S. Korea becoming multicultural with int'l marriages

  • 5 years ago


South Korean society is on its way to becoming a multicultural one.
Reports say one out of ten new marriages in the country last year were between a Korean someone from another country.
Our Kim Jae-hee takes a look at the lives of South Korea's multicultural families.
This 35 year-old woman from China spends her day taking care of babies born to multicultural families.
For the past five years, she's been working at a multicultural center,… helping other marriage migrants like her, and educating preschoolers on multiculturalism.
She says working at the center has helped her successfully integrate into Korean life.
"I met my husband in China and first came to Korea in 2010. Now I have a beautiful daughter and a handsome son. I'm very content with my life, and the center provided me with a lot of help as well."
According to Statistics Korea, more than 23-thousand international couples got married last year, accounting for about one in ten of all the new marriages in the country.
With multicultural families becoming a bigger part of Korean society, the government has been working to support them.
"The government's Multicultural Family Support Centers provide marriage counseling, Korean language education services, and even job opportunities to help foreign spouses integrate into Korean society."
The government is also planning to assign more immigration officers to screen these marriages to prevent illegal arrangements such as marriages in exchange for money.
Humanitarian organizations have been stepping up as well.
The Korean Red Cross has been helping multicultural families for almost 20 years.
"The Korean Red Cross is working with 1400 multicultural households. Our volunteers visit them every week and are actively helping them settle down in Korea by offering support like consulting and education, as well as donations of daily necessities." Some marriage immigrants, like this woman from Japan, are even becoming volunteers themselves.
"Having received a lot of help from the Korean Red Cross, we also wanted to help those having a hard time adapting to Korean society. So we formed a Multicultural Volunteer Community, and I got to serve as the head of the team."
She added she hopes the public and private sector can continue to provide better social infrastructure to make South Korea a better and fair multicultural society.
Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.

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