คณะสังคมสงเคราะห์ศาสตร์และสวัสดิการสังคม ม.หัวเฉียวเฉลิมพระเกียรติ

Kyeyeon KIM

The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan  
 

Introduction 

Recently the Korean government has initiated several welfare programs for foreign residents, especially for female immigrants married to Koreans, emphasizing that Korean society should change towards coexistence of “multi-culture.” However, these programs do not comprise overseas Chinese who have more than hundred years’ history in Korea.

The main purpose of this article is to understand why the overseas Chinese in Korea remain out of sight of all welfare programs for foreign residents. For that purpose, I will use official surveys and statistics along with interviews. 
 

Brief history of Korea 

“Korea” in this article refers to south Korea or the Republic of Korea, which is located in the southern part of the Korean peninsula between China and Japan. Her area is about one fifth of Thailand, with 50 million people. Korea had been a kingdom until the Japanese empire made her a colonial territory at the beginning of the 19^th century. After Korea was liberated in 1945, USA and the Soviet Union divided her by the 38^th parallel, and occupied each part for about three years. The Republic of Korea was established in 1948 on the area occupied by USA.

The Korean War, which broke out in 1950 and lasted three years, was initiated by ideological conflicts between the left and the right, and made each divided country hostile to the counterpart’s ideology. Anti-communism became a national “religion” in south Korea, and it denied political and social diversity, and even the freedom of thoughts, especially in the 1960’s and 1970’s under the military dictatorship.

The age of “diversity” has been gradually introduced by overseas tourism which was generally allowed since the 1980’s, the collapse of the Soviet Block in the 1990’s, and the globalization thereafter.  However, Korean society still has strong uni-culturalism with discriminatory attitude against “different” groups. 

Increasing immigration 

However, no one can remain unchanged in the wake of the globalization. For Korean society, the biggest challenge has been given by “new” members. In the recent decade, more and more foreigners have entered Korea for marriage. Whereas 0.11% of population in Korea were foreigners in 1990 (MFCPU 2008: pref.), now, 2% of all registered residents in Korea are foreigners. Cases of international marriage increase 2.2 times compared to 10 years ago. Now, 1 out of 8 new marriages is international.

In 2008, 23% of foreign residents were foreign spouses of Korean and their children. 17% of the foreign residents were “marriage immigrants” which refers to husbands or wives of Korean. In 86% of the international marriages the female is a foreigner. 

Table 1  Number of foreign residents by types, 2008 

Source: MPAS (2008: 2) 

The number of international marriage has increased mainly because more and more Korean men found it difficult to marry Korean women, and seek foreigners for their brides instead. “Many of these Korean men are farmers and blue collar workers from rural area of Korea who have difficulty meeting eligible women from their geographical area, may not be attractive candidates for educated and urban Korean professional women, or may be lured to Asian women from other countries by professional matchmaking services” (Lum 2008: 22). In rural areas, 1 out of 3 marriages is international. Table 2 shows absolute and relative increase in international marriage, especially since the beginning of the new millennium. 

Table 2  International marriage in Korea, 1990 to 2007 

Source: GWPDI (2008: 13) 

In figure 1, you can see that 54% of all female foreign residents who were married to Korean males, are mainland Chinese (both Korean Chinese and Han Chinese). Another 28% came from Southeast Asian countries, and only 3% are Taiwan Chinese. 
 

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Figure 1  Nationality of foreign female residents married to Korean males, 2008 

       Source: Excel file attached to MPAS (2008) 

It is not too much to say that Korean regeneration depends quite much on international marriage. International marriage in Korea is on the increase, due to globalization as well as to some domestic issues such as the lowest fertility rate (1.2%) ever. In one hand, the proportion of aged (over 65) population is 10.3% in 2008, which is expected to be 20.8% in 2026. In the other hand, women with capability don’t want to Korean men with traditional gender framework. Both trends lead to less and less child births.  

The biggest issue for international marriages 

What is the biggest issue for female immigrants married to Koreans? It is discrimination: they and their children are exposed to cultural, linguistic, racial discrimination by Korean people and community. Korean people don’t have much historical and cultural experience of ethnic diversity. Although most children in international families are both legally and culturally “Korean”, Koreans regard them “different” only because of their different appearances. These children are easily exposed to various conflicts and exclusion. At the same time, their mothers have experienced cultural conflicts, difficulties in communication and family troubles.

First of all, foreign brides are often subject to verbal, physical, sexual and cultural abuse such as domestic violence. In addition, they came to Korea without enough or accurate information, because matchmaking brokers often creates an illusion (Yun 2008: 85). In fact, Korea is not a utopia for them. Because “in Korea there is the perpetuation of a male dominated society,” “Korean husbands act like kings at home,” and the myonuri (daughter-in-law) “is expected to fulfill all housekeeping duties according to Korean cultural expectations” (Lum 2008: 23). These bring isolation to foreign brides, who can not speak Korean well. In additions, Korean families accepting them are usually poor, which makes them even more unable to deal with personal issues. All these lead to melancholia, maladjustment, divorces and suicide.

Children face hardship at school such as social exclusion and isolation, due to different appearance and less socialization (especially, insufficient knowledge of Korean language). 

