By Jung Min-ho
Democratic United Party (DUP) presidential candidate Moon Jae-in promised to provide a special body to deal with various issues concerning immigrants Tuesday for a growing multicultural population, should he win the battle for Cheong Wa Dae.
The decision came a few hours after the representatives of naturalized voters conveyed their 10 demands to candidates Moon and Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party on the eve of the Dec. 19 election. The Park camp hadn’t responded to the requests at the time of going to press.
The Moon camp said they would shore up the systematic support for multiracial families by enacting laws to provide basic education services for them and raising public awareness of their needs. It also promised to expand language services at places such as emergency rooms for those who speak little Korean.
Other requests, including making multiculturalism a mandatory subject in tests for earning education-related certificates and adopting a quota system for hiring workers at organizations that deal with multiethnic issues were not accepted.
“Only half of our demands were accepted to be considered, which is somewhat disappointing. Besides, their answers were mostly non- specific, so we are not sure if the requests will be met after the election,” said Ju Gun-ihl, a director of the YMCA Department of Civil Society Movement.
``A dearth of public knowledge seems like the biggest obstacle of getting our voice heard in the political landscape.”
Ju said their collective initiative in the political arena is meaningful, noting that the movement would continue to participate in politics to have their opinions reflected in future policies.
“We haven’t heard from Park’s side yet and it’s a really hectic period before the vote. So we are still hoping that the new leader will look at our demands more carefully after the election,” Ju said.
The nation’s demographics are changing dramatically with a growing number of naturalized Korean citizens and the movement expects its political sway to grow.