Article: Yuniarto, Paulus Rudolf, co writer, “Multicultural South

Korea: “Intimacy” State and Society with Migrants Workers”, in

Trebuil, Ingon (Ed), 2009, On The Update on ASEAN and
KOREAN Studies 2008. ASEAN University Network (AUN) and
Korean Association of Southeast Asian Studies (KASEAS), Page
97- 135.

Multicultural South Korea: “Intimacy” State and Society

with Migrants Workers

By: Paulus Rudolf Yuniarto*

Abstract
This paper presents the study of multicultural society in South Korea.
The idea of multicultural Korea is originated from the initiative of
the state and society groups (NGOs) in managing all migrant issues.
The role of the state and NGOs represent as an important element in
the management system of foreign workers in South Korea. The
relation between the government and society in settling migrant
problems is an intimate relation form because the three elements
(government, society and migrant groups) are supporting and also
complementary to one and other. The government policy on the
management of migrant problems is a constructive endeavour to
modernise South Korean society.

Key word: Migrant Policy, NGO, Migrant Workers and

Multicultural Society

Introduction
The landscape of international migration in South Korea has
become increasingly diversified as a result of the effect of neo liberal
international division of labour together with the improvement in
South Korean economic standards (Cho Uhn, 2007:5; Young-bum,
1994). The phenomenon of South Korean foreign workers came into

1
being in these circumstances. Accordingly, diverse foreigners
migrate to and settle down in this country.
The substantial increase in the number of foreign workers
has aroused much attention by the accompanying problems. Today,
as we can see in South Korea, the terms multiculturalism,
multicultural family, or multicultural society have been popularised
not only for government policy-makers and academics scholar but
also for NGOs activist and common people to paraphrase the current
multiracial and multiethnic foreign migrant workers trend in South
Korean society (Cho Uhn, 2007:5). According to the report of the
Dong-A Ilbo, one of the major newspapers in South Korea, the
increase of foreign migrant is challenging the Koreans’ belief in
national identity as a homogeneous people: foreign migrants may
stay permanently in Korea, which will make the society to be
heterogenic; meanwhile, the country needs these workers because of
labour shortages due to the low rate of birth. It means that the
number of migrant workers will increase legally or illegally, and the
matter of migrant workers will have a huge impact on South Korean
society not only economically but also culturally (Hwa-Seo Park,
2005). Therefore, some scholars argue that Korean society in a near
future is inevitably moving from an ethically homogeneous society
to a multi-cultural one.
This paper intends to address “multicultural in South Korea,
state and society relation with foreign migrants1”. The analysis of the

1 My interest in international labour migration and globalisation problems

aroused me to study more about foreign migrant workers’ problems,
diasporas community, social networks, migrant worker groups, migrant
worker associations and etc. This studies about multicultural Korea were
based on my observation and understanding toward foreign workers in
Korea. For example, In one area of Seoul, Garibong-dong, Guro-gu, I
observed Korean and migrant workers working together to sell second-hand
products, and their relation did not look like employer and employee
because they talked to each other in a friendly manner. In another
experience, in Ansan district—as one of Korea industry centre, I observed
many migrant workers from all the countries stay and work in manufactured
industries. Also in South Korea today we can find that much international
marriage like I attend in grand opening one play group school for child from
international marriage from a migrant worker NGO in Seoul. These
2
unique relation is an attempt to identify the role of migrant workers
in Korean economic reforms; how the Korean government has
changed its attitudes and policies on foreign labour and how these
have affected the Korean society; what measures the government
adopted to improve the foreign migrant workers’ social relation and
welfare.

Basic Questions
According to Wang-Bae Kim, foreign workers in South
Korea can be divided into three categories. The first group consists
of professionals holding a legal working visa. They are professors,
artists, engineers or teachers. The second type is industrial trainees
who are recruited to fill in labor shortages in small-sized firms under
the Industrial Technical Training Program (ITTP). The third group is
illegal workers who have no valid working permits (Wang-Bae Kim,
2004: 322). Meanwhile, related to the social condition of foreign
migrants in South Korea, two categories are identified: (1) Migrant
workers in South Korea are subjected to a range of human rights
violations. This condition arises from systemic discrimination, lack
of legal status, lack of awareness of their rights, and poverty and
marginalisation; (2). Regarding the trend of foreign migration into
South Korea, the most prominent and pressing issue at the moment is
how the government will deal with the influx of foreign migrant
workers2.

phenomena are interesting because they represent the dynamic of South

Korea, which becomes more and more multicultural society. In fact the
presence of foreign population has a strong impact on the development of
Korean society today.
2 The globalisation of economic activity in general, and the growing role of
industrial corporations in South Korea in particular, in fact, have
increasingly directed attention toward social aspect i.e. environmental,
technology, and the labour condition consequences of these developments.
In this question, I give more attention in the work condition of foreign
migrant workers, in more wide perspective, should be getting also as major
arena of contention. First, there is a perception in certain circles that the
labor environment has not been sufficiently conducive to more investment if
production situation is not in secure. Second, demand from labour group to
3
 My point for this essay is to identify foreign workers’
experiences in attempting to integrate into Korean state and society.
In an effort to discover the meaning of experiences, I focus on four
basic questions; first, how is the landscape of international migration
in South Korea? Second, how does the South Korea government
implement and manage the policy related to the issues and problems
from migrant workers, which have become national issues? Third, as
a large number of NGOs are working to improve the condition of the
life of migrant workers, how do the NGOs handle the problems of
migrant workers and what kind of system do they apply? Fourth,
how do migrant workers in South Korea get involved into the state
and society to improve their condition of work and life?

