By Kim Se-jeong
When Princess Sri Ranta of the Ayodhya Kingdom, located in modern day India, sailed across the ocean to marry King Suro of the Gaya Kingdom (43-532 A.D.), it marked one of the first immigrant marriages recorded in the history of Korea.
Little is known about her plight in a new land with a different language and culture. What is evident is that she had influence in art, clothing and literature, as artifacts from the era show.
Now, centuries later, Korean society couldn't be more diverse.
Statistically speaking, three out of every 100 people living in Korea are now foreign born. Almost 300,000 people, mostly from China, the Philippines and Vietnam, have also moved to Korea as spouses. Together with their spouses and children, the total number of people who walk across two different cultural spheres in their daily lives amounts to almost 800,000.
Public policies toward them are undergoing a rapid transition too.
"With the rising number of immigrants who have stayed here a long time and those who have children, the need now is to assist them in building careers and helping their children," Choi Sung-ji, director of multicultural family policy planning at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, told The Korea Times.
The ministry is in charge of devising public policies for these spouses and their families so that their integration into society can be smoother.
Korea has seen the number of young female immigrants from Southeast Asia skyrocket since the early 2000s. That's when lonely bachelors from rural villages here flocked to the region in search of prospective wives. The new trend prompted marriage brokers to emerge, boosting numbers even higher.
Early settlers were the most vulnerable, with little support from the community or the government. News headlines on suicides and immigrants falling victims to violence in the home were easy to find.
In 2008, the Multicultural Families Support Act was made law to address these problems and to offer more support for them.
Among its provisions, the law made marriage qualifications tougher for these women, which gradually curbed the rise of interracial marriages.
The law also led to the establishment of Multicultural Family Support Centers across the country. Ranging from offering Korean language workshops to counseling, 217 support centers played - and still play - a crucial role in making immigrants' transition to life in Korea easier.
Studies have shown the support centers have made contributions on several fronts. For example, in 2012 the number of interracial households that broke up within the first five years dropped by 15 percent compared to 2009; people also improved their Korean language skills; the number of women with a job after the three-year point from arrival grew by 16.1 percent, which meant income for those households also grew.
In 2012, 1.6 million people said they had received services from a support center, double the number from 2009.
The ongoing policy transition is aiming to improve quality of life for the second generation of multiracial families. The number of these children is estimated to be 200,000, with a high prospect for growth. These children often fall victim to discrimination at schools, and as a result, their school performance often drops. The support centers have already expanded counseling services and academic assistance for them to address these problems.
Creating a proper understanding for multiracial families is another goal to achieve.
"The immigrants themselves do not want to be called an interracial family, said Choi.
"The label carries some connotations that they belong to a lower social status. Especially among those who successfully integrated into society, the dislike of the label is stronger. They simply want to be another member of the society," she said.
The support centers and the ministry have both run campaigns using mass media and social networks to help educate the general public that interracial families are an important part of Korean society, and their presence means new opportunities, not a threat.
Little is known about her plight in a new land with a different language and culture. What is evident is that she had influence in art, clothing and literature, as artifacts from the era show.
Now, centuries later, Korean society couldn't be more diverse.
Statistically speaking, three out of every 100 people living in Korea are now foreign born. Almost 300,000 people, mostly from China, the Philippines and Vietnam, have also moved to Korea as spouses. Together with their spouses and children, the total number of people who walk across two different cultural spheres in their daily lives amounts to almost 800,000.
Public policies toward them are undergoing a rapid transition too.
"With the rising number of immigrants who have stayed here a long time and those who have children, the need now is to assist them in building careers and helping their children," Choi Sung-ji, director of multicultural family policy planning at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, told The Korea Times.
The ministry is in charge of devising public policies for these spouses and their families so that their integration into society can be smoother.
Korea has seen the number of young female immigrants from Southeast Asia skyrocket since the early 2000s. That's when lonely bachelors from rural villages here flocked to the region in search of prospective wives. The new trend prompted marriage brokers to emerge, boosting numbers even higher.
Early settlers were the most vulnerable, with little support from the community or the government. News headlines on suicides and immigrants falling victims to violence in the home were easy to find.
In 2008, the Multicultural Families Support Act was made law to address these problems and to offer more support for them.
Among its provisions, the law made marriage qualifications tougher for these women, which gradually curbed the rise of interracial marriages.
The law also led to the establishment of Multicultural Family Support Centers across the country. Ranging from offering Korean language workshops to counseling, 217 support centers played - and still play - a crucial role in making immigrants' transition to life in Korea easier.
Studies have shown the support centers have made contributions on several fronts. For example, in 2012 the number of interracial households that broke up within the first five years dropped by 15 percent compared to 2009; people also improved their Korean language skills; the number of women with a job after the three-year point from arrival grew by 16.1 percent, which meant income for those households also grew.
In 2012, 1.6 million people said they had received services from a support center, double the number from 2009.
The ongoing policy transition is aiming to improve quality of life for the second generation of multiracial families. The number of these children is estimated to be 200,000, with a high prospect for growth. These children often fall victim to discrimination at schools, and as a result, their school performance often drops. The support centers have already expanded counseling services and academic assistance for them to address these problems.
Creating a proper understanding for multiracial families is another goal to achieve.
"The immigrants themselves do not want to be called an interracial family, said Choi.
"The label carries some connotations that they belong to a lower social status. Especially among those who successfully integrated into society, the dislike of the label is stronger. They simply want to be another member of the society," she said.
The support centers and the ministry have both run campaigns using mass media and social networks to help educate the general public that interracial families are an important part of Korean society, and their presence means new opportunities, not a threat.
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