Article 1.
The
normal things that happen to the multicultural people are written in this
article seriously. We could notice that our country, Korea, is not yet prepared
for the increase of
immigration from the foreign countries. The article shows some cases the multicultural
children face when they are in adolescence
age and points out the problem of that. The generation changed
and we should change our view and thoughts that the people are not same as
us. The new thing we knew was there are a lot of people who are in the high
office job. For example, a woman who is a Filipina-born Korean politician and lawmaker
has become a spokesperson for migrant wives. Furthermore the government
provided some policies for the multicultural people but the facilities and
websites are not still helpful for them and the article points the problems
related to it. At last the article hopes a future where we don’t have to
discuss about multiculturalism and those are nice words to say.
Article 2.
Governmental Supports for Foreign and Multicultural Families, Kim, Taejong, Yeonhap News, December 11th, 2012
The article is about the announcement of “2nd Multicultural Family Policy.”
The policy is mainly focused on fostering multicultural families’ economic and social states.
Job Aids
- working supporting system
- benefits for the companies which hire foreigners/biracial
Education Aids
- preliminary schools for foreign/multicultural children(adaptation purpose)
- special education for the gifted foreign/multicultural children
Marriage Managements
- compulsory interview before marriage
- formalization of international wedding enterprises
News Clip
For foreigners in
Korea, quality of life hasn't kept pace with population growth
This news-clip shows life of multicultural
people in Korea by showing the community in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do province. The
reporter had interviews with people in Ansan to demonstrate the situation of
multiculturalism in Korea. "So many people and merchants crowd the streets
on the weekends that it takes ten times longer to get anywhere. The city made
the streets pretty, but there is nothing being done to take care of them."
We can figure out that the welfare system government services aren’t that
trustworthy. To people in Korea multiculturalism policy would be a overspending
of taxes, and to those who came to Korea, it would be stressful that they
cannot get treated well.
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nSeq=165141
It cannot be avoided for any country except the North Korea to be a ethnically diverse country. As the materials show, immigrants in Korea are already part of our society, but many people can’t aceept them. I think it is a kind of cultural lag.
답글삭제I thought colonial period and industrialization period with dictatorship played a key role in korean’s group mentality, and the group mentality made many problems regarding discrimination more severe. As presentations and discussions go, I feel more strongly about this opinion. The first material kind of supported my original thought. Thanks for your efforts!
In blog post 3, there are problems about governmental supports for Foreign and Multi-cultural Families. Our government provide some policies for the multi-cultural people but the facilities and web-sites are not still helpful for them. Moreover, the government is spending too much tax for the foreigners/biracial. Then, why do not the policies have good effects even if the government spent too much tax? I think that our policy is mainly focused on fostering multi-cultural families’ economic and social states, not for our thinking about multi-cultural families. I think that our government have to attempt to shift the Korean consciousness. And the population of multi-cultural families are increasing, so if we help them economically, we must spend too much money. If the Korean consciousness change, the multi-cultural families can live themselves.
답글삭제작성자가 댓글을 삭제했습니다.
답글삭제I read your article 2 that introduces some policies for multicultural family. Reading the article, I felt that we don't have focused on the nature of the problems. Policies that help multicultural family are seemed to educate multicultural families to adapt Korea and learn about the Korea culture. This is necessary, but I think that more important thing is to educate Korean. A lot of problems are coming from our stereotypes about foreigners and discrimination. Even though our society becomes more and more multicultural, I don't have received the education for the other cultures except for a passing remark from teacher. I think we need to make an effort to understand other cultures and embrace them.
답글삭제I have been to Ansan station to go to Oido. I was very surprised because it was like in South East Asia. There were full of foreigners and it was a much less developed city rather than Seoul or other cities near Seoul. I felt that I'm a foreigner among those people. I felt fear that these people looked strange and I saw some news before talking about crimes like series of murders. I think it's necessary to raise the quality of multicultural families and help them living in Korea society. Contrarily, Korean people need to break their own resistance toward multicultural people and admit them we are same Korean. To achieve this, the effort to share each other's multiple stories are desperately needed. Thanks for your great work!