Method and Data Sources

The research was carried out under the sponsorship of the
ASEAN University Network and KASEAS during 2007/2008 period.
I conducted my field research through literature review, observation,
and interviews with several informants from range June 25 to July
29, 2007. My field work was mostly located in Seoul and Ansan
South Korea. Related to method and data sources, I interviewed
scholars from university, migrant workers and NGO staff enrolled at
Ansan District and Seoul. Also I interviewed a priest from Ansan
Foreign Migration Center, and government staff NGO from
Foreigner Welfare Support Division, Industrial Assistance Office in
Ansan. Besides, I did library studies in national and local libraries
such as at the Seoul National University, Korea Labour Institute and
the Korea International Labour Foundation in Seoul.
My interview questions were developed to elicit certain
factual information about migrant workers in Korea and also to get a
broad view of migrant issues and how migrant workers perceived
their everyday life. The interviews ranged in length from 1 to 2 hours

improve their living condition. In a debate such as this, the migrant

workers’ issues are part and parcel of the overall macro-economic
challenges facing the country, particularly in this era of economic
globalisation. Third, try to more considering migrant workers as also part
member from bigger society. In more specifically, how public discourse on
migrant workers in South Korea is constructed in this condition.
4
in a casual way. Most of the interviewees spoke English and Bahasa
Indonesia. However, the interviews with migrants from different
countries and NGO members who didn’t speak English were relied
on the assistance of a native interpreter. I also interviewed
researchers from Seoul National University who were concerned
with this issue. I also conducted interview with the priest of church
who worked for the improvement of the condition of migrant
workers.
I acknowledge that the study is based on a limited number of
interviewees due to a short period of time (one month) and the
interpretation of their responses reflects my own perspective. Most
informants were hesitant to discuss governmental policies with a
foreigner. Therefore, I got the necessary information, from internet.

Demographic International Migration in South Korea

The term of international migration, as a conceptual
framework, has connection with other theories or gets influence
from other concepts. In the context of shift international migration,
Craig (2003: 1) mentioned as a spur of migration. Globalisation,
according to Venter, is associated with an increasingly dominant
process of economic change, with economic transactions taking
place regardless of national jurisdictions. Many in the West argue
that globalisation represents the construction of a liberal world
economic order, bringing with it demonstrable benefits - free market
economies and liberal forms of representative democracy (Venters
in Craig, 2003: 1).
Furthermore, globalisation according to definition from
some expertise can be defined as a compression of the time space
continuum generating increased flows of goods, services, money,
people and images across borders, demanding their simultaneous
liberalisation and regulation (Appadurai, 1990; Foster, 1999; Harvey,
1989) The compression of space and time (acceleration) based on
capitalism’s (private ownership of property and networks of power
based on that ownership realized in profits) efforts to reduce the time
between making investments and earning profits. Barriers to
production, marketing and buying/selling are reduced. Production is

5
relocated. Based on the above explanation, globalisation seems
closely related to economic influence3.
Globalisation in the next level results in the phenomenon of
international migration. The phenomenon of international labour
migration is indeed a very important issue in nearly every country in
the world, especially in millennium era today. According to Schiller,
Basch & Blanc, the phenomenon of transnational migration is the
process by which immigrants forge and sustain simultaneous multi-
stranded social relations that link together their societies of origin
and settlement (Schiller, Basch & Blanc, 1995: 48).
The high flow of labour mobility from and to a particular
country is a phenomenon that inevitably brings to the host country
problems which can be political, economic, or socio-cultural in
nature. This is precisely the case with international labour migration,
which is currently being experienced by development countries
(Sukamdi and Abdul Haris, 2000). Such globalisation, as the UN
itself observes (United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service
2002), contributed directly to migration [and the accompanying
phenomenon of growing racism] by weakening the ability of
‘Southern’ countries to generate employment for most of their

3 Actually globalisastion in the world have many approach, but mostly

economic. Globalisation in its literal sense is the process of globalising,
transformation of some things or phenomena into global ones. It can be
described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a
single society and function together. This process is a combination of
economic, technological, socio cultural and political forces (Croucher,
2004: 10). If we look globalisation in this economic perspective, often used
to refer to economic globalisation problem that is the integration of national
economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct
investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology (Jagdish,
2004). But in historical perspective, Globalisation refers in general to the
worldwide integration of humanity and the compression of both the
temporal and spatial dimensions of planet wide human interaction. It has
aggravated many of the region’s most chronic problems--such as the
pronounced degree of economic exploitation and social inequality that have
characterised Latin America since it came under European colonial
domination in the sixteenth century. (Harris, 1995: 279, 80). In this paper I
put globalization and migration as discourse that have so close correlate.
6
population, to invest in basic infrastructure and support their own
industry, and to allocate resources for health, education and social
security (Craig, 2003: 5).
Migration activities can also be seen as the mechanisms of
production intended to increase incomes, which is a consequence of
a rational choice of the migrants. In accordance with the recent
development of global economy, especially migration movement in
some South Asia and Africa has become a crucial issue often
discussed by social scientists and policy makers. According to
Massey et al (1993), one of the causes of this unequal opportunity in
employment is the effect of economic global processes that influence
the ability of each country to recruit workers for various kinds of job.
Many researchers claim that the situation will also influence the
patterns of movement from one country to another (Sukamdi and
Abdul Haris, 2000). Table 1 below shows the amount of international
migration movements in 2005:

Table 1

Source: http://www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/charts/6.1.shtml

7
 Globalization and international migration situation in South
Korea is background landscape on migration problem. If we look
over the past decades development economy situation, the industrial
development interrelated with economic improvement in South
Korea has gradually increased the country’s domestic wages. Some
scholars agreed in particular, in the mid-1980s, the domestic labor
movement was unprecedentedly strong, and wages subsequently
increased sharply. The result is that South Korean firms
progressively invest abroad, and the small and medium-size
enterprises in South Korea suffer from a great labour shortage. The
phenomenon of South Korean foreign workers came into being in
these circumstances (see in Lim, 2003; Seol, 2000; Yoo, 2002).
Since the mid-1980s, there has been a massive influx of
foreign labour into South Korea. All these foreign workers come into
South Korea originally for financial reasons through employment;
migrants mostly are from Asian countries where the income level is
much lower than that in South Korea. They enter South Korea by
legal or illegal channels. In fact the number of illegal migrants,
compared to legal ones, is much more and is rising continuously.

