A Current View on a Paradigm Shift in the Foreign Employment Act

( Chun Yun-ku ) 건국대학교 이주사회통합연구소 2022 Journal of Migration and Social Integration (JMSI) Vol.7 No.2

Compared to the 1980s, when the Immigration Control Act was revised and the sojourn management of foreigners began in earnest in the 1980s, Korea’s economy and industry have advanced and have grown considerably in size. In this situation, industrial fields that cannot be upgraded or are difficult to upgrade have become increasingly depleted of manpower as they are coupled with demographic changes due to the low fertility rate. Korea, which has become a country with a permanent labor shortage, will inevitably become dependent on foreign workers in the future. If the reality of modernization is industrialization in the economy and democratization in the political system, then the time has come for a democratization point of view to be implemented even with respect to the foreign manpower system. The point of view of democratization is the issue of granting appropriate membership rights to outsiders brought in by society for various economic and political purposes. In the employment contract, which can be the starting point, I think that it grants at least the same ‘right to have rights’ as Korean nationals. Based on the colonial experience of discrimination, I think it should have been more so if the country had implemented the anti-discrimination clause from the beginning. (jynine@kgu.ac.kr)

Current Status and Issues of Foreign Seafarers’ Employment System in Korea

( Chun Yunku ) 건국대학교 이주사회통합연구소 2018 Journal of Migration and Social Integration (JMSI) Vol.3 No.1

The aim of this paper is to introduce the type of foreign seafarers in Korea, the employment procedures and current statuses by their countries of origin, and analyze the structural causes of the illegal stay which is predominant among crew employees(E-10), compared with the unskilled foreign workers under the employment permit system(E-9). Overall, this paper notes that the relatively severe working conditions of foreign seafarers employed in Korea through ‘crew employee’ are one of the direct causes of increasing illegal stay rate, analyzing specific cases regarding discrimination in minimum wage and accident compensation. It also points out that the labor union composed of domestic crew which is not even in a position to represent foreign seafarers actively contribute to discrimination of foreign seafarers and obtains unjust profits from it. This paper concludes, suggesting an institutional solution, that there is an urgent need to unify the utilization systems of foreign seafarers into the employment permit system. (jynine@kgu.ac.kr)

Lives of Mixed Vietnamese-Korean Children in Vietnam

( Hien Anh Le ) 건국대학교 이주사회통합연구소 2016 Journal of Migration and Social Integration (JMSI) Vol.1 No.1

Current Status and Factors of Dropout of International Students

( In-cheol Shin ),( Ji-eun Han ),( Hyo-min Park ) 건국대학교 이주사회통합연구소 2021 Journal of Migration and Social Integration (JMSI) Vol.6 No.2

South Korea’s “third basic plan for immigration policy” focuses on enhancing national competitiveness through an active immigration policy. This plan aims to attract high-skilled immigrants to secure new growth potential. To attract high-skilled immigrants, an understanding is first required of the overall experiences of international students studying in South Korea. However, the unsystematic current policies for international students and instrumental perspective on them could be an obstacle for attracting them. This study examines structural and individual factors affecting the dropout rate among international students in South Korea. In the first analysis, we examine the structural factors of the dropout rate based on official data about universities in South Korea. In the second analysis, we use survey data from international students. Based on Tinto’s model (Tinto 1993), which explains the dropout rate during higher education, we employ structural equation model for the analysis. (incshin@uos.ac.kr, hyominp@gmail.com, hanji0109@gmail.com)

Transformation of the System for Utilizing Foreign Workers in the Agricultural Sector and Intermediary Exploitation 53)- Focusing on the Employment Permit System and Seasonal Work System

( Yun-ku Chun ) 건국대학교 이주사회통합연구소 2021 Journal of Migration and Social Integration (JMSI) Vol.6 No.1

Foreign workers in Korea have to remain tied to the employer’s workplace throughout the country’s stay. But such a policy thoroughly blocks workplace changes due to the voluntary wishes of workers and has many side effects. This is because these policies completely ignore human nature in pursuit of economic interests. Rather, these policies only provide a justification for foreigners who leave the workplace to rationalize their actions. Under this consciousness of the problem, this study critically reviewed the additional system of employment and seasonal work system under the Immigration Act as a system for utilizing foreign workers in the agricultural sector. In conclusion, it was suggested that the additional system of employment in the crop cultivation industry where there is a high possibility of intermediary exploitation should be officially abolished, and in relation to the seasonal work system, it is urgent to prepare legal protection regulations reflecting the characteristics of seasonal work. Furthermore, it suggested that, in the field of at least agriculture and fisheries, the restrictions on working hours were not properly regulated, so that the restriction on the specific workplace should no longer be a condition of the employment permit, and the workplace change within a single industry where the work permit was granted should be allowed in principle. (jynine@kgu.ac.kr)

