The increasing scale and quickening pace of transnational migration and mobility have brought about increasing levels of social diversity in Korean society. These have led to growing concern and widening debate on the ways and means of coping with cultural differences. Thus, understanding the migration-diversity landscape and dynamics in Korean contexts requires simultaneous attention. In this perspective, this study proposes a blueprint for multicultural policies in Korea. It does so on the basis of an examination both of current Korean policy, and of changes in migration and social integration policies by European countries, as well as Singapore and Japan. It makes recommendations concerning children’s and civic education, demands on women, and social problems that have emerged during the development of a multicultural society in Korea.
Two principal factors have impacted on this development. Due to mass unemployment and deprivation stemming from economic globalisation, the division of labour in light of occupational category in global level has emerged and this has been attributed to the massive demand for care work and unskilled work in industrialised nations that has brought labour force migration throughout the worlds. In addition, the influx of migrated women through their international marriage which contributes to protecting paternalistic nuclear family is the other factor considered as a solution of low fertility in Korea. Yet multiculturalism policies in Korea have not taken into account the social risks and costs stemming from the transition. Western societies that experienced this transition prior to Korea encountered various social problems, such as racial tensions, riots, foreigners suffering from unemployment, low incomes and slum conditions, social adaptation of second-generation immigrants, government’s social responsibility for their poverty.
Korea needs to develop multicultural theories and policies that accommodate both Korean social characteristics and an understanding of Western examples. However, the strong assimilation policy approaches emphasising the integration of immigrants into Korean society has not suggested new perspectives on differences and diversity. Despite the Korean government’s position on multiculturalism, discrimination against immigrants persists. Unregistered migrant workers are simply not considered under a migration policy that thinks in terms of legal and illegal foreigners. In this respect, Korean multicultural policy consists in ensuring cultural citizenship, rather than labour citizenship. Thus women who immigrate to marry are well dealt with, but foreign workers are excluded.
New multicultural policies have occasionally been suggested as solutions to social problems, such as low fertility, and labour shortage in specific industries. Furthermore, to date Korean multicultural policies have been in response to political requirements and problems, rather than produced through serious theoretical discussion and social debate. Thus a new, unconfused concept of multiculturalism needs to be produced. This study intends to suggest the direction that must be taken for the multicultural empowerment of Korean society. This will involve constructing a basis for the realisation of universal human rights in the public sector through promoting the harmonious integration of minorities within the basic framework of mainstream Korean society and finding political alternatives for recognising the cultural diversity of the minority.
As racial and cultural diversity has grown in parallel with increased immigration, multicultural empowerment, which responds to bias and discrimination in daily life, and treats different cultures with tolerance, has come to be considered as the new value of civil society. Multicultural policies are not limited to consideration for, and integration of, minorities. The process of new multicultural empowerment will be accomplished by recognising that the differences between minorities can actually constitute new social resources, and that social tolerance has the power to generate a creative culture in any society. ？
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