[Column] Why does Korea refuse to accept immigrants?

[Column] Why does Korea refuse to accept immigrants?

By Park No-ja, Professor of Korean Studies at Oslo University I felt disappointment at news reports about the tragedy at the foreigner detention center in Yeosu, an event that claimed nine lives. Fortunately, you did hear voices of anger at how foreigners’ rights were violated, but the mainstream media seemed to be avoiding the key issue and focusing instead on the cause of the fire and "insensitivity to safety concerns." Why do people who work hard, who in some circumstances have established families and think of Korea as their new homes, have to be rounded up and put in facilities where their lives are threatened? Is rounding them up the country’s only immigration policy? Korea’s population is expected to shrink approximately 12 percent by 2050. Aging will make the ratio of elderly increase and the working population will begin dropping off by 2016 <<>>>>. Some 80 percent of those the right age will go to university, and even now it is hard to find people willing to do simple labor. The government, in an attempt to do something about a labor shortage that will start growing in 2010, is trying things like lowering the working age, postponing the retirement age, and reducing the amount of time conscripts spend in the military, but it is clear that is not going to be enough to solve the labor shortage over the long run. Korea’s young generation desires to move up the social ladder and, as a result, its members are highly educated. Will they readily go to blue collar jobs? If not, would it not be wise, as has been done in Europe and the United States, to open the labor market just a little and allow foreigners to come and work in the country, and to allow them to gradually become Korean citizens? I wonder if the way to start would be to begin by giving amnesty to "illegal" immigrants, as has been done several times in France and Spain. In 2005, Spain decided to give 700,000 "illegal aliens" legal status, after they proved they had lived in the country six months or more, had contracts for at least six months, and had no criminal record. A considerable number of the 190,000 foreign workers in Korea with "illegal status" are believed to want to work in the country long-term or live here permanently. If the government were to give them amnesty and legal status with eventual eligibility for naturalization, it would accomplish many things at the same time: contributing to the making of a multiethnic society, reducing the rights violations that stem from being "illegals," and helping an economy in need of workers. If these people were given legal status and allowed to bring their spouses and children, Korea would then be a normal nation in the 21st century, one where diverse ethnicities live together. Surely many people are going to write this off as unrealistic, but if one is going to hope to see prosperous Koreatowns in China, India, and Pakistan, shouldn’t the country have "towns" of Chinese, Indians, and Pakistanis where people don’t have to worry about immigration crackdowns? The key need here is to gradually replace the current system, which allows foreign workers to stay for no more than three years and prohibits them from changing places of employment, for a system that tears down the wall that separates foreign and domestic workers and ultimately allows them to make Korea their permanent homes. This would be essential in protecting their rights and building a multiethnic society. It would also be in the country’s "economic interest." Even from the point of view of employers, does it make sense to take people who have obtained skills and learned the Korean language and send them off because they are of a different nationality? The tragedy in Yeosu demonstrates the bankruptcy of an immigration policy that only focuses on rounding people up. Are the authorities going to continue suppressing immigration with "vigilance and punishment," despite what has happened? Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]