Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Seoul gets more serious about expats' problems
By Kim Rahn
Seoul City Hall is getting serious about making the city a better place to live for migrants and expats.
About 100 naturalized citizens, migrant wives and expats will be selected to monitor barriers they face in their daily life. They will work from March to the end of 2014.
Previously, about 50 were selected for the task.
Their suggestions will be reviewed and reflected in the city’s policy if found reasonable.
“We had about 50 people in the last team, but some of them were not active. This time we will kick out passive members and recruit new ones, so that the team’s activity can really help improve expats’ life here,” a city official said.
The volunteers will receive remuneration for their activities, 10,000 won per suggestion.
According to a city survey, immigrant spouses want more programs to improve their Korean language skills and need a better education environment for their children, while migrant workers want their delayed wages to be paid.
These are some of the complaints reported in surveys conducted by the Seoul City administration.
Red tape is one factor in the city administration’s failure to address them.
The city said that immigrant spouses, foreign students, interracial family members will be encouraged to report troubles they experience.
It said that findings and suggestions will be something that native Koreans may not make because the problems are unique to them.
Foreigners, naturalized citizens or marriage immigrants can apply for the volunteer work, if they have stayed in Seoul for at least one year and have an intermediate level of either Korean or English skills.
Every month, the city government will present a theme, such as transportation or housing, and the volunteers will present their suggestions up to three times per month.
Applicants are required to submit the application form and a photo identification, with the form available for downloading from the city government’s website, www.seoul.go.kr, or the Seoul Global Center’s site, global.seoul.go.kr.
Applications are being accepted from today through Feb. 8 by post, email or fax or. The result will be announced on Feb. 20.