ABSTRACT
This chapter examines South Korean “multiculturalist” policies as a crucial site where the boundaries of “Korean-ness” are intensely negotiated and the future of the South Korean state and the Korean nation is imagined. The background is the rapidly increasing presence of migrants in the globalizing reality of South Korea. In May 2007, the number of foreign residents including naturalized citizens in South Korea was 722,686 persons, or 1.5 percent of the total population, an increase of 35 percent from 536,627 in 2006. Of these 722,686 foreign residents, migrant workers comprise 35.9 percent (259,805), marriage migrants1 12.2 percent (87,694), children of international marriages 6.1 percent (44,258), and naturalized Koreans 7.5 percent (54,051). It is noteworthy that migrant workers are mainly males (70.7 percent) and marriage migrants are predominantly females (86 percent; Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs 2007). While anthropologists working on Korea have long been interested in cultural diversity and minorities in Korean society, the term “multiculturalism” (damunhwa-ju’ŏi), now prevalent in current state policy and public discourse, is a very recent introduction. In fact, the speed with which the term “multiculturalism” has gained currency in the South Korean public domain has been so rapid that the phenomenon may be unfamiliar to Koreanists and even Koreans themselves.
