Ministry of Justice and Their Unrealistic Dream

Ministry of Justice and Their Unrealistic Dream

By Serapina Cha Mikyung, FOA

◆ A Society of Migrant Women?

Marriage immigrants, who have been living as mothers, wives, or daughters in law in Korea, got to have chance to become day teachers in various multicultural programs. What would they think about the government’s policies? Most of them are not aware of the system they participate in. Multicultural programs are not new to NGOs. Many of them organized such programs for local residents, when the government did not have any interest in the topic. The current multicultural policies of the state tend to set different NGOs as rivalries to one another incorporating their activities into its system. It is worried that the state policies are unable to rectify the everyday life discriminations migrants are facing in Korea. Even their programs for multicultural education are geared to the general atmosphere of Korean society where super-competitiveness rules. They are in continuity with the Lee government’s general direction to lift up the national competitiveness.


‘Multiculturalism’ already has been existing

Since the 1988 Seoul Olympics, many Asian migrants have been entering Korea and living as the multicultural subjects. Their diverse cultures, however, did not receive our attention. Especially, the state government did not try to learn about their lives and cultures, but violated their human rights in a lot of cases. Still, undocumented migrants are the objects to deport for them.

‘Multiculturalism’ already has been existing. But their cultures were not received well among the majority Koreans. In a workshop recently held by the migrant centers, many marriage migrants expressed their voices saying they do not want to be treated simply as daughters in law or housewives. The globalization policies led by the state so far grossly have been capital-centered and far from ‘internal globalization’ among its individual members. The ‘internal globalization’ is a movement that seeks to change the global capitalism and the current civil society. What cannot be missed in this movement is a reflection on and evaluation of the evil deeds that the state and the capital conducted to Asians. One of the examples is the relationship between South Korea and Vietnam from the Park Jeong Hee regime to the current one. By participating in the Vietnam War, the state massacred the biggest number of civilians in Vietnam. Also, its businesses in South and Southeast Asia brought a lot of problems exploiting local workers.

The image of Korea and Koreans that many Asians have is not so favorable. And, furthermore, Korean multiculturalism has a lot of similar problems. It does not consider migrants’ citizenship, but seeks to regulate majority of them.

We request the Korean government not to uniformly push marriage migrants to become good wives and daughters in law under their problematic multicultural policies. What is most important is to make efforts to form solidarity among them and help them find their autonomous subjectivities. In the center of multiculturalism are the practices and awareness for equality.


◆Problems with the state’s social unification system

Q1) From the Korean Nationality Act - “Many marriage immigrants and their children are facing difficulties resulting from their poor Korean language competence and so on” …?

The answer can be yes and no. Certainly, if you speak Korean better, you may find it easier to live in the country. But, from many cases of migrant women who are already naturalized, we know what causes them difficulties in living in Korea is not their Korean language ability but patriarchal family system, racial discrimination, sexism, and discrimination against people coming from poor countries. Patriarchy and discrimination against Asians and Asian countries are the main problem of Korean society that lacks commonsensical attitude towards the other. Asian marriage immigrants living in Korea are treated almost as dolls. The recent amendment in the Nationality Act does not seem to be the kind of legal acts, with which migrant women could protect themselves from the marriage system. What we need now is to change the Nationality Act with items that would rectify the patriarchal and racist Korean society.

In order to bring changes to the Korean family system, NGOs need to start various programs that will help migrant women empower themselves. Programs that focus on producing obedient wives again ask them to sacrifice themselves on behalf of the family. Thus, organizations who operate state programs always have a risk of becoming the servants of such ill system rather than the subjects to rectify the real problems.

There will be an alternative in helping migrant women to realize their being the subjects of cultural rights rather than in testing their qualification as good daughters in law, mothers, and wives. Thus, our activities should focus on strengthening migrants’ civil rights.


Q2) Giving nationality to the marriage immigrants will make them happier rather than strengthening the permanent residency system?

Rather than the Korean nationality, what they need is the system that will help them to protect themselves when there is a change in their marital status. And, such thing is not automatically guaranteed only because they have the Korean nationality.

Migrant women should have rights to permanent residency regardless of their marital status. Unlike what the Ministry of Justice claims, the early divorcing, which is common among international marriage couples, is not simply due to their language incompetence or lack in cultural familiarity.

Furthermore, it is not that every migrant woman wants Korean nationality. Although practically inconvenient, there are many women who live with alien registration cards. There are many reasons. Although they came to Korea to live, many of them do not want to lose their freedom to choose nationality. Many of them re-ask why they have to give up their own nationality. They think they should keep their nationality as their children may have chance to live in their home countries in the future. Also, for a better communication with their children, many migrant women are teaching their mother tongues to them. For them, nationality is just an option. Thus, we cannot think of migrant women simply as marriage migrants but should think of them as migrant citizens.


Q3 What should be done first is not the assimilation of migrant women under the social unification system of the Ministry of Justice but a correction in discriminatory systems within the labor market.

The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labor should make efforts to rectify the situations migrant women face in workplaces. As women and migrants, they are discriminated and exploited most in the labor market. While being the objects for social integration for the Ministry of Justice, they are living and working vulnerably without appropriate legal protections. In a society where discrimination rules, talks on social unification cannot have any weight.

Members of the civil society who are concerned with the issue of migrant women should approach it without forgetting that they are individual women as well as citizens. Group rationality and concerned systems could often become another violence to social minorities.