Modern Western Mediterranean Immigration - Focusing on France and Algeria -

( Jong-hyun Moon ) 건국대학교 이주사회통합연구소 2019 Journal of Migration and Social Integration (JMSI) Vol.4 No.2

Representation of Korean-Chinese Female in the Media and Ethics of Care

( Jung Ah Shin ) 건국대학교 이주사회통합연구소 2020 Journal of Migration and Social Integration (JMSI) Vol.5 No.1

The media representation of Korean Chinese shows a great difference by gender. Reproductions of Korean-Chinese men have been described as powerful criminal characters such as gangsters, organ traffickers, and serial killers since the movie The Yellow Sea (2010). In the TV show, Korean Chinese men were imprinted with typical criminal images that threaten Korean society. On the other hand, Korean Chinese women differ by age depending on how Korean society accepted them. From the early 1990s to the early 2000s, when immigrant women from marriage came to Korea, it was represented as a simple rural girl adapting to the patriarchal life of a patriarchal family. Since the mid-2000s, the representation of Korean Chinese women entering Korea as labor migrants rather than marriage migrant women has increased. Independent and strong characters appeared, and the layer of representation widened. Since 2010, crime films have been commercially successful in Korean society, and the recurrence of crimes such as violence and murder has increased in the media reproduction as a series of violent crimes, called the three Korean Chinese murders. Cruel Korean male characters such as organ traffickers, serial killers, and gangsters appeared in the OCN dramas Cheoyong (2014), Dual (2014), Black (2017), and Bad Guys (2017). For female characters of Korean ethnicity, crime representation became full-scale through MISSING (2016) and The Villainess (2017). In order to protect motherhood, the image of a Korean Chinese woman who was well-established and obedient to Korean society began to be reappeared as a violent criminal that commits murder without hesitation. However, the reality facing Korean-Chinese women who risk their lives and practice motherhood is far from a stable and peaceful life. They go to jail for their crimes or make extreme choices at the end of despair. Of course, exceptional repesentations also appear. The Korean-Chinese women appearing in JTBC’s Secret Love Affair and Wife’s Qualifications by Jung Sung-joo are portrayed as subjective women who make their claims. However, this is only a very small attempt when looking at the overall production of TV shows and the distribution of representation. This study analyzes the representation methods of the film MISSING and Mistress, which have projected criminal images of male Korean Chinese representations to female Korean Chinese through movies and TV shows. We will examine the problems of representing Korean-Chinese women in terms of ‘care’ and ‘hospitality,’ and explore the direction of reflection and solidarity to build an integrated narrative for Korean Diaspora in preparation for the unification era. The problem of media reproduction for Korean Chinese requires deep reflection and rewriting, as the narrative of unity can only begin when an equal place is created for each other. (jasin72@hanmail.net)

Comparative Law Study for Enhancing Human Rights of Unregistered Migrant Children

( Ok-ju Shin ) 건국대학교 이주사회통합연구소 2020 Journal of Migration and Social Integration (JMSI) Vol.5 No.1

Under the Constitution, it can be said that unregistered immigrant children are granted the right to education, the right to health, and the right to live a human life, from the personal rights in Article 10 of the Constitution. However, immigrant children who are not registered are under very vulnerable legal protection because they become illegal residents who violate the Immigration Act. It can be said that the amendment of Article 84 of the Immigration Act 2012 guarantees the learning and health rights of unregistered immigrant children to a certain extent, with the exception of exemption from public officials’ obligation to notify in certain cases in schools and health areas. It is also important to be able to get medical care through a policy and to become a target for emergency medical treatment under the Emergency Medical Care Act. However, there is a limitation that the right to education or right to education for unregistered immigrant children is not consistently protected based on the relevant laws and is made at the governmental policy level. The German government is giving generous treatment (Duldung) to certain categories of forced departures from Germany. Family unions are protected because people who have been treated with generous treatment, their partners, and minor children can stay together. In addition, after generous treatment holders have successfully completed academic and vocational education, and they are able to secure their livelihood and speak German through occupation, understand German law, society and life relations, and do not deny liberal democracy, under certain prerequisites, a policy that gives them permission to stay applies. In other words, if generous treatment holders are well integrated, and they are judged to be necessary for Germany, they can legally live in Germany. In addition, while staying under generous treatment, they are paying a level that satisfies the essential demands for human life. These foreign policies in Germany, and the provisions of the residence and supporting asylum-seeker laws, which support them, are, in terms of social, economic, political, and diplomatic terms, the policy judgment that it is necessary to accommodate certain categories of forced foreigners to stay in Germany. In other words, if foreigners who have been trained for a period of time without committing transgressions and who have been trained to become skilled technicians or become experts are well integrated into the German society so that they can earn a living on their own, it is more profitable to have them stay legally. In Korea, humanitarian status permits must be expanded to certain unregistered foreigners under the current refugee law, and these should also be paid under the refugee law. Rather than focusing on the illegality of staying, it is necessary to shift Foreigner Policy from the perspective of foreigners who need them to actively integrate foreigners. (lahnmr@jbnu.ac.kr)