Number of Foreign Migrants’ in South Korea

The Republic of Korea, an ethnically homogeneous country
with a total population of 47,254,000, has been experiencing a rapid
growth in its foreign population, especially regarding migrant
workers. Until October 2005, the total number of resident foreign
nationals in Korea stood at 711,869 (more than 1.5 per cent of the
total population). By nationality, the Chinese are the largest number
(36.9 per cent of the total), followed by the Americans (14.8 per
cent), the Filipinos (5.1 per cent) and the Japanese (4.2 per cent)
(Mun-cho, Kim, 2007). And from all foreign populations, nearly
130,000 is ‘marriage immigrants’ (meaning foreign spouses married
to the Koreans) living in Korea and most of them come from Asian
countries, including China (62,950), Vietnam (20,745), Japan
(5,929), the Philippines (4,937), Mongolia (2,022) and Thailand
(1,723). Around 32,000 marriage immigrants are residing in the areas
that the Seoul Immigration Office has jurisdiction over (Hyung-gyu,
Won, 2007). For clearer information Table 2 shows the figures of

8
foreign workers in Korea by sending countries and the status of
migrant.

Table 2 Foreigners in South Korea (9/30/2005)

Total Legal Illegal Residence Illegal

Residence residence
16~60 Total
(%)
yrs
Total 693,697 483,746 187,908 209,951 27.1
China 256,595 162,844 80,582 93,751 31.4
(total)
China 142,456 96,311 37,228 46,145 26.1
(Korean)
China 114,139 66,533 43,354 47,606 38.0
(ethnic
Chinese)
America 103,987 97,658 2,641 6,329 2.5
Philippines 35,945 22,080 13,596 13,865 37.9
Indonesia 25.311 19,172 6,099 6,139 24.1
Thailand 28,498 16,611 11,729 11,877 41.2
Japan 26,130 24,937 604 1,193 2.3
Taiwan 24,790 23,983 584 807 2.4
Vietnam 34,376 23,390 10,944 10,986 31.8
Bangladesh 16,275 1,231 14,880 15,044 91.4
Mongolia 20,578 9,567 10,633 11,011 51.7
Russia 11,944 7,074 3,481 4,870 29.1
Uzbekistan 14,524 7,561 6,888 6,963 47.4
Pakistan 11,365 5,993 5,285 5,372 46.5
India 6,487 3,307 3,123 3,180 48.1
Australia 4,615 4,434 101 181 2.2
Sri Lanka 9,234 526 2,754 2,768 29.8
Nepal 5,608 3,474 2,131 2,134 38.0
Iran 1,815 472 1,334 1,343 73.5

9
 Kazakhstan 3,378 2,071 1,276 1,307 37.8
Myanmar 3,378 1,550 1,820 1,828 53.9
Nigeria 1,690 661 1,020 1,029 60.4
Other 47,174 45,150 6,403 7,964 13.6
Source: Ministry of Justice, International Crimes, 2005, p. 33

According to Nam Kok (2007), South Korea has at least

three categories of migrant newcomers. The first is migrant worker,
the second is marriage migrant, and the third are those who escaped
from North Korea. The first movement of migrant workers occurred
in the late 1980s as they were hired to construct the country’s
housing for the 1988 Olympic Games; the second one is
experiencing a rapid increase in Korean society; and the third is
those who escaped from North Korea to search for better jobs and
more political freedom. (Nam-Kook Kim, 2007: 8).
Recently, about 1,200-1,500 people per year have arrived in
South Korea. The current number of the North Korean migrants is
about 7,074 although this number is relatively small, but it has an
important impact regarding national unification in the future. In the
end of 2006, the total number of foreigners who works in South
Korea was approximately 820,000 including newcomers from above
three sources or 1.7 percent out of the total population of 48 million
(Nam Kok, 2007: 8). It means that 120.000 foreign migrants came to
Korea in only one year 2005-2006.
It’s already mentioned in the first paragraph that the
substantial increase in the number of foreign workers has aroused
showed diverse problems. In order to solve the labor shortage in the
country’s companies, especially some small and medium-size
enterprises, the South Korean government established the Foreign
Industrial Training Program in 1991. This was an expedient measure
because, although foreign trainees are not employees in the real
sense, the foreign trainees can be employed as non-experienced
workers. The South Korean government then set up the Foreign
Industrial Training Employment Permit System in 1998 to support
the program (see in Lim, 2003; Seol, 2000; Yoo, 2002). For these
policies I will explain in next sub chapter.

10
 Actually, a few numbers of foreign workers are employed
legally in South Korea, and most of them are categorised as skilled
labour, such as university professors, researchers, language
instructors and other special professions. Still, there are many
problems mainly stemmed from foreign industrial trainees and so-
called illegal sojourners. According to Sang-Yoo, the so-called
illegal foreign workers constitute a large proportion of all foreign
workers, and their number has been continuously increasing. These
foreign workers are mainly those who have overstayed their legal
period in South Korea and those who entered the country by various
illegal channels. Furthermore, the increase in the number of illegal
foreign workers has resulted in many social and economic problems
in South Korea (Sang-Yoo, 2004: 5-6).
The work areas for migrants, as shown in table 3, are
various: male migrant workers are normally employed in
manufacturing and construction industries while the majority of
female migrants are employed in service sector (hotel, restaurant,
manufacturing, housekeeping and nursing, etc.). Consequently, the
demand for manual and unskilled workers in small and medium sized
companies – so-called ‘3D’ (dirty, dangerous, and difficult) jobs – is
satisfied by low-paid migrant workers.