Figure 2  Divorces in international marriages between Korean men

and foreign women, 2004~2007

As shown in figure 2, divorces in international marriages between Korean men and foreign women are increasing. In 2007, 5,794 couples experienced divorces, which is a lot more than in 2004. Among them 3,665 were of Chinese women, including Korean Chinese (63%) and 895 were Vietnamese (16%).  

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Welfare programs for immigrants married to Koreans 

Since the beginning of the new millennium, Korean government has established laws and welfare programs for immigrants married to Koreans and their children. More than 80 facilities, which are called “support center for multi-cultural family”, have been set up nationwide to implement welfare programs. They act as information and education centers for immigrants married to Koreans. Institutions for women’s policy development in metropolitan cities or provinces have tried to develop welfare programs for female immigrants married to Koreans.

Welfare programs focus on family counseling assistance for international marriage families, such as home violence counseling, emergency call services, childcare counseling, and educations for Korean spouses. They also provide education services for Korean language and culture, job education, or legal and medical information, which are intended to enhance “multiculturalism” in Korean society.

Support centers for multicultural family are supposed to handle with these programs. Their services are well categorized to two: necessary and specialized. The necessary service includes Korean language and culture education for immigrants, multi-culture education for their Korean family, family counseling, and making their own help groups. Each center provides its own specialized services such as: emotional assistance, self-enhancing programs, multi-culture education for ordinary Koreans, and training expert groups for multi-culturalism. 

The Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, and the Ministry of Labor also provide various assistances, for example, legal control against illegal matchmaking, safety net for victims of domestic violence, childbirth and care assistance, work information, and economic assistance. (MFCPU 2007: 63). Among them, economic assistances are given under the Law of Basic Needs Support, which started to include foreigners from 2005. However, only foreigners who used to be married with Koreans and have a child or children with Korean nationality can get government supports.

As for legal reform, the Law of Nationality and the Law of Social Welfare were amended. In addition, a new law was made, the Law of Multi-cultural Family Assistance, and another law, the Law of Anti-discrimination is on the way of legislation. 
 

Overseas Chinese in Korea 

Overseas Chinese in Korea is the oldest ethnic group which immigrated into Korea. Now their population is about 21 thousand, and 98% of them were born in Korea. Whereas most of the overseas Chinese in the world are from southern China, 90% of them in Korea are from Shandong province, mid-eastern China. They come from mainland China, but they have Taiwan nationality. Compared to the high average rate of naturalization (90%) in the world, it is interesting that 90% of overseas Chinese in Korea are not “Korean” in legal sense.

“Overseas Chinese” in this article refers to “old” Chinese, who are distinguished from “new” Chinese, who have immigrated since the establishment of diplomatic relationship between Korea and China in 1992. “Old” Chinese in Korea speak both Chinese and Korean, while younger generation prefers Korean even in talking with each other. 
 

Figure  3  Overseas Chinese Population in Korea

Modern immigration from China to Korea started in 1882. At that time, Chinese army, accompanied by 40 merchants, entered Korean territory to help suppress a riot by the old Korean military. Their population continued to increase in the colonial period. It reached the highest peak in 1930 and sharply decreased since then. The Cold War and the establishment of two governments in both Korea and China divided overseas Chinese community according to their residential area. Those who lived in South Korea belonged to Taiwan national. 

Table 3 Chronology of overseas Chinese in Korea 

The history of overseas Chinese immigration in Korea has been influenced by various circumstances. At large, it can be categorized into three periods. The first one covers the period from their initial settlement, and to the Korean War. Many Chinese people immigrated into Korea where they tried to find works for living.

Due to government regulations in the second period, from the 1960’s to the 1980’s, their economic performances became worsened, which made many of them re-emigrate to other countries. Although, politically, Korea kept good relationship with Taiwan and its citizens in Korea (overseas Chinese) under the Cold War, Korean government imposed restrictions on land ownership by foreigners, which had a negative impact on Chinese residents’ economic activities. 

Since the 1990’s, the government has been eager to attract foreign capital into Korea. In order to promote foreign direct investment, it abolished many regulations, including restricted land ownership. In 2002, the Korean government adopted the “permanent residency” policy, under which permanent residents with more than 3 years’ residency would be given voting rights for local elections. In 2006, for the first time in Korean history, non-Korean residents voted to elect mayors or governors of their residential area. 98% of foreigners with voting rights were overseas Chinese. As a result, some of those who moved to other countries during the military dictatorship in the 1960’s ～ 1980’s have recently returned to Korea.  

The position of overseas Chinese in welfare policy

Compared to the long-lasted ignorance of foreign residents, recent changes in government policies in Korea are significant. However, large number of non-Korean permanent residents has been left out of the programs. 97% of them are overseas Chinese.

After her liberation from Japan, Korea had hard times facing national division, ideological conflicts, war, military dictatorship, etc. In those situations, overseas Chinese, the biggest and oldest group of foreign residents in Korea, could never draw attention from the Korean government. However, why has nothing changed until now?

