ABSTRACT
The year of 1987 is a turning point not only in the history of Korea’s democratization but also in its international labor migration history. Around this year, outflow of indigenous workers has significantly decreased, while migrant workers from abroad started flowing into Korea to work. Since then, the number of foreign migrant workers rapidly increased with more diversity in their country of origin. Furthermore, Roh Tae-woo government’s Nordpolitik (North-bound Policy) opened up economic and cultural exchanges with China and the USSR and, in the process, the government actively hosted ethnic Koreans’ visit to Korea. Since then, the number ethnic Koreans from China (Joseonjok) and the former Soviet Union including Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (Goryeoin) increased in Korea. Whether they were ethnic Korean visitors from China and the former Soviet Union or tourists from the less developed countries in East, South and Southeast Asia, the visitors and tourists settled in Korea as migrant workers. As their numbers increased, Korea became one of the labor-importing countries.