Table 3 Migrant Workers by Sector

(Unit: percent)
Sector Total Male female
Agriculture & Forestry 1.0 1.2 1.7
Fishing 0.1 0.1 0.03
Mining & quarrying 0.2 0.3 0.09
Manufacturing 37.0 42.2 27.2
Electricity, gas & water supply 0.2 0.2 0.08
Construction 22.5 30.7 7.1
Wholesale & retail trade 0.4 0.4 0.4
Hotels & restaurants 15.5 4.0 37.3
Transport 0.2 0.2 0.01
Post & telecommunications 0.0 0.01 0.0
Financial institutions & insurance 0.0 0.0 0.01
Real Estate, renting & leasing 0.01 0.02 0.01
Business activities 1.7 2.0 1.1

11
 Education 0.02 0.01 0.03
Health & social work 0.1 0.03 0.1
Recreational, cultural & sporting 0.03 0.04 0.03
activities
Other community & personal 2.2 2.2 2.2
service activities
Private households with employed 3.9 0.3 10.6
persons
Missing 15.2 16.3 13.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
Source: Ministry of Justice cited from Sang Yoo, Kil, 2005, Foreign
Workers in the Republic of Korea. Korea Labor Institute

One of the most important reasons why Korean employers

employed migrant workers is that it is hard to find domestic workers.
The Koreans have a high education and don’t want to take the 3D job
(dirty, difficult and dangerous). The demand for migrant workers in
Korean labour market is expected to increase further in the future, as
the firms are planning to hire more migrant workers accounted for
31.7%, while a mere 8.9% of the firms intends to recruit less
foreigners in the future (Sang-Yoo, 2004: 21).

Development Policy for Migrant Workers4

South Korea used to be a sending migrant country especially
in the era 50-70’s, while the country was experiencing a civil war.
But in the 80’s it begun to receive migrants from other countries due
to its rapid economic growth. Since the increase of migrant 3D
population, the government has launched a policy for migrant
workers. Basically, foreign workers in Korea are classified into two

4 For writing this sub chapter I use more data from Korea and Global
Migration Conference, December 11, 2004, Los Angeles, CA with two
related paper is Global Dimensions in Mapping the Foreign Labour Policies
of Korea: A Comparative and Functional Analysis from Dr. Dong-Hoon
Seol, and Policy Development of Labour Migration and Characteristics of
Migrant Workers’ Labour Market in the Republic of Korea from Dr. Kil-
Sang Yoo. Both of writers are expertise about migrant workers and migrant
policy in Korea. I only state important point and description of policy
implemented.
12
hierarchal categories (white-collar foreigners as opposed to migrant
workers), through the dichotomy type of their work. The former is
treated as a real professional from more advanced countries, while
migrant workers are deskilled, stigmatised and troublesome. In
straightforward way, the policy for migrants in Korea can be divided
into 4 stages as follows:
1) Industrial Skill Trainee Program for Overseas-invested Firms
(1991),
2) Industrial Trainee Program (1993),
3) Post-training Employment Program (2000),
4) Guest Worker System (2004).

1) Industrial Skill Trainee Program for Overseas-invested Firms

(1991)
In 1991, the Korean government launched the Industrial
Technical Training Program (ITTP; Saneop gisul yeonsu jedo),
supposedly for foreigners to learn skills both in classroom and
workplace, and to transfer technology to less developed countries
(Seol, 2004: 17). The Government aimed to use this policy as a
respond to the condition in the late 1980’s where the so-called 3-D
(dirty, difficult and dangerous) industries including the small and
medium-sized manufacturing and construction businesses began to
suffer a shortage of low-skilled manpower. As Seol mentioned that
the Korean government introduced in November 1991 the Industrial
Skill Trainee Programme for overseas-invested enterprises, under
which these firms could import foreign trainees through their
overseas subsidiaries and use their own labour (Seol, 2004: 17).
The main point of this program is to maintain and train
migrant workers. All migrants get training in Korea: six months to be
trained to become industrial skilled labour, but the period could be
extended for another six months if still needed. According to the data
in this era, the migrants’ situation was quite crowded; for instance, in
1992, the Korean government offered an amnesty to undocumented
foreign workers because of too many illegal migrant workers. Then
to train migrant workers, the government introduced an industrial
training programme managed by the Korea International Training
Cooperation Corps (KITCO), which was established in 1994 under
the Korea Federation of Small Businesses (KFSB) (Seol, 2004: 17).
13
 The Industrial Skill Trainee Program for Overseas-invested
Firms is at first the Korean government’s policy for migrants to
overcome the 3D labour’s problems. When the country was flooded
by low skilled and undocumented migrant workers, the government
thought migrant conditions should be controlled. The Korean
government took the initiative from Japan, which had successfully
managed its migrant workers by establishing this kind of programme.

2). Industrial Trainee Program (1993)

The Korean government launched the second programme
with the same title but mostly designed for the small and medium-
sized businesses. This policy gave more incentives only for small-
sized overseas industrial firms with the reason actually small
industries for long time did not have any access to employ foreign
labour. Therefore, the Korean government introduced the Industrial
Trainee Programme for foreigners in November 1993 to help small
businesses solve their problem of manpower shortages (Yoo, 2004:
3).
According to Yoo, the Industrial Trainee Program is a
system under the Government control, which foreign migrant
workers are introduced as trainees for small and medium-sized
manufacturing firms. The Program encloses 300 or less employees
for a period of one year trainee, and if where necessary, the training
period may be extended for another year. A total of 20,000 industrial
trainees were introduced for the initial year of the Program for small
and medium-sized manufacturing businesses. The number of migrant
workers increased steadily because the manpower shortages in the
small and medium enterprises including the coastal fisheries in 1996
and the construction industry in 1997 (Yoo, 2004: 3).
For the range of seven years (1993-2000) a difficult situation
from migrant workers in Korea has risen quickly. The Korean
government needed to maintain a number of migrant skilled labours
to carry out the work program especially in the domain of technical
and computerised machine with high risks. Thus, the Industrial
Trainee Program became the core of Korea’s foreign labour policy
by 2000 (Yoo, 2004: 3).