One possible reason is the attitude to naturalization of both the Korean government and the overseas Chinese society. Naturalization rate is as low as about 5%. The Korean government has made it difficult for foreigners to become Korean citizen, and at the same time overseas Chinese attached more importance to keeping their Chinese ethnicity rather than considering naturalization. They pay regular visits to Taiwan and mainland China, and build their own schools for ethnic education. For them, naturalization still means exclusion from their ethnic community.

Another possible reason is nationality. Many overseas Chinese men in Korea have married Korean women. However, following the Korean nationality law and the traditions of East Asian matrilineal culture, their children have inherited their father’s nationality and ethnic identity. Korean culture has been so matrilineal that a Korean woman could hardly make anything for the integration of her family into Korean society. 

Besides, before the two major amendments of the Korean nationality law in 1997 and 2001, matrilineal traditions were strictly maintained in the law, which didn’t allow children of foreign father and Korean mother to become a Koran national. Strong feminist movement and elevated social status of women in Korea lead to those amendments and now children can get both nationalities of their parents. Dual nationality is allowed until children become adults, when they are supposed to choose either one. 

New welfare programs they need

Recent government programs towards a “multi-cultural” society are actually far from real life issues of overseas Chinese. Although these programs are not useless, they are not so helpful to overseas Chinese, who have already learned how to live in Korean society. Most programs are focused on newly immigrated people, especially females married to Koreans, whose problems are different from those of overseas Chinese. Their longer history of immigration has left different welfare issues unsolved, such as lack of safety net for the disabled and the elderly, especially those who live alone. However, Korean government has no plan to include them in official welfare programs. As mentioned above, foreign residents are not applicable to the Basic Needs Support, except they are legal custodians of “Korean” children. Because most of children in overseas Chinese families are not “Korean” but Taiwan Chinese, these families are out of government supports.

Overseas Chinese community is now trying to solve these issues, using their own social network, for example, through their Korean acquaintances such as politicians. They have built a broad network with some influential organizations, and overseas Chinese associations have good relationship with several National Assembly members. 

Summary 

Since initial settlement, overseas Chinese have practically never been in the focus of Korean government policies. It was exactly what motivated me for this research. I wanted to find an answer to this question: why has Korean society never tried to understand its oldest foreign resident group and help them integrate into it? Indeed, overseas Chinese in Korea could be the first ethnic group which could evoke multiculturalism in Korea, but it couldn’t. 

One possible reason is their complex identity. They have immigrated from mainland China, have “Taiwan” nationality and live in Korea. They call themselves hanhwa(韓華) which seems to be a symbol of complexity. In order to achieve economic success, they have tried to adapt to Korean society and keep good relationship with Korean people. In the cultural sphere, however, schools and local associations have strengthened their own ties. 

Still another possible reason for the official ignorance of them is their rather similar culture, based on Confucianism. Ironically, it might be exactly this cultural proximity that has made the government lack of attention to the group.

The final and most important reason is related to what really matters for the Korean government and society: “Korean” regeneration. The overseas Chinese families don’t help achieve this goal since their children are not legally “Korean.” Although the Korean government recently stated that it would take care of non-Korean families, few tangible changes have been made. 

To make multi-cultural policy programs more effective and successful, they should cover all foreign residents, including permanent residents. In their long history of immigration, overseas Chinese have learned how to live in Korea, and I think, their know-how can help the government solve many multi-cultural issues in Korea.

Finally, I would like to add a few words about the difficulties I faced preparing for this article. When I tried to contact overseas Chinese or Korean women married to overseas Chinese, I found it really difficult to get any cooperation. Overseas Chinese people don’t like to reveal their private lives, and their culture is rather conservative with regard to gender issues. However, they need our attention. Further efforts should be made to shed more light on women’s life and status in overseas Chinese community. 

References 

Yun, Aeran 2008

“Civil rights of marriage immigrants and domestic violence against them,” Manual of Improvement Program for marriage immigrants, Multicultural Family Center, Pyeongtaek University, pp.78-89. (Korean) 

Lum, Doman 2008

“Korean International Marriage and a Marriage Education Program,” Strategies and Roles of Social Welfare Professionals in Multicultural Society, Multicultural Family Center, Pyeongtaek University. 

Chong, Minja and Bokjong Chang 2008

“Discussion on Deterministic Factors of Marriage Immigrants’ Adaptation to Korean Society with Respect of Self-satisfaction,” Strategies to build local support networks for Multicultural Family in Gyeonggido, Reference for the Seminar among Foreigner-support Agencies in Gyeonggido, pp. 136-150. (Korean) 

Multicultural Family Center, Pyeongtaek University (MFCPU) 2007

White Paper on Multicultural Family, Multicultural Family Center, Pyeongtaek University. (Korean) 

Gyeongbuk Women’s Policy Development Institute (GWPDI) 2008

Efficient Ways to Integrate Support Service Systems for Marriage Immigrants Families in Gyeongsangbukdo, Gyeongbuk Women’s Policy Development Institute. (Korean) 

“Five million population over age-65,” Hankyoreh 2008.10.1 (Korean) 

Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MPAS) 2008

“2008 Survey Result of Foreign Residents in Local Municipalities.” (Korean, and a computerized Excel file attached)