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| Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon speaks during a National Assembly session, Monday. Yonhap |
By Lee Hyo-jin
The Ministry of Justice is speeding up its plan to establish a new government agency for migrant-related policies, with the aim of coming up with detailed measures by early 2023, according to the ministry, Tuesday.
The ministry will create a task force under the supervision of the Korea Immigration Service (KIS) Commissioner, consisting of eight officials, which will draw up the detailed roles and size of the organization. The team will operate for six months from mid-November, and the duration may be extended if necessary.
It will then submit the plan to the Ministry of Interior and Safety in early 2023, as launching a new government entity requires revisions to the Government Organization Law.
Moreover, the task force will map out long-term immigration policy plans in cooperation with other relevant government departments and organizations, while spurring public discussions to gather various opinions on the establishment of the immigration agency.
"The plan (on the establishment of an immigration agency) will be materialized by early next year. I will make sure it is reflected in the budget plan," Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said during a National Assembly session, Monday.
In response to a lawmaker's question of why the launch of the agency has been delayed, Han said, "We are making sure that we are going in the right direction, rather than focusing on the speed of the process. It is one of our ministry's top priorities."
Discussions on the possible launch of a new immigration agency have gained momentum here since President Yoon Suk-yeol took office in May, as it had been one of his campaign pledges. Minister Han, for his part, has also been stressing the importance of advanced immigration policies through the launch of an independent agency.
The need for a new government agency dedicated to migrant-related policies has been raised for over a decade, since the country's immigration policy is currently handled separately by different branches of the government: the Ministry of Labor and Employment which covers migrant workers; the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family which creates policies for marriage migrants and their children; the Ministry of Education which handles international students; the Ministry of Justice which covers visa status and other administrative affairs; and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which deals with ethnic Koreans overseas.
The plan comes as the government is stepping up its efforts to carry out inclusive migration policies to tackle the nation's shrinking labor force amid its rapidly declining population. The latest data from Statistics Korea estimates that the country's population will shrink to 38 million by 2070, from the current 52 million.
There were an estimated 2.5 million residents of foreign nationality here in 2019 before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for about four percent of the population. Though the figure has declined to two million since the pandemic outbreak, the country is expected to see a steady increase of migrants in the future.
During a seminar organized by the Migration Research and Training Center in June, immigration experts had said that upgrading the Korea Immigration Service to a higher-level government agency split off from the justice ministry could be a viable option for launching the immigration agency.
Meanwhile, some experts advised that Korea should consider expanding its points-based immigration system in the long term for high-skilled workers. Under the expanded system, foreign nationals who seek to move to Korea will score points based on several criteria such as age, level of education and work experience. Visas will be granted to those who gain enough points.
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