Thank you very much for visiting my website. Keywords: intellect, facts, policy blind spots, consensus building
Figure１ The Change of System
This research aims at conducting a general survey of the overall situation of the new social unification policies of the South Korean government in the 1990s and after, and was supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
In the second half of the 1990s, the Korean government started to create new systems for the about five million people with Korean nationality and citizens of Korean origin living abroad, as well as for those who were workers who came from abroad, those who became immigrants after getting married with Koreans, defectors from North Korea, and refugees regarded to be domiciled with Koreans. In recent years, the government has had to make untiring efforts as a result of the simultaneous retirement of baby boomers, the factor that makes the problem of reduced birth rates and the aging of the population even more serious.
As shown in Figure 1, the Korean systems during the 20 years since 1990 have continued to change from domestic ones focused only on Korean nationals to systems with worldwide scope based on the protection of human rights and support of foreigners living in Korea and those of Korean ancestry.
There is no other country in the world where social unification policies have been adopted so widely in such a short period of time as Korea. The Korean government and related organizations have attempted to introduce very innovative policies by reorganizing the good measures taken in other countries and by creating new systems from the beginning. In this research, I will explore how people in various positions are considering, adapting to, and trying to improve these systems, and I will take an overview of the systems.
This research will examine these systems
from two viewpoints.
Viewpoint 1: Domestic situation
Figure 2. Relationships between social unification keywords
In this research, I visited and interviewed the stakeholders directly. What I noticed during my interviews was that many participants in the survey commonly mentioned several keywords: intellect, facts, policy blind spots, and consensus building.
While they used these words in different nuances depending on their position, it seems that all of the participants recognized that it would be important to maintain a favorable balance between these keywords if Koreans were to be able to live peacefully together with those of different backgrounds. Therefore, I will use these keywords as hints as shown in Figure 2 and analyze the policies from the two viewpoints by observing the activities of the stakeholders in seminars and meetings with public agencies, and their work in symposiums with various organizations and in the workplace, as well as by studying the opinions of those in different positions while referring to interviews with stakeholders and support groups and trends in the media.
Viewpoint 2: Korea’s global activities
There is another interesting fact about the policies: each of the policies works to link people automatically, enabling Korea to have these policies make a strong impact globally through these people. Worldwide, Korea may generally bring to mind such names as the multinational manufacturer Samsung, bibimbup (a rice-bowl type of dish), or kimchi (the traditional pickled foods). But I believe that the impact of the policies in the future will be much greater than that of these words at present because these policies have far more important and much more sustainable elements. I was, in truth, unable to anticipate this before I started my research.
Korean NGOs have provided financial support for the construction of schools in countries with workers who came from abroad to Korea. This is because these workers continue to have relationships with Korea after they have returned home. In addition, these workers are teaching the Korean language and Korean labor law to their fellow nationals to help reduce their difficulties as much as possible when they go to Korea to work. I also met a foreign man living in Korea with permanent resident status who married a Korean woman and was operating a restaurant featuring his own ethnic cuisine in an effort to publicize his country in Korea, and he was providing economic support to the children in his country by holding fund-raising campaigns.
In Yanbian, China, not only are Chinese of Korean origin already disseminating Korean culture but also much Korean capital has been invested, enriching this area and making it into a "second Korea in China." （이영민·이은하·이화용 “중국 조선족의 글로벌 이주 네트워크와 연변지역의 사회-공간적 변화” 한국도시지리학회지 제16권 3호 2013 (55~70)） In Yanbian, vacancies created by labor moving to Korean and Chinese cities have been filled by migrant workers from North Korea, who are also serving as the motive power for a new business model in North Korea. （김윤영, 유시은 2016. “중국 내 비자 방문 북한 여성들의 경제활동 경험과 의식변화.” 다문화와 평화 10(1), pp 50-71） The fact that the Korean Society in the U.S. is working to resolve the problems of the disputed Takeshima Islands (Dokdo) and “comfort women” is known to everyone.
Figure 3. Relationships between chain reactions
As evident in Figure 3, the chain reactions of the movement of people, that is, Korea’s unification policies, have expanded the influence of Korea abroad both directly and indirectly. Such reactions were not anticipated before the introduction of the policies.
In this research, I plan to conduct my study from the two viewpoints mentioned above. I will consider visiting Americans of Korean origin living in the U.S. and interviewing them about their relationships with Korea. I will also conduct surveys on the activities of foreign immigrant workers in their own countries. I also plan to visit organizations that are working abroad to protect human rights on the Korean Peninsula. I plan to develop this website as a place for reporting on the results of my research and sharing knowledge and facts about Korea’s social unification policies. I also plan to make this website a place for explaining my research to encourage collaborations with the study. I look forward to welcoming many visitors to the website and receiving their understanding and cooperation in my research. Thank you very much in advance.
I plan to prepare an English website in the near future. Please access my Japanese language website for the time being.
