‘Korea needs shift in multicultural policy’

Lawmaker Jasmine Lee

The number of foreign residents who have stayed in Korea for more than three months has reached more than 1.25 million, about 2.5 percent of the country’s population.

Given that one in 10 Koreans tie the knot with a foreigner and the number of children from such marriages has surpassed 20,000 per year since 2010, it has become practically impossible to define Korean society without taking them into account.

Nevertheless, Korea’s immigration policy remains predominantly focused on assimilation, rather than helping new settlers maintain cultural diversity and their first language.

Jasmine Lee, a Philippine-born lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, attributes the problem to the government’s excessive emphasis on the provision of Korean language programs and financial assistance.

“A multicultural policy should be based on the understanding and acceptance of diverse cultures,” the first-term lawmaker said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

“Assimilation shouldn’t be the goal.”

She pointed out that assimilation has been the primary basis of the country’s multicultural policy because the majority of Koreans see individuals with a non-Korean background as a vulnerable social group.

“Korea’s multicultural policy lacks a blueprint and direction, while being predominantly focused on the provision of assistance,” she said.

Diversity, key to multicultural society

The 36-year-old lawmaker underlined that a larger variety of foreign languages should be taught in school as part of the curriculum and tested for the university entrance exam.

She said it is regrettable that only a handful number of foreign languages are taught in high school along with the compulsory English, overlooking the importance of learning Chinese and other languages of the country’s major partners.

“The first step in the pursuit of embracing diversity in education will be expanding foreign language education,” Rep. Lee said.

“This will open opportunities for migrants to work as teachers of their native tongue.”

She said the government must ensure that young students have opportunities to learn about diverse cultures and receive foreign language education of their choice to meet the global mindset as language skills become increasingly important in this era of globalization.

Lee, however, acknowledged that a focus should be put on providing Korean language programs to interracial children and their non-Korean ethnic parents who continue to find the language barrier the greater obstacle in adjusting to life in Korea.

“Given that there is a limited budget and resources, priority should still be given to Korean language programs to prevent new migrants from being alienated due to language barriers,” she said.

In a recent poll of multiracial students by the National Human Rights Commission, 41.9 percent of those surveyed replied that they have been teased or discriminated against by their classmates for their inability to pronounce Korean words properly.

Of the survey, 25.3 percent also answered that they encountered discrimination over their skin color.

Lessons learned from mistakes

Lee said the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has been dispatching foreign language teachers to schools that have requested parents’ language education for multiracial students.

However, she pointed out that the new program has yet to bear fruit in spite of having the good intention of embracing multiculturalism and allowing multiracial children to pick up their non-Korean parent’s language.

“For instance, a school in Incheon requested a foreign language teacher for its students with an ethnic-Chinese background but ended up receiving a Mongolian language teacher,” Lee said, noting that every three in four elementary and secondary schools have one or more multiracial students.

“It showed that the government dispatched the teacher without even doing the very basic research on the students’ needs.”

She added that the Mongolian teacher gave up teaching a foreign language and had to run a substitute class, titled “Understanding Multiculturalism.”

“No one would object to such a program that gives children a chance of learning their foreign parent’s language, but it is also important to provide it in an effective and efficient manner,” she said.

Lee has proposed a bill that would mandate the central and local governments to beef up their programs that encourage multiracial families to preserve their diverse cultures and languages. <The Korea Times/Lee Tae-hoon>