답글삭제[Chun Soo Young]
답글삭제Korea has entered into multi-cultural era several decades ago. However, teachers and politicians still proudly introduce Korea as "One of the few homogeneous countries in the world". I always thought those people were short-sighted since being a homogeneous country means we are not complying with multiculturalism which would eventually prevail the whole globe.
Your articles strengthen my opinion that Korean government is driving "Multiculturalism" in the wrong way. Now is not the time for uniformity. In order to progress, we should respect and support various cultures.
I still remember the fury or even public madness targeting toward Jasmine Lee and policies purported to be suggested by her in SNS. I've always believed that SNS is not appropriate for political discussion for it has very shallow space unable to support serious conversation. Thus, what I saw was bunch of blind people putting witch trial on Jasmine Lee for her "unreasonable" policies for multicultural family. The attack was not only on her work but on herself as a person, and I felt disgusted toward the anonymous crowd and sorry for Jasmine Lee. Later, I found out that the blog post accusing Jasmine Lee and her work was actually not true, and it was simply created to raise xenophobia and cheap chauvinism among general public. Thus, from that point on, I stopped judging any policies dealing sensitive issue. In other words, I don't believe that aforementioned policies for multicultural family is just a waste of tax. I don't believe that our government provides too much welfare for the foreigners. If they are too much, I want to call attention of those who are against the policies to our current situation where every (I am pretty sure it happens to everyone) foreigners experiences at least one form of discrimination.
답글삭제I still remember the fury or even public madness targeting toward Jasmine Lee and policies purported to be suggested by her in SNS. I've always believed that SNS is not appropriate for political discussion for it has very shallow space unable to support serious conversation. Thus, what I saw was bunch of blind people putting witch trial on Jasmine Lee for her "unreasonable" policies for multicultural family. The attack was not only on her work but on herself as a person, and I felt disgusted toward the anonymous crowd and sorry for Jasmine Lee. Later, I found out that the blog post accusing Jasmine Lee and her work was actually not true, and it was simply created to raise xenophobia and cheap chauvinism among general public. Thus, from that point on, I stopped judging any policies dealing sensitive issue. In other words, I don't believe that aforementioned policies for multicultural family is just a waste of tax. I don't believe that our government provides too much welfare for the foreigners. If they are too much, I want to call attention of those who are against the policies to our current situation where every (I am pretty sure it happens to everyone) foreigners experiences at least one form of discrimination.
답글삭제I studied Muslims for this project and in order to get interviews, our group has visited Itaewon. I'm not from Seoul, and it surprised me how many foreigners were living in Seoul. It felt like I was in another country. So, as the situation in Korea becomes more and more multicultural and its citizens becoming more and more of a variety of races, the government should definitely take some big actions to solve the problems around it. I really think that Koreans should be educated more about multiculturalism rather than emphasizing too much on the 'one-blood, one people' concept. Even if the government has excellent policies, it won't help unless the mindset of Koreans actually living in Korea don't change. I think this is the most urgent problem we have to face. Thanks for all the interesting information!!
답글삭제Tracing back to the elementary or secondary school life, it is really hard to remember the memory that I gained the multiracial education. There was just one student who had a mother from Philippine. In the Al Jazeera report, I could not say but acknowledging the resilient attitude that many Koreans show to the multicultural families. One thing that I want to mention is that even the grown-ups have some negative feelings when they think of foreigner's area (or the places they work). Yesterday one of my friend said she felt unsafe when she got into that area. I can't say that this kind of mood has come from just one factor. It might be from different sources e.g. resilient attitude, lack of experience with foreigners, and policy deficiency. I believe that this kind of negative attitude would change in the nearly coming future. As we saw the video about racism education, children will highly be affected by their parents or teachers. If the people with better understanding of these situations show positive and embracing minds to the next generation, the day for the amicable relationships will come soon.
답글삭제From reading this post, I reached to thought that the policies and supports of Korean government toward foreigners and multicultural families are superficial. Instead of making better environment for those people to settle on Korean culture, the government and most Koreans force them to 'curve' into the Korean culture. I think this is due to the nationalism mentioned in the article 1. I hope that the government would support them more fundamentally, so that they can settle on Korean without any discrimination or disharmony.
답글삭제