14
3). Post-training Employment Program (2000)
The ITTP program worked with a lot of problems. In fact
this program produced severe social problems. The ITTP tried to
upgrade trained migrants to become skilled workers, but later they
were not recognised as workers under the existing labour laws.
Actually, the original purpose of the system (ITTP program) to offer
industrial training has not been actualised in practice leaving it
discrimination (Seol, 2004: 17). According to Seol, some employers
take advantage of the migrants who are unprotected by legal status to
avoid paying full wages. This phenomenon has attracted criticism
from NGOs as a violation of human rights; some, including the Joint
Committee for Migrant Workers in Korea (JCMK), look up of this
situation and even call the ITTP a contemporary form of slavery
(Seol, 2004: 17).
Industrial Skill Trainee Program seems to be misused by the
‘naughty enterprise’. During the training period, employers pay the
worker as a trainee. So they get much benefit not only from a low
payment but also from other obligations related to the migrant
worker’s right. In this case, trainees live in a precarious working
condition as they could be fired or retired from their job at any time
or any how. Normally, employers are looking for new trainees to
lower their cost. Moreover, many trainees quit their workplaces
before completing the program because they do not enjoy full legal
protection under labour-related laws.
Facing many critics, the Korean government in 1998
launched “Work after Training Program” (WATP; Yeonsu chuieop
jedo) for foreigners to permit their stay under the status of workers
(Seol, 2004: 17). Many training companies recommend trainees to
follow this proceeding to have an opportunity for working under the
worker status. This can be considered as a big change because the
government broke the close-system of less-skilled foreign labour,
open “trainees” status to “workers” status (Seol, 2004: 17).
Still, a lot of reports from workers, public institutions or
NGOs indicate that migrants do not enjoy their rights (Yoo, 2004: 4).
To mend this situation, the Post training Employment Program was
introduced in April 2000. Under this program, an industrial trainee
who worked at a firm for two years without interruption should be

15
qualified to reside and work in Korea for another year in his capacity
as “worker,” not as “trainee” (Yoo, 2004: 4).

4). Guest Worker System (2004)

Since the economic crisis in 1998, the Korean government
has failed to control the growing number of undocumented and
illegal workers. The rate of undocumented workers in Korea is the
highest in the world (Seol, 2004: 18). This crisis has pushed people
to migrate to developed countries including Korea to improve their
standard of living (Hollifield, 1992).
Under these circumstances, the country needed a new
institutional device to ease the labour shortage of business firms and
solve the problem of illegal migrant workers. On August 16, 2003,
the Act on Foreign Workers’ Employment, Etc. was legislated, which
stipulated the introduction of the Employment Permit Program (EPP,
Goyong heoga jedo) for foreigners (Seol, 2004: 18). The main aim of
EPP is not only to eradicate human right violations, but also to
substitute legal foreign workers for undocumented workers. The EPP
allows the businesses that have failed to recruit Korean manpower to
legally hire migrant workers. Whereas the ITTP and WATP are
notorious as systems for exploiting migrant workers without
providing proper status under labour laws, the EPP provides an equal
treatment to workers regardless of their nationality.

Table 4: Comparison between the WATP and the EPP

WATP EPP
Work After Training Employment Permit
Programme Programme
Responsible Korea Federation of Small Ministry of Labour
government body or and Medium Businesses
public organisation (KFSB); Construction
Association of Korea
(CAK); National
Federation of Fisheries
Cooperatives (NFFC);
National Agricultural
Cooperative Federation

16
 (NACF)
Legislation No separate legislation Act on Foreign
(but relying on the Workers’ Employment
existing Departure and Etc.
Arrival Control Act)
Legal status of Trainee for the first year Worker for three years
foreigners and worker for the next
two years
Labour allocation Neither employers nor Employers have the
system workers have the opportunity to choose
opportunity to choose their workers
their workers or jobs
Protecting Industrial policy-related Employers should
employment considerations are given attempt to find native
opportunities for priority regardless of the workers for a certain
native workers labour shortage period
Source: Seol, Dong-Hoon, 2004. Global Dimensions in Mapping the
Foreign Labour Policies of Korea: A Comparative and Functional Analysis.
Paper in Korea and Global migration Conference, December 11, 2004, Los
Angeles, CA

The Foreign Workers Act states that the EPP and ITTP work
in tandem. The Korean government did not abolish the ITTP because
it was difficult to introduce the EPP unless for interests of employers
— such as the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses
(KFSB; Junggihyeop), the Construction Association of Korea (CAK;
Geonseolhyeop), the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives
(NFFC; Suhyeop), and the National Agricultural Cooperative
Federation (NACF; Nonghyup) — were protected (Seol 2004: 18).
The Ministry of Labour and some NGOs had tried to initiate the EPP
since 1995, but were able to bring it into effect only in 2003 (Seol,
2004: 18).
After one year of preparation, the Foreign Workers Act came
into force on August 17, 2004. The preparation included the bilateral
agreement on the memorandum of understanding with sending
countries, amnesty for some undocumented workers and inducement
for others to return to their home countries, and the arrest and
deportation of those who refuse a voluntary return. The Korean
government has also signed bilateral agreements with the

17
governments of labour-sending countries to establish the EPP. Under
the EPP, workers are granted non-renewable, fixed-term contracts for
a duration ranging from three months to one year. Some of these
schemes include professional and language training (Seol 2004: 18-
19).
From the brief description about the development of migrant
policy in Korea, the government basically accepts the existence of
migrant workers. Administratively, the government wants to
maintain and give better status for migrants. But from explanation
above, the government still refuses to grant to migrants a full worker
status. That’s why Korea accepts migrant workers through the visa
system, which prevents them from changing their workplace and
from permanently settling. Only contracted migrant workers should
be accepted. However, it gives priority to professional and skilled
workers, even encouraging their naturalisation; while strictly
controlling the inflow of less-skilled workers. A rotation policy has
been adopted to prevent migrants from settling in Korea, which
means that migrant workers who have stayed for a certain period are
forced to leave the country and to be replaced by new workers (Seol
2004: 17).

