By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Income levels below the nation's average and discrimination based on ethnicity are two major foes making it difficult for foreign spouses to lead decent lives in Korea, a think tank found Monday.
The National Assembly Budget Office said that 45.3 percent of households comprised of a Korean and a foreign spouse couldn't make ends meet with their income.
In a paper titled "Evaluation of Policies for Foreign Spouses," the institute said about half of foreign spouses had experienced discrimination based on ethnicity.
More than 80 percent of foreign spouses were willing to work. However, they face the reality that few jobs are available, making it difficult to adjust to the new land.
The office said six ministries, including the labor ministry and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, have introduced a set of supportive policies for foreign spouses, but these policies are of little help, partly because the money was not spent wisely.
"Many programs overlap or are one-off subsidy-oriented. Spending on employment opportunities is disregarded, given only 9 percent of the 44-billion-won budget for 2009 was spent for this purpose," the paper pointed out.
The think tank called on policymakers to consider consolidating similar programs and team up for tailor-made employment programs.
The number of foreign spouses in Korea has began to increase from 2000. About 170,000 spouses came from foreign countries this year alone, an increase of 16 percent from a year ago.
About 90 percent of them are female, while the remaining 10 percent are male.
Of the 170,000 foreign spouses, only 41,000 acquired Korean citizenship.
A 2008 survey conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs found that about half experienced discrimination based on ethnicity.
The office recommended that policymakers spend more on advocacy activities to fight discrimination against foreign spouses. Currently, only 1.2 percent of the budget is spent for raising awareness of the virtues of diversity.
"Policymakers can consider introducing integration-oriented education programs for children and elementary school students so that from early childhood, they can be aware of the beneficial side of diversity," the paper said.