Marriage Immigrants Support Labor Force in Rural Korea
Marriage Immigrants: Korea’s Neglected Caregivers
There is a special group of immigrants in Korea known as “marriage immigrants.” This group is primarily comprised of women who immigrate to Korea in order to marry rural or low-income Korean men. Most often, these women hail from less-developed countries in Asia.
In the absence of a sufficient care system in Korea, often these women are responsible for bearing and raising children, and also caring for the elderly and the disabled. However, institutional and social discrimination against these marriage immigrants continues to this day.
Number of Asian Women Married to Koreans Doubles in 10 Years
The number of marriage immigrants in Korea who have become members of Korean society through marriage doubled in 10 years. Additionally, the number of marriage immigrants who entered the country on a marriage visa (F-6) increased by more than 28 percent annually from 2002 to 2014.
Since April 2014, however, the number has increased by only about 1.6 percent every year. This decline is primarily attributable to strengthened regulations pertaining to the screening of marriage immigration certificates and mandatory completion of international marriage guidance programs. Until the 1990s, many Japanese women entered the country via religious organizations, but since the early 2000s, the number of marriage immigrants from other Asian countries has increased.
According to the "Status of Marriage Immigration by Nationality, Region, and Gender," released by the Korea Immigration Service under the Ministry of Justice, the number of marriage immigrants stood at 166,025 at the end of 2019, up 4.3 percent year-on-year. By nationality, China comprised the largest number of marriage immigrants at 36.3 percent, followed by Vietnam at 26.6 percent, Japan at 8.5 percent, and the Philippines at 7.2 percent. In terms of gender, women account for the vast majority of marriage immigrants in Korea, comprising 82.5 percent of the total (137,094).
The number of marriage immigrants, including those remaining on a marriage visa (F-6) and become naturalized as Korean citizens, increased from about 121,110 in 2007 to 264,681 in 2017. Among total migration, marriage immigrants account for 10 to 12 percent, of which women account for 70 to 80 percent.
Lack of Care System the Reason for Most Marriage Immigrants
Why did a special class of marriage immigrants form in Korea? The root cause lies in the absence of an adequate care system. In other words, the South Korean government has left the job of caring for children, the elderly, and the disabled to the 'family' rather than providing a system for such care.
In the past, women in the family were primarily in charge of family care labor under the concepts of filial piety and patriarchy. However, recently women's social advancement has become more active due to decreases in the income of men engaged in economic activities, in the birthrate, and increases in double-income households, as well as the dissolution of long-held family concepts. As a result, there has been a shortage of people to take care of family members who require assistance, especially among low-income families and aging rural households who cannot afford to hire caregivers.
One aspect of this arrangement that has been examined is the supply and demand of labor through marriage in Asian countries. According to the 2017 paper, "A Study on Life Experience with Handicapped People and Global Care Work Contexts," written by Professors Kim Eun-jae and Kim Sung-cheon of Chung-Ang University, migrant women from Asia who have relatively lower economic power in Korea work as housekeepers and caregivers and take care of their in-laws.
Professor Eun Ki-soo, Director of the Center for International Migration and Inclusive Society at Seoul National University's Graduate School of International Studies, said the following in an interview with Kyunghyang, "Korea has relatively low social spending on welfare policies among OECD countries. Caring labor in the family is also forced on migrant women under the name of 'family duty' and 'filial piety.'"
The Reality of Marriage Immigrants: Institutional Blind Spots and Discrimination
Marriage immigrants make up for Korea's insufficient care and welfare system, but social awareness and social safety nets are lacking in the extreme. These immigrants are exposed to crime and social discrimination, including violence and sexual assault, under the concept of patriarchy.
Violence in particular is a significant problem for marriage immigrants. It is well known that Korean husbands often use violence against their wives to emphasize absolute obedience to their families, as well as the expectation of caring labor from a patriarchal point of view. According to 2020 counseling statistics released in February 2021 by the Seoul Migrant Women's Counseling Center, which serves as a refuge for migrant women in need, 23.97 percent of cases were for legal counseling on sexual violence and sexual harassment. This was followed by various life-related counseling (18.6 percent), divorce counseling (15.84 percent), visa counseling (9.32 percent), domestic violence counseling (7.21 percent), refuge counseling (7.05 percent), and marital conflict counseling (4.82 percent).
There is also social discrimination. According to a report released by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in 2019, 68 percent of 310 migrant respondents said racism exists in Korea. Sources of discrimination included spouses, families or other relatives, bosses, and immigration offices. The most common reasons for not responding when experiencing discrimination included responses such as, "I don't think it will change" and "I don't know how to respond."
Another problem is the process of supplying migrant women. International marriage brokers are still well aware that what Korean society wants from migrant women is "family care," advertising that they accept patriarchal values such as taking good care of their parents-in-law and giving birth to young children, which suggests that they can be treated recklessly. Additionally, the wife's family is most often far away.
An ad from one brokerage firm reveals serious discriminatory remarks and actions based on race, gender, appearance, nationality, religion, etc., while emphasizing all traditional female attributes. As for Vietnamese women, they described them as follows: "Vietnam still has a large family system, so they take good care of their parents-in-law and obey their husbands." As for Filipino women, "They have a lot of mixed blood with white people, so their appearance is beautiful. Because they are often Catholic, they value one marriage very much.” As for Cambodian women, another wrote, "We maintain our traditional values, so we keep our chastity well, and we know it as a virtue to devote ourselves to and obey a man."
Reform Needed to Protect Korea’s Marriage Immigrants
Despite such cases of damage, marriage immigrants' eligibility to remain in Korea is still up to their Korean husbands. If their husbands don’t agree, marriage immigrants can't stay in Korea, and their families can't enter Korea. In addition, marriage immigrants take care of their husbands and their parents-in-law in Korea, but often they are not able to take care of their own parents properly. This is because there is no time to visit their home country, and even if parents can be brought to Korea, the screening process is complicated, and the duration of their stay is often very short. For marriage immigrants to bring their parents to Korea, only short-term tourist visas (C-3) for up to three months are available at this time.
Korea has long been a closed society. However, marriage immigrants and their children are transforming Korea into a multicultural society, with the immigration population now at 3 million, or 6 percent of the total population. It seems abundantly clear that a full review of the welfare care system, including institutional maintenance and the inclusion of racial diversity regulations, is needed to assist those immigrants who make up for Korea’s insufficient welfare system.
[by Sejin Kim]
Drop Me a Line, Let Me Know What You Think.