Response of the State and Society to Migrant Workers

In this sub chapter, I discuss the Korean state and society’s
response to foreign migrant workers focusing on NGO migrant
movements and activities. With the increasing critics on foreign
migrants’ concern, such as failure in migrant policy, human right
abuses and others problems, the new social movement to protect
migrant workers was initiated by the state and civil society. Much of
concrete attention from associations, including the protection of their
rights and dignity, is given to migrants by the day-to-day work of
local, national and regional non-governmental organisations. The
associations in this case are so called NGOs.
There are two types of migrant NGO in Korea, the NGO
initiated by the government and directly by society. The term “NGO”
here follows the concept from Mercer (2002), which refers to those
organisations officially established, run by employed staff (often
urban professionals or expatriates), well-supported (by domestic or,

18
as is more often the case, international funds) and are often relatively
large and well-resourced. NGOs may, therefore, be international,
national or regional organisations. They are seen as different from
Grassroots Organisations, (GROs), that are usually smaller, often
membership-based organisations, operating without a paid staff but
often reliant upon donor or NGO support, which tend to be (but are
not always) issue-based, and therefore, ephemeral. The distinction
between NGOs and GROs is important not only in organisational
terms, but in differing ways they act, and are affected by the
development policy (Mercer, 2002: 6).
Since the pro-democracy struggles of 1987, South Korea has
experienced a rapid increase of non-governmental organisations.
Over the past twenty years, Korean non-governmental organisations
have emerged to play an increasingly important role in delivery of
social services to migrant workers. One of the most prominent of
these organisations is the Citizen's Coalition for Economic Justice
(CCEJ), which has been directly involved in promoting and
protecting the rights of foreign workers since the early 1990s. The
CCEJ had about ten thousand members in 1994 (starting with a base
of only five hundred in 1989), and is involved a wide range of
activities, most of them focused on the issue of social justice,
environmental protection, and consumer rights (Dalton&Cotton,
1996).
At beginning, the CCEJ was established to assist local
Korean workers, has long relied on a particular political strategy
focusing on using the existing legislation to protect and expand
worker rights. Since foreign migrant workers in South Korea have
steadily augmented, the involvement of CCEJ in solving foreign
migrant problems has become more and more intensive; it tries to
mobilise foreign workers to struggle for their own right and work
legitimacy (Lim, 1999: 18).
Beside the CCEJ, there are other organisations who work for
the benefit of foreign migrants, such as Lawyers for a Democratic
Society (LDS), the Archdiocese of Seoul Foreign Workers' Labor
Counseling Offices, the Seoul Migrant Workers' Center, the
Association for Foreign Workers' Human Rights (AFWHR), the
Institute for Workers' Rights, and the Joint Committee of Migrant
Workers in Korea (JCMK) (Lim, 1999: 18). The LDS, for example,
19
has provided a great deal of legal assistance to workers from the
Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. In 1997, the LDS
worked on more than four hundred legal cases and assisted almost
one thousand foreign workers in fighting for their rights. Similarly,
the AFWHR, which was established in 1992, helped foreign workers
settle disputes concerning unpaid or delayed wages, industrial
accidents and occupational diseases, problems with immigration or
visa status, unjust dismissals and other problems involving the
violation of human rights of foreign workers in Korea.
The JCMK has been involved in political campaigns
designed to achieve a number of broader objectives: (1) abolish the
trainee system, (2) create a work-permit system that recognises
migrant workers as workers (rather than trainees), (3) grant
permanent amnesty to undocumented workers to legalise their status
and (4) ensure the protection of foreign workers human rights (Lim,
1999: 18). All these organisations operate on the basis of common
and transnational human-right discourse. Many of these
organisations, moreover, get involved in creating concrete linkages
with similar organisations both within and outside Korea.
According to a survey undertaken by the Christian Institute
for the Study of Justice and Development, at least 155 civil, religious
and labour organisations in South Korea are engaged in improving
migrant workers’ rights and supporting their interests. From 155
NGOs supporting migrant workers, according to Seol, 107 (69%) is
concentrated in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Provinces, followed by
Daegu and Gyeongbuk 13 (8%), Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam 13
(8%), Daejeon, Chungnam, and Chungbuk 10 (7%), and Gwangju,
Jeonnam and Jeonbuk 9 (6%). There are two in Gangwon Province
and one in Jeju Province. (Lim, 2003: 438; Seol, 2005: 12).
Moreover, based on my observation in Seoul, today we can
find many small organisations in concern with specific regions or
countries. For example, Harvest Indonesia Fellowship Korea (Hati
Elok) Indonesian Migrant Support Center, Ansan Foreign Worker
Center, Foreigner Welfare Support Division Industrial Assistance
Office, Korea Migrant’s Center, Migrant Support Center by country
etc. The number of NGOs in Korea has steadily increased, especially
from 1992 to 1997. In this case, the change in the establishment and

