Korea, Multicultural Education in

Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Korea

Hong-ik-in-gan is the philosophy on which Korean society and the Korean educational system are based. Hong-ik-in-gan ideology, which first appears in Korea's founding myth, is currently highlighted because migration into Korea is making it ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse. Korean multicultural educators examine the meanings of “all people” that are inscribed in both Korea's founding philosophy and the Korean educational acts. They also question Korea's long-standing belief in Dan-il-min-jok, which assumes that Korean society consists of one blood, language, and culture.

Transnational ebbs and flows in the 21st century have seriously challenged the Korean/non-Korean, pure/mixed, and national/international binaries in Korean society. Migration from other countries into Korea has dramatically challenged its belief in Dan-il-min-jok, which refers to monoethnicism in nation building and governance. The Department of Statistics indicates that approximately 1 million foreign nationals lived in Korea in 2008, which was more than 2% of the total population. Foreign nationals in Korea increased more than 17% between 2008 and 2009. These transnational migrants began dismantling the long-standing Dan-il-min-jok belief in Korea. Because of the increasing number of migrant workers, international marriages between Korean citizens and migrants, and North Korean defectors, Korean society is becoming increasingly diverse.

Since the 1990s, the Korean government has granted immigrant workers permission to reside in Korea. In 2007, approximately 700,000 foreign workers lived in Korea. Korean policies toward foreign workers have been changed to increase the number of foreign workers, most of whom come from China and Southeast Asia. Most foreign workers have dirty, dangerous, and difficult jobs that domestic workers will not accept. Between 1993 and 2000, the migrant worker policy evolved from an internship-training program for foreign workers to internship recruitment.

After it launched the employment of foreign worker law in 2003, the Korean government changed the internship-oriented program to the employment approval system in 2004. This law was enacted to reduce human rights violations and discrimination against foreign workers. The employment of foreign worker law enforced minimum wages and banned the physical abuse of foreign workers. Before the employment approval system was enacted, undocumented foreign workers constituted more than three fourths (77.4%) of all migrant workers. By 2001, this system had reduced the percentage of undocumented workers by 50%. In 2008, almost 1,000 students from these migrant workers were officially registered in 1–12 public schools.

International marriage is significantly changing Korean society. Marriages between Korean citizens and migrants increased sharply in the 2000s. In 2007, approximately one out of every 10 marriages consisted of a Korean citizen and a migrant (11.1%). A Korean husband and a migrant wife made up most (75%) international couples. The rate of international marriage was high in rural areas (35.9%) because many low-income Korean rural workers could not find Korean spouses. In 2006, China (66.2%), Vietnam (18.7%), Japan (4%), the Philippines (3.2%), and Mongolia (1.8%) were the major countries from which foreign wives migrated. In 2008, approximately 20,000 elementary and secondary school students had multicultural families. Between 2007 and 2008, the number of children who had a non-Korean parent increased approximately 40%.

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