REPORTERSNOTEBOOK Lee's migrant worker remarks fall short of embracing Korea's growing diversity
President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday that migrant workers don’t “contribute much to the national economy” because they send their earnings home.
When criticism followed his remarks at a Cabinet meeting, he focused on a word missing from a newspaper headline — “much.”
But restoring that word does little to address the larger question of whether the president sees foreign workers as members of Korea's increasingly diverse society or mainly judges their worth by where they spend their wages.
Lee made the remarks while instructing officials to consider wage subsidies to attract Korean workers to agriculture.
“For national security reasons, we must sustain agriculture, forestry, livestock farming and fisheries,” he said. “Bringing in foreign workers doesn’t contribute much to the national economy because they send all their earnings home.”
After The Hankyoreh, a local daily newspaper, reported migrant rights groups’ criticism, Lee demanded a correction and apology because its headline omitted “much.”
The newspaper subsequently added the word.
The president explained that he was comparing foreign workers’ economic contributions with those of Koreans.
Foreign workers contribute to the economy, he said, but employing Koreans would do more to support consumption and domestic demand because foreign workers send money overseas.
The presidential office also said his remarks reflected a need to reduce essential industries’ structural dependence on low-paid foreign labor.
Supporting agricultural employment is a legitimate policy goal, so is asking a newspaper to accurately convey a presidential remark.
Yet even with “much” restored, Lee’s explanation may appear to be placing migrant workers below Korean workers in terms of economic value because they send money abroad.
That reasoning overlooks the value they create by harvesting crops, manufacturing goods and building ships, regardless of where they spend their earnings.
Sending part of those earnings to family overseas does not undo the work performed here. It also does not mean foreign workers spend nothing in Korea. They also spend money on food, housing, transportation and other necessities.
Under the circumstances, migrant rights advocates challenged Lee’s remarks on precisely those grounds, pointing to the workers’ role in sustaining businesses and rural economies.
Among those criticizing the president was the progressive Justice Party, which urged him Wednesday to apologize to migrant workers before demanding an apology from the newspaper.
The party said workers should not face presidential rebuke for sending their hard-earned wages to families abroad.
The timing can make Lee’s comments especially worrisome.
Just a day earlier, data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics showed that Korea’s population with migration backgrounds had risen for two consecutive years to a record 2.81 million in 2025, accounting for 5.4 percent of all residents.
Among people in their 20s and 30s, nearly one in 10 has a migration background.
Growth in this population also offsets a decline among residents without migration backgrounds, preventing the overall population from shrinking.
These figures cover a broader group than foreign workers, including naturalized citizens, second-generation immigrants and North Korean defectors.
They nevertheless show that more people in Korea have roots across borders, and the country’s leader needs a mindset that reflects this changing reality.
A president’s words help shape how people treat their neighbors and colleagues.
When foreign workers hear that they “do not contribute much,” the distinction between “not much” and “not at all” does little to make them feel accepted in Korean society.
As Korea’s population becomes more diverse, inclusion requires more than accepting foreign workers when employers need them.