Ethnic nationalism (‘homogenous race of people’) has long remained an important organizing principle of Korean society. Korean people have been united together using the same language and sharing the same culture. Due to a sharp increase in the nu... Ethnic nationalism (‘homogenous race of people’) has long remained an important organizing principle of Korean society. Korean people have been united together using the same language and sharing the same culture. Due to a sharp increase in the number of foreign residents in Korea including immigrant women since 2000, however, things have started to change. In fact, Korean society has been changing rapidly into a multicultural society. The western society has gradually promoted an immigration policy with discretion by mediating conflict between assimilationism and multiculturalism despite a long history of immigration. However, Korea has recently pursued cultural pluralism without a sufficient review and study on whether or not the multiculturalism is certainly suitable for Korean society. Therefore, this has attempted to investigate if multiculturalism is a good choice for Korean society and analyze how effective current multicultural policies are in handling the problems of immigrant women. In fact, Korean society hasn’t adopted multiculturalism based on a thorough analysis of the reality of immigrant women in Korea. This kind of phenomenon is obvious when we see the type of marriage immigration which has been the main cause of the increase in the number of foreign residents in Korea. Most marriage immigrations to South Korea have been for economic reasons. Vietnamese, Mongolian and Cambodian women, as well as Korean-Chinese women who speak Korean with similar cultural backgrounds have been preferred for immigrant marriages. Most of these countries are socialist states. Therefore, it is not easy for Korean society to promote multiculturalism by respecting ethic culture and language. Considering the fact that most immigrant women are from socialist states, it is necessary to help them fully understand Korean society and the economic system in advance. Because these women may someday become a mother of a child as a permanent resident, it is essential to develop and promote an integrated education to help them and their children settle into Korean society. The central and local governments’ immigrant women-related policies have mostly focused on assimilation for social integration and early settlement rather than focusing on multiculturalism. In immigrant women-related programs, for example, education (ex: understanding of Korean culture, Korean lessons, etc.) accounts for more than 50 percent. In reality, Korean society has pursued only assimilation even though it has publicly advocated multiculturalism. In other words, Korean society is fully aware that assimilation is the correct choice. A variety of multicultural family-related policies have been promoted by central and local governments. However, many programs have been redundant with existing programs, and the assistance system has not been effectively operated. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the related system as soon as possible. To solve current marriage immigration-related problems in Korea, it is essential to conduct an unbiased analysis on the reality. In fact, it is time for Korean society to handle these issues in a more active way, advocating ‘immigration policy’ instead of just ‘foreigner policy.’ Immigration to Korea has been a dream for many people from China and Southeast Asian countries. Therefore, the Korean government needs to get actively involved in the immigration process to make immigration policy settle into Korean society. In Korea, marriage immigration has been mostly carried out through agencies such as a marriage broker. These marriage brokers’ unfair or improper conduct (distorted information) has caused many problems in international marriages. To correct this kind of problem, the marriage brokerage should change from a current registration system to a permit system. Furthermore, a government should continue to monitor if any illegal or unfair act is involved in international marriage brokerage. Second, it is important to have a social integration program settle into Korean society and facilitate it. If Koreans living overseas, Korean students studying abroad, foreign workers and immigrant women who want to obtain Korean citizenship participate in this program, they will have an incentive to shorten waiting times for Korean nationality. The curriculum of this program includes Korean lessons and understanding of Korean society. Based on a pre-test, a participant can received customized education. In western countries such as Germany and France, it is mandatory for immigrants to participate in and complete a social integration program. In Korea, on the contrary, immigrants are still free to participate in a social integration program if they choose. Therefore, it seems necessary to make the program mandatory. Because immigrant women live across the nation, it is important to secure sufficient educational institutions all over the country to help them easily participate in the social integration program. Third, it is important to establish a local government-centered assistance system to make the local government play a leading role in promoting multicultural policies for immigrant women. With regard to multicultural policies for immigrant women, many central government departments have introduced various programs. However, because immigrant women live in a local society, it would be more efficient to make a local government handle immigrant women-related policies. In other words, while the central government deals with the general macro issues such as immigration policies for immigrant women and budget from a long-term perspective, local governments need to take care of practical assistance and services. Fourth, it is necessary to establish and operate an immigrant integration fund. At present, both central and local governments have annually increased the budget for foreign resident-related policies. However, the increase in budget does not mean a stable operation of foreign resident policies. For example, the divorce rate of international marriages and the number of illegal migrants have risen every year. Hence, it is necessary to launch and properly operate an immigrant integration fund to manage the budget in an efficient and effective manner. Moreover, the fund should be raised under the benefiter-pays principle, making use of foreigner-related revenue (immigration fees, etc.). It appears that the number of immigrants would further increase in Korea. If the immigrant integration fund is raised by taxes, it may cause social conflict and discord. If all these operating systems are ready, a genuine practical immigration policy for immigrant women in Korea could be launched. ，免费韩语论文，韩语论文 |
