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Lawyer supports multiethnic students

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Kim Jong-ju

By Jhoo Dong-chan

Lawyer Kim Jong-ju recently received a bouquet from a group of students from multiethnic families for his longtime support of their school, the School of Global Sarang.

Kim has donated two million won ($1,830) every month to the school for more than four years ― for a total of more than 100 million won ($91,690).

“I just did what I can do for people in need,” Kim told The Korea Times.

Kim’s charity activities date back to 2004, when he was a second-year trainee at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. While many of his colleagues chose big law firms for their field training, he chose an NGO named Global Sarang, which runs the school.

“Undocumented workers were having hard times in places where there were no rights and support for them,” Kim said. “I believed that it was my job to help them.”

Even after he started practicing law, Kim provided free legal counseling for immigrant workers who often suffered from overdue wages, industrial accidents and violence in their workplaces.

In 2011, Kim filed a petition with the Constitutional Court on behalf of Korean-Chinese workers, claiming they were often disadvantaged in Korea because of discriminative regulations against those from China.

The court dismissed his appeal.

His donations to the school are another effort to improve immigrants’ living conditions in Korea.

“It is important to help their children grow up in Korean society without prejudice and discrimination,” Kim said. “They are also the country’s future.”

Law is one of the high-income professions in Korea, but donating two million won every month has not been easy for Kim. Once, he had to borrow to keep donating to the school.

Kim expressed concern about prejudice toward multiracial families and migrant workers.

“Racism and cursing words about foreigners are prevailing, especially online,” he said.

“The recent violent crimes of a few foreigners do not represent all immigrants. The government and media should work together not to mislead the public.”