'For more immigrant lawmakers'

This is the seventh in a series, “Multiculturalism: The Great Experiment.” ㅡ ED.

By Park Si-soo

Rep. Jasmine Lee

Rep. Jasmine Lee of the ruling Saenuri Party says she is trying hard to convince party leaders to open more parliamentary seats to foreign-born Koreans in the next general elections.

“I think the Saenuri party is interested in making another immigrant a lawmaker in the next election,” she said in a recent interview in Yeouido. “But it depends on the result of the provincial elections next year.”

She said that more foreign-born lawmakers will help Korea diversify and accept multiculturalism.

“I want to be re-elected,” the 36-year-old Philippine-born lawmaker said. “But my primary duty during my term is not re-election, but paving the way for as many immigrants as possible to join the mainstream bodies of society, including the National Assembly and the government.”

“I’ve found very smart and talented immigrants living in rural areas,” she said. “I think they would work better than me if they were given a chance.”

She asked the immigrants to never give up learning, saying it is a key to getting ahead.

“I’ve learned everything, including the Korean language, culture, politics and economy, without help of a paid tutor or a welfare center for immigrant wives,” she said in her fluent Korean.

“I learned Korean from my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law. And I studied about Korean society, politics and culture from the school textbooks of my children. They contained everything I needed to know to become a lawmaker.”

She studied biology at Ateneo de Davao University in Mindanao in the southern Philippines, before dropping out in 1996 to marry her Korean husband, who was a merchant seaman. .

“Nothing would have happened to me if I had stayed at home,” Lee said. “When I came to Korea, I was already determined to achieve something for myself. Perhaps this small difference created big opportunities.”

Before entering the National Assembly, she engaged in a variety of activities while taking care of her family. She appeared in scores of TV programs and high-profile events as an English-Korean interpreter, advisor or emcee.

She received public attention in 2011 after playing the role of the mother to lead actor Yoo Ah-in in the highly acclaimed family movie “Punch” which drew 5.3 million viewers.