Legal Traces of Overseas Koreans’ Right to Return -Focusing on Sakhalin Koreans-

( Kyeong-ok Choi ) 건국대학교 이주사회통합연구소 2018 Journal of Migration and Social Integration (JMSI) Vol.3 No.2

It has been more than 70 years since South Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule. Nonetheless, those Koreans who voluntarily emigrated or were forced to emigrate aborad, especially Russia, after the independence, are not given ‘the legitimate right to return’. It is because that the Korean government has not actively worked on concluding a treaty for dual nationality out of fear that it might cause a diplomatic conflict with Russia. Furthermore, the Korean government has not taken proper responsibility for the right but overlooked the essence of it only by holding Japan to accountable for responsibility and compression for its colonial rule. The example of such passive attitude is to grant defection, not citizenship only for the first generation. In Korea, a special law for Koreans in Sakhalin has been drafting around in the congress for 10 years. Focusing on the measures to help them return and settle in Korea, ‘Special Act on Supporting Koreans in Sakhalin’ first raised in the 17th National Congress in 2005 had been proposed 6 times until 2010 and eventually failed to pass the congress. In the 19th National Congress, ‘a special act on supporting Koreans in Sakhalin’, which outlines the inclusion of those Sakhalin Koreans who emigrated due to compulsory mobilization by Japan, Koreans born in Sakhalin and their souses, and direct descendants of the first generation and their souses as the beneficiary of the act, and supports them to return and settle in Korea permanently, was proposed again, but it has still hung in limbo in the standing committee. Upon this issue, I expect to see the government born as a new one of a sovereign nation. Wishing their status is restored to ‘right position’ from victims of history, the present study paid a keen attention to the Koreans were drafted into Sakhalin during the Japanese occupation or those who were forced to leave Korean even before that, and ‘their right to return home’. They has survived the 4th generation, mainly in Sakhalin and China. In this respect, this study aimed to review the government’s policies and legal measures for them (2), and find the problems and solutions (3).

Legislation and Policies for the Employment of Foreign Workers in Korea

( Choi Yoon-choel ) 건국대학교 이주사회통합연구소 2018 Journal of Migration and Social Integration (JMSI) Vol.3 No.1

As economically active population continues to decline, policies and systems to ensure an adequate number of population are being introduced in many countries. Korea also seeks to implement various systems and policies to achieve sustainable society. Giving preferential treatment to overseas nationals and setting up policies accommodate foreign workers are the examples of such efforts. In fact, we noted that Korean society is more diversified and multi-culturalized as there are more inflow of foreigners in Korea. However, nepotism is still prevalent in policies and legal systems, acting as a barrier to multi-culturalized society. From the 1990s onwards, labor importation to Korea began with the introduction of industrial trainee system which later faced criticism for human rights and labor rights violations. Afterwards, in an attempt to facilitate the inflow of foreign labor, employment permit system was implemented. However, the demand for legislative improvement keeps growing due to the inherent problems and managerial issues of the employment permit system. In particular, voices are increasingly being raised in favor of protection and promotion of rights of the foreign workers who are the direct object of the legal system. Nonetheless, the government and the legislature as well as the judiciary, seem reluctant to come together and solve the problems. Foreign workers are human beings, regardless of whether they are foreign nationals and workers. They are not mere resources used to produce output and labor. Those who are against permanent settlement of foreign workers as well as government and the employers should also be aware of the fact that these workers are offering labor in Korea as human beings. Legal systems de facto violating fundamental human rights have to be reformed. Improvements in laws and institutions are also needed in that long-term immigrants in Korea can be future citizens. (felixcyc@konkuk.ac.kr)