20
development of NGOs supporting foreign migrant workers associates
with the change in the number of migrant workers.
NGO centres for migrant workers were firstly established in
Seoul Metropolitan, and then spread throughout the country. Seol
(2005) noted most of the organisations were initially established on
faith-based religion, such as Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, and
Muslim. (Seol. 2005: 12). Actually many migrant NGOs in Korea
are not run and supported only by religious, but also by labor or
human rights organisations that include immigrants. The major
activities of NGO migrant associations can be summarised as six
types: Counseling Services, Provision of Shelters and Medical
Services, Educational Services, Research and Advocacy, Religious
Services and Supporting Migrant Workers’ associations (Seol, 2005:
12-13).
These migrant organisations devote their efforts to migrant
workers problem counselling, that is, helping foreign workers collect
unpaid wages or severance pay, obtain medical assistance and
financial compensation for work-related incidents, or obtain legal
advice, etc (Lim, 2003: 438). Labour counselling in many NGOs is a
main service. It not only has helped thousands of individual workers
receive compensation and benefits that they otherwise would not
have, but it has also led to broader legal-institutional changes within
South Korea and to protect and expand worker rights through the use
of existing legislation (Lim, 2003: 438).
Based on interviews with migrant workers and the staff of
organisation, the issues of counselling usually concern problems in
the work place, such as (1) work contracts: In this case, most of the
migrant workers don’t have contracts with their employers. . Foreign
migrant workers have minimal negotiating power when determining
working conditions and benefits; (2) working hours: It is common for
migrant workers in Korea to work long hours. The average working
hours per days totals 11 to 12 hours. Many factories do not observe
weekends, and workers work seven-day work per week. (3) Wages:
Migrant workers wages are often lower than the minimum wage set
by the government or common wages market. Some factories force
workers to pay fees the government or agent or broker that become
obligation factories to pay, this make workers receive even less than
their set wage. (4) Health insurance: The large majority of migrant
21
workers do not enjoy benefits, such as medical insurance and social
welfare services, especially when they get accident in working place.
(5) Hitting and attacking. Employers or supervisors often infringe
upon migrant workers personal rights and personal dignity. Physical
assault and personal humiliation are common occurrences in
everyday practice. (6) Less attention. Sometimes migrant workers
who have had injuries, that happen from time to time because
factories do not pay any attention to health standards, and do not take
adequate precautions or follow safety regulations. Workers are
exposed to industrial hazards and pollution while doing 3D jobs.
Foreign migrant foundations and NGOs are actively
involved in providing migrant workers with services and training,
which focus particularly on education, legislation and support
activities. For example, Hati Elok—an Indonesian NGO who has
been active in Seoul over the past three years is working with the
Church Union, Korea Migrant Centre and university-based research
centres to provide counselling and services to migrant workers who
got trouble in their work or jobs. Ansan Foreign Migrant Centre and
Migrant Centre have provided foreign workers with consultation and
solution to the problems, Korean language courses, sport and cultural
activities, and also free medical treatment5.
These various NGO players are not only helping migrant
workers successfully solve legal issues, but are also creating pressure
on society to improve the working and living conditions of migrant
workers. The development of civil society has created a means of
enhancing the rights of foreign migrant workers. Both the state and
civil society have tried to provide migrants with equal opportunities
or necessary protections. Therefore, in playing an important role in
the social management, the state and civil society are becoming
tangible outlets of services for needy people. Gradually, they are also
playing an advocacy role for societal change. This kind of bottom-up
approach will lend itself to further opening and will gradually change
the Korean society.

Toward Multicultural South Korea Society

5 See more detail in www.migrantok.org

22
 A Korean academic describes the phenomenon of increasing
foreign migrant into South Korea today as the birth of recent
multicultural Korea society. Nowadays more and more people from
all around the world come to visit, live, study, get married and
mostly take a chance to find work in South Korea. Unlike the past, it
is no longer unusual to see foreigners walking down the streets of
Seoul. We can find them almost everywhere gather in a large number
in Myungdong, Itaewon, and South Gate Market. In my observation,
South Korea today is truly bustling with a rising number of
foreigners composed mainly of labourers, marriage immigrants,
children from multiracial families, descendants from overseas
Koreans and North Koreans.
Migrant workers basically live mostly in Seoul in the area of
Myungdong, Itaewon, and South Gate Market, Ansan, an industrial
area, Daejon or Busan and etc. The flow of migrant workers entering
Korea had two different categories: the influx of high quality foreign
labour as a result of the rapid rise of Korea’s multinational
corporations, and the arrival of ever-increasing numbers of migrant
works seeking financial gain and economic security. Many of foreign
migrant workers have lived and worked in Korea for more than a
decade. The South Korean society today is become changing more
multicultural, living together with the migrants.
Historically, South Korea was one of the manpower-
exporting nations during the 1960’s and 1970’s, but from the late
1980’s, the country turned into a labour force-importing nation due
to domestic manpower shortages. This reversal in the flow of labour
was caused by higher income and education level, and lowered birth
rate among Korean nationals. Until recently Korea imported not only
skilled foreign labourers as employees, but introduced low-skilled
foreigners as trainees (Sang Yoo, 2005: 1). Culturally and socially,
Korea also well known for its homogeneous population and culture,
but look at recent situation with the increasing migrant workers from
abroad, it started to change rather rapidly.
According to the statistics, almost one hundred and thirty
thousands (130,000) foreign women have married to Korean men
between 1990 and 2004. In 2004, out of three hundred and ten
thousands (310,000) marriages registered, over eleven percent (11%)
was married to foreign spouses. This trend is even more prominent in
23
rural areas where a quarter of marriages are with foreign nationals. A
large number of international spouses in Korea come from
neighboring countries such as People’s Republic of China, Vietnam,
the Philippines, and increasingly from Mongolia, Uzbekistan or other
Central Asian countries. These number migrant phenomena get more
over with others newcomers from North Korea and others migrant
who come illegal.
Furthermore, as the number of foreign migrants in Korea is
increasing dramatically, the Korean government can no longer deny
the multiethnic and multicultural aspects of society that become
more and more evident. It has to deal with the effect of this
phenomenon in finding an alternative value to their policy and social
movement (Geon-Soo, 2007). In April 2006, President Noh
declared in the 74th regular government task meeting, “It is
irreversible for Korea to move toward multi-racial and multi-
cultural society. We must try to integrate migrants through
multicultural policies.”6
The South Korean government considers multiculturalism
concept is important, but until now this issue in South Korea is still
debatable. Especially from activist and academia, they said that
Korean people actually from the past time have never had that
experience. Mrs. Han, one of my informants, said: “The South Korea
governments just borrow some vocabulary found in the discourse
about South Korea multiculturalism, but actually they don’t really
understand its meaning.” As director of the education program at the
NGO “Harvest Indonesia Fellowship Korea (Hati Elok)” in Seoul’s

