By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Lawmakers of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) vowed Wednesday to considering increasing financial support for an organization working for migrant workers in the country.
They made the pledge when they visited the Korea Migrants' Center in Seoul.
The government-funded facility provides migrant workers and foreign nationals living here with counseling services, Korean language and computer classes as well as job training courses to help their smooth adjustment to the working environment and culture.
Meeting with staff members at the center, GNP lawmaker Ahn Hong-joon pledged to work closely with the Ministry of Labor and opposition parties to increase the budget for the service provider in the future.
Yoo Ki-sung, a senior official of the GNP's policy committee, told The Korea Times that officials at the center asked the GNP and labor ministry officials accompanying the ruling party lawmakers for more financial support.
``The center pays monthly payment to its landlord, which is a big burden. So the staff asked us to give more government support so that it could provide quality services for migrant workers in its own building,'' said Yoo.
GNP lawmakers pledged to review the proposal seriously.
Yoo, however, said no discussion had been made about migrant workers' human rights or visa extensions, which are two major issues for them, adding the meeting was set up to discuss issues related to infrastructure.
According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, approximately 900,000 foreigners live in Korea as of 2008, accounting for 1.8 percent of the entire population.
About half of them are migrant workers.
The Korean Women's Development Institute forecast that the ratio of foreigners to the entire population will reach 2.8 percent next year, and 5 percent by 2050.