이주민의 정치참여에 영향을 미치는 요인 = The Factors that Impact the Political Participation of Immigrants in Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The number of immigrants in Korean society is rapidly increasing. Since the 2006 local elections, immigrants who have held permanent residency for three years have been granted voting rights, and five local elections have been held. However, the voting rate of immigrants is significantly lower than that of general voters, raising questions about the meaning of immigrants’ voting rights. At a time when discussions are being held on the need to expand the voting rights of immigrants for the social integration of immigrants, empirical research on how immigrants are using their voting rights is needed. Accordingly, this study examined the political participation of immigrants using data from a survey conducted on immigrants in 2018. It examined two variables that enable political participation: resources and engagement. Resources were identified based on socioeconomic status and Korean language skills, and engagement was identified based on awareness of the importance of political rights and length of residence. Among immigrants with voting rights, 86.5% voted at least once in the last elections. The higher the education level, the more the possibility of political participation in vote, and the longer the period of stay in Korea, the higher the possibility of voting. Unlike previous studies, there was an inverse correlation between Korean language proficiency and political participation, showing that the better the Korean language proficiency, the lower the possibility of voting. However, the low voter turnout in the group that had no difficulty in Korean was due to their low voting efficacy or lack of information about elections. In order for immigrants’ voting rights to help social integration, it is necessary to increase their voting efficacy and provide immigrant-friendly election information.