6 For this statement please refer to see more detail in www.pressian.com.

Concept of multiculturalism policy as I refer from Kymlicka has to be
defined as a set of political ideals aiming to ensure that all socio-cultural
differences will be recognised and also treated at the level of equality and
equity, such as in the campaign of anti discrimination program, employment
equity, education, language training and other programs that enhance
understanding among every aspect of all society members (Kymlicka,
2002:14). In term of global multiculturalism, Kymlicka points out the
importance of tolerance among people from different paths of life. I look
the statement from President similar with term of multiculturalism concept
above which stresses to recognition of minority group’s including foreign
migrant workers.
24
Guro-gu, Mrs. Han launches the program that initiates foreign
migrant women and in Korea to learn Korean culture; e.g. some
cultural awareness programs teach foreign brides how to make the
traditional Korean common culture, but in other side she said have
contradictory, that most of young Korean people they don’t know
how about they own culture.
In another story, Jang Hussein (37) who has been working in
Korea for more than 11 years and marrying to her Korean husband,
but she still feels isolated from Korean society. “I hold Korean
citizenship, speak Korean, but the Koreans still view me as a
foreigner and treat me as somebody who doesn’t belong here. It
really needs to change because it is time that Korea should be ready
to accept multi-nationalism and differences,”7
Related to the discourse of multicultural South Korea,
Steven Castles in Global Human Resources Forum 2007, Seoul,
mentioned that Korea has taken the first steps toward a greater
cultural and ethnic diversity He explains that only around 1.7 per
cent of the Korea’s population comes from other countries –
compared with 23 per cent in Australia, 12 per cent in the USA, and
5-10 per cent in many European countries. (Castles, 2007: 7).
Furthermore, Castles believes that it would take a while for South
Korean to become a multicultural society. Apart from immigrants,
diverse cultural influences come from the Koreans who have more
contacts with foreigners while travelling abroad, global media, and
the nature of modern and international business and technology, at
the moment, South Korea is still at a very early stage in process to
become a full multicultural society.
In other case, base on common realities, however, there is a
perception from Korean look the existence of the other ethnic. Most
Koreans still have stronger attachment to ethnic Koreans living in
foreign countries than to ethnic non-Koreans living in Korea. It is
also much easier for a Korean-American who to recover Korean
citizenship than for an Indonesian migrant worker living in Korea to
obtain Korean citizenship. This is true even if the Indonesian worker
might be more culturally and linguistically Korean than a Korean-
American (Shin, 2007).

7 For more detail see in www.kois.go.kr

25
 A multicultural society, as defined by Castles, refers to a
country which is composed of multi-groups of diverse cultural
characteristics such as language, religion, customs and values.
Culture does not refer only to ethnicity, but also includes
characteristics linked to social class, gender, regional location, sexual
orientation and so on. Nearly all the world’s nation-state have
culturally-distinct groups (whether they have had recent immigration
or not). A key characteristic of democratic societies is their ability to
include people with different cultural values as citizens (Castles,
2007: 2).
The term multicultural society in that perspective generally
refers to a de facto state of both cultural and ethnic diversity within
the demographics of a particular social space (Davidson: 1997). The
Koreans still tend to equate nationality or citizenship with
membership in a single, homogeneous ethnic group or ‘race’
(Minjok, in Korean). Also, Korea is not a nation formed of
immigrants but of natives that have long shared common values and
bloodlines. A common language and culture are viewed as important
elements in Korean identity. The idea of multiracial or multiethnic
nations, like Canada or the United States, strikes many Koreans as
weird or even contradictory. South Korea is among the world’s most
ethnically homogeneous nations (Soo, 2007). All said, like Shin
(2007) state that South Koreans still should strive to promote ethnic
diversity and cultural tolerance, and develop proper legal institution
so that all can live together in a multiethnic or unified Korea as equal
citizens of a democratic polity.

Conclusion
The Korean government cannot deny that a large number of
foreign workers migrate to Korea each year to find better jobs and a
more comfortable life. Korea becomes inevitably a multicultural
society. But basically in daily practice live, foreign workers are still
excluded from the state political, cultural, educational and also social
arenas. Urban residents and the local city government still have an
opinion and regard to migrant workers as the outsiders.
Base on NGOs’ report, foreign workers are restricted to
isolated factory communities or industrial complexes. In everyday

26
practice, foreign migrants who work in South Korea occasionally
face unfair treatment, while marriage immigrants go through the
immense difficulties of adaptation to a new language and culture.
Such problems are not likely to be solved easily. The need to protect
them and help them bond with the society is great.
These phenomena if belongs continue will not help them to
integrate into Korean society. The integration is possible only if the
government policy toward foreign workers is changed. Fortunately,
the South Korean government and its people have shown a positive
attitude toward the increasing social heterogeneity and embrace a
new multicultural vision. President Roh tries to integrate migrants
through multicultural policies as well. The Korean government adopts
more effective measures to regulate and manage migrant workers
which flow into the country continuously. Many programs related to
educational development and urban modernisation are implemented
to help migrant workers integrate into their new home. The migrant
problem should be managed accordingly. However, in my opinion
state and society has been response and develop intimacy relation
with the foreign migrant workers or immigrant even it needs time
and still much to do.

27
Source: http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/countries_map/map-
picture/korean_peninsula.gif

28
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http://www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/charts/6.1.shtml Top
Ten Countries with the Largest Number of International
Migration

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http://www.kois.go.kr/News/issues/issueDetailView.asp?board_no=1
6988&menu_code=A Korea Embraces Multicultural Society
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06042618 1838&s_menu= download at 11/21/2007
www.migrantok.org

* Researcher at Research Center for Regional Resources

Indonesia Institute of Science.
* Department of Anthropology University of Indonesia

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