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A Christian Educational Response to Multicultural Phenomenon in the South Korean Context

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A Christian Educational Response to Multicultural Phenomenon in the South Korean Context Journal of Christian Education in Korea Vol. 61(2020. 3. 30) : 263-294 DOI: 10.17968/jcek.2020..61.009 Towards Intercultural Christian Education: A Christian Educational Response to Multicultural Phenomenon in the South Korean Context Heejin Choi (Ph.D. Student, University of Toronto) [email protected] Abstract In South Korea which has become a multicultural society, ethnic and cultural others have suffered from discrimination against them and iso- lation from society. Multicultural policies and multicultural public educa- tion have simply focused on the assimilation of cultural others without providing opportunities to build a reciprocal relationship between Kor eans and cultural others. Noting this reality, this paper proposes inter- cultural Christian education as a prophetic and educational role of faith communities in society. Intercultural education, intercultural theology, Miroslav Volf's drama of embrace, and Sang-Jin Park's theory of the ecosystem of Christian education offer theoretical foundations for inter- cultural Christian education. Based on these foundations, the paper dis- cusses the definition and goal of intercultural Christian education and argues for the roles of intercultural Christian education to help Christ ians "SEE" the self, the other, and the community through self-reflection, embrace, and ecological transformation. As intercultural Christian educa- tion pursues to nurture Christians to have a respectful and hospitable mindset toward cultural others, such education will help faith commun- ities seek a multi-colored kingdom of God. 264 Journal of Christian Education in Korea 《 Keywords 》 Cultural others, Intercultural education, Multicultural education, Intercultural theology, Embrace, Ecosystem of Christian education, Intercultural Christian education I. Introduction As many people with diverse cultural backgrounds have entered and settled down in South Korea, multiculturalism has emerged as a critical issue in Korean society. In spite of the reality that the immigration of cultural others and the formation of multicultural families have accelerated cul- tural diversity and a demographic change in the society, a widespread climate of guardedness or even hostility against cultural others still exists. Additionally, many policies of the Korean government to respond to the needs of increasing numbers of cultural others are limited to a provision of hu- manitarian assistance to enable cultural others to adapt to society by helping them learn Korean language and cul- ture(Seol, 2010; Lee, 2017). In particular, multicultural public education aims to target only those who have different cul- tural traditions and assimilate them into society rather than pursuing mutual learning through intercultural dialogue be- tween ethnic Koreans and cultural others(Lee, 2018; Yang & Ham, 2018). Such policies, including education policy, which have tilted toward the assimilation of cultural others, have led many scholars to raise critical voices against the policies and public educators to actively discuss the right direction of multicultural education. Heejin Choi ┃ Towards Intercultural Christian Education 265 In the meantime, many Korean Christian educators have also paid attention to multicultural issues in society and of- fered valuable suggestions to resolve the issues in Christian educational ways. Hyun Sun Oh(2007) looked at the margi- nalized experiences of female immigrants and raised the need for multicultural Christian education as a response to them. Mi La Park(2011) suggested a group counseling ap- proach to educate North Korean defector students in order to strengthen their psychological health. Jeung Gwan Lee (2014) analyzed the struggles of multicultural families and asserted how to care for them through Christian education. Sung Hoon Choi(2016) claimed for the multicultural com- petence of teachers and suggested alternative Christian edu- cation targeting North Korean defector students. Yhun So Ahn(2017) proposed a Christian educational model for mar- riage immigrant women with an intercultural perspective in order to help them discover the meaning of their lives. Notably, the common interest of these researchers lies in the establishment of the identity of cultural others, rather than seeking reciprocity between them and Koreans. Observing multicultural issues in society and the emerging necessity to create mutuality between cultural others and Koreans, this paper seeks to explore how Christian faith communities can respond to such a situation. As an active methodology to deal with multicultural issues in society, I will propose intercultural Christian education that pursues ways to nurture Christians to have a respectful and hospita- ble mindset toward cultural others. For this, this paper in- tends to outline how intercultural Christian education can be undertaken, by focusing on: (1) an examination of multi- 266 Journal of Christian Education in Korea cultural phenomenon in Korean society; (2) four theoretical foundations for intercultural Christian education, including intercultural education, intercultural theology, the drama of embrace, and the ecosystem of Christian education; and (3) the definition, goal, and key roles of intercultural Christian education for the Korean context. II. Multicultural Phenomenon in Korean Society Korea, which was recognized as a single ethnic country for a long time, has been gradually changing into a multi- cultural society. Globalization as well as economic and tech- nical development have enabled many foreigners to enter Korea with various cultures and Koreans to encounter multi- ple cultures through direct experiences, including tourism and study-abroad, and indirect experiences through the Internet. In particular, the entrance of many foreigners has resulted in a demographic change contributing to cultural diversity in society. Koreans have responded to such changes in both positive and negative ways. 1. Immigration and the demographic change There are three key groups that have impacted on the demographic change: foreign workers, North Korean de- fectors, and marriage immigrants. First, since the 1980s, with increased economic development, many foreign workers have entered Korea. The number of foreign workers has Heejin Choi ┃ Towards Intercultural Christian Education 267 constantly increased from 50,000 in the early 1990s to 863,200 in 2019(Kang, 2006, 17; National Statistical Office, 2019b, 12-13). 92.1% of the workers came from other Asian countries including China and Vietnam (National Statistical Office, 2019b, 14). The low fertility, aging population, and the resulting decrease of the working-age population that have occurred in the society will lead to the continuous in- crease of foreign workers(Kang, 2006, 17). Second, the number of North Korean defectors who have settled in South Korea has steadily increased. They escaped from North Korea due to many reasons including the cen- tralized system, the closed economy, and the spread of in- formation about other countries(Kang, 2006, 20-21). The de- fectors receive adjustment education for twelve weeks in order to overcome a sense of cultural differences between South Korea and North Korea, to gain psychological stability, and to establish their life plans. After finishing the education, they can settle down in society with the governmental pro- tection(Ministry of Unification, n.d.). Third, multicultural families have played a significant role in the demographic change. The formation of multicultural families has accompanied Korean modern history. After the Korean War in 1950, as American soldiers started to be sta- tioned in Korea, most of the international marriage were between American male soldiers and Korean women in the 1950s to 1970s. In the 1980s, as mentioned before, many foreign workers began to enter Korea and form multicultural families composed of immigrant workers and Koreans(Park et al., 2011, 36). Technical development also stimulated the international marriages. As the population grew rapidly in 268 Journal of Christian Education in Korea the 1970s and 1980s, the Korean government recommended citizens to have one or two children. The use of ultrasonic imaging enabled parents to know their baby’s gender before its birth. The parents performed selective abortion because they preferred boys due to the importance of familial ge- nealogy(Tan, 2017). These factors caused a high gender im- balance so that a movement to marry Korean men espe- cially in rural regions occurred in the early 1990s, resulting in the marriages between Korean men and foreign wom- en(Park, 2011, 36). Thus, there have been various forms of multicultural families in society. Currently, most of the mul- ticultural families are composed of a Korean man, a woman from other Asian countries, including Vietnam, China, and Thailand, and their child(National Statistical Office, 2019a, 5, 13). Accompanying the increased number of multicultural fam- ilies, the number of children in the families has also increased. According to the Korean National Statistical Office(2019c), multicultural students—- students born into mul ticultural families— compose 2.2% of the total students in 2019. Although this seems marginal, the number of multi- cultural students has increased about 6.5 times for a decade, while the total number of students has continuously de- creased(National Statistical Office, 2018, 8). Additionally, giv- en that the birth rate of multicultural children— children of multicultural families— among all Korean
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