicultural Families. The government also intended to establish, in 2007, a
multicultural education support committee, composed of regional stakeholders, including
city/provincial offices of education, universities, local governments, non-governmentalorganizations and mass media organizations. A base centre for multicultural education
would also be set up. In addition, the government would build an information sharing
system among central and local governments, and between cities and provinces, to findeffective ways to support the children of married immigrants.
In May 2006, the government established the Basic Direction and Promotion
System for Policy on Foreigners, which laid out general policy guidelines for themarriage of migrants and their children, migrant workers, professional foreign
manpower, permanent foreign residents, Koreans of foreign nationality and refugees.
The legal basis for that policy was the Act on the Treatment of Foreigners in Korea,
which had been operational since 18 July 2007. That Act stipulated basic treatment forforeigners in Korea, which enabled them to better adapt to Korean society and to fully
demonstrate their ability. Also, the Act aimed at contributing to development and social
integration through the promotion of mutual understanding and respect between
foreigners and Korean nationals. For the effective implementation of that Act, theMinistry of Justice would establish a five-year implementation plan and other concerned
ministries would establish and operate their own implementation plans.
It was also significant that the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice had
been restructured and expanded to the Korea Immigration Service. Within the Korea
Immigration Service, the Planning Evaluation Division had been established and it was
charged with formulating and evaluating basic and operational plans. The Social

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Integration Division had also been established to take charge of social integration offoreigners.
The

Koreangovernment’s

policyinitiatives

arequickerandmorecomprehensive than we can find in other neighboring East Asian countries. There areseveral reasons for the Korean government’s swift actions. First, there is popularsupport for policy for married immigrants and their children. South Koreans regard
married immigrants and their children as Korean nationals who deserve thegovernment’s protection and support for successful integrated into Korean society.
Second, there has been close relationships between the government and the civilsociety during the Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun progressive governments. The
governments adopted somewhat liberal ideas of multiculturalism proposed by NGOs andprogressive scholars. Third, President Roh Moo Hyun had strong personal interests inhuman rights of minorities and played a pivotal role in establishing progressive
immigration policies and laws.
However, if we look more carefully into the Korean government’s multicultural
policy, it is evident that it does not orient toward multiculturalism as we can find in
Canada and other advanced western countries. It is more like multiculture-oriented
policy and very assimilationist in essence. It is similar to Japanese policy ofmulticultural coexistence.

Citizen-led multiculturalism

I propose citizen-led multiculturalism as a counterpart of state-led
multiculturalism. State-led multiculturalism is regarded “multiculturalism
from below” and “grass-root multiculturalism” in a sense that it aims at
protecting distinct cultures and identities of ethnic minorities who often
become marginalized and disadvantaged by the state’s unilateral policy. It
evaluates the state’s multicultural ideals and policies from the perspectiveof aboriginals, immigrants, and ethnic minorities, and seeks policies andprograms appropriate for their conditions and needs. Also, it can provide

15

community-based service to the target group because it is implemented at thelevel of local community where main actors of multicultural society areconcentrated. For these reasons, state-led multiculturalism can correct
shortcomings and problems that may occur when the state implements uniform
and standardized multicultural policy in the name of national interest andthe public goods. Main differences between state-led multiculturalism andcitizen-led multiculturalism are highlighted in <Table 2>.

<Table 2> Comparison of State-led Multiculturalism and Citizen-led Multiculturalism

Main actor
Direction
Goals
Problems

State-led multiculturalism

Citizen-led multiculturalism

Government (Central andlocal governments)
Multiculturalism from above

Immigrants and NGOs and citizens

Socialintegration
andnational integration
Suppression of minorities by
the majority group

Protection of human and culturalrights of minorities
Radical and difficult to obtain social
consensus

Multiculturalism from below

References

International Organization for Migration. 2005. World Migration 2005: Costs andBenefits of International Migration, Geneva: IOM.

OECD. 2003. “Recent Trends in International Migration in Asia and Central and Eastern
Europe.” Trends in International Migration.

Song, Jong-Ho. 2007. “Breaking the Myth of Single Nation and Moving toMulticulturalism.” Study of Nation 30: 90-125.

Troper, Harold. 1999. "Multiculturalism." Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples, edited by
Paul Robert Magocsci. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 997-1006.

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