INTERACT – RESearcHING THIRD COUNTRY NatiONALS’ INTEGratiON AS A THREE-WAY PROCESS - IMMIGrantS, COUNTRIES OF EMIGratiON AND COUNTRIES OF IMMIGratiON AS ActORS OF INTEGratiON Co-financed by the European Union South Korea country report Ijin Hong INTERACT Research Report 2014/07 © 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be distributed, quoted or reproduced in any form without permission from the INTERACT Project. CEDEM INTERACT Researching Third Country Nationals’ Integration as a Three-way Process - Immigrants, Countries of Emigration and Countries of Immigration as Actors of Integration Research Report Country Report INTERACT RR2014/07 South Korea country report Ijin Hong Assistant Professor, Sungshin Women’s University © 2014, European University Institute Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies This text may be downloaded only for personal research purposes. Any additional reproduction for other purposes, whether in hard copies or electronically, requires the consent of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. Requests should be addressed to [email protected] If cited or quoted, reference should be made as follows: Ijin Hong, South Korea country report, INTERACT RR 2014/07, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, San Domenico di Fiesole (FI): European University Institute, 2014. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS PUBLICATION CANNOT IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE REGARDED AS THE OFFICIAL POSITION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION European University Institute Badia Fiesolana I – 50014 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) Italy http://www.eui.eu/RSCAS/Publications/ http://interact-project.eu/publications/ http://cadmus.eui.eu INTERACT - Researching Third Country Nationals’ Integration as a Three-way Process - Immigrants, Countries of Emigration and Countries of Immigration as Actors of Integration Around 25 million persons born in a third country (TCNs) are currently living in the European Union (EU), representing 5% of its total population. Integrating immigrants, i.e. allowing them to participate in the host society at the same level as natives, is an active, not a passive, process that involves two parties, the host society and the immigrants, working together to build a cohesive society. Policy-making on integration is commonly regarded as primarily a matter of concern for the receiving state, with general disregard for the role of the sending state. However, migrants belong to two places: first, where they come and second, where they now live. While integration takes place in the latter, migrants maintain a variety of links with the former. New means of communication facilitating contact between migrants and their homes, globalisation bringing greater cultural diversity to host countries, and nation-building in source countries seeing expatriate nationals as a strategic resource have all transformed the way migrants interact with their home country. INTERACT project looks at the ways governments and non-governmental institutions in origin countries, including the media, make transnational bonds a reality, and have developed tools that operate economically (to boost financial transfers and investments); culturally (to maintain or revive cultural heritage); politically (to expand the constituency); legally (to support their rights). INTERACT project explores several important questions: To what extent do policies pursued by EU member states to integrate immigrants, and policies pursued by governments and non-state actors in origin countries regarding expatriates, complement or contradict each other? What effective contribution do they make to the successful integration of migrants and what obstacles do they put in their way? A considerable amount of high-quality research on the integration of migrants has been produced in the EU. Building on existing research to investigate the impact of origin countries on the integration of migrants in the host country remains to be done. INTERACT is co-financed by the European Union and is implemented by a consortium built by CEDEM, UPF and MPI Europe. For more information: INTERACT Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (EUI) Convento Via delle Fontanelle 19 50014 San Domenico di Fiesole Italy Tel: +39 055 46 85 817 Fax: + 39 055 46 85 770 Email: [email protected] Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies http://www.eui.eu/RSCAS/ Abstract Emigrants from the Korean peninsula are one of the biggest migrant communities in the world, but yet little is known internationally about their characteristics or differences by geographic area. This explorative paper attempts to shed light on overseas Koreans and their classifications, and on the ways in which the state (mainly the South Korean government)* deals with them. Generally speaking, it is possible to distinguish overseas Koreans into Kyopos (in the Western world and in Japan), Koryos (based in the ex-Soviet Union), and Chosuns (the Korean diaspora in China). While the South Korean state tends to only address their situation with a visa policy upon those returning to their homeland, NGOs and other private organizations are more active in addressing the needs of the Korean diasporas abroad. Keywords: Overseas Koreans, Kyopo, Chosun people, Koryo people, NGO Acknowledgment and credits I would like to thank my parents, first-generation migrants to Europe, for their insights and support on this work. All mistakes and lack of precision are exclusively the responsibility of the author. * The Korean peninsula has been divided in North and South along the 38th parallel in 1953. Since some migratory flows have started before that, some diasporas have originated from modern-day North Korea, although I here mostly refer to South Korea as a standard. Table of contents 1. Policy and institutional frameworks .................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Korean migrants: an overview ................................................................................................ 7 1.2 Description of state-level emigration and diaspora policies at the national level ................. 10 1.3 Engagement of non-state actors ............................................................................................ 11 1.4 A short list of relevant agreements ........................................................................................ 12 2. Legal documents................................................................................................................................ 13 References ............................................................................................................................................. 13 INTERACT RR2014/07 © 2014 EUI, RSCAS 1. Policy and institutional frameworks 1.1 Korean migrants: an overview The Korean peninsula has been divided along the 38th parallel since 1953 and the end of the war in Korea into the communist dictatorial regime in the north, and the capitalistic presidential government in the south. Before that, Korea had been one political entity: accordingly, when we describe emigration and diasporas, Korean communities abroad originate both from the North and from the South, overseas Koreans are one of the biggest emigrant communities in the world.1 South Korea presents a varied emigration picture due to the spectacular economic growth that let this country develop from an extremely poor area in the 1960s to one of the wealthiest countries in the world in just a few decades. South Korean emigrants have left the country for many reasons. Some went to escape poverty and political persecution, others sought education and personal realization, especially in more recent times. Depending on where they reside, Korean emigrants are labeled and identified in different ways. Overseas Koreans are generally named “Kyopos”, especially when they are based in the US, Europe, or Japan (they are variously named “American Kyopo”, “German Kyopo”, “Japanese Kyopo”, and the like). Emigrants in Europe have a fairly recent history, since they started to arrive as guest- workers or students only in the 1960s. The origins of American Kyopos date back to the beginning of the 20th century, when Korean workers came first to the sugar plantations in the Hawaii, with inflows of Korean workers destined to continue over the twentieth century as well. Japanese Kyopos have also a long history in the country, arriving after the colonization of the Korean peninsula. Korean emigrants have kept going to Japan from the island of Jeju-do, in the southern part of the peninsula, in more recent times as well, for commercial reasons. Generally speaking, Kyopo emigrants are identified as coming from the southern part of the Korean peninsula, and they reside either in the West, or in Japan. Diasporas in the ex-Soviet Union are known as “Koryos”. The history of Korean migration to the ex-Soviet Union dates back to the times of Japanese colonization at the beginning of the twentieth century, when land confiscation led to a shortage of cultivable areas. To be sure, the Korean exodus to Manchuria started at the end of the Chosun era (1392-1896), and depended on a lack of crops. This phenomenon continued through the years of Japanese colonization. Many emigrants to China came from the northern part of the peninsula. Chinese Koreans residing in China, from North Korea are labeled “Chosuns”, probably because their presence in China started with the pre-Japanese occupation of the Chosun dynasty in the peninsula. Most Koreans in China, as noted, came from the northern part of the peninsula