Regarding the May 6 editorial, "No expat policy," I remember speaking with a friend of mine in France over 30 years ago. He was one of these so-called Bobos (the bourgeois bohemians from Paris, part of the intellectual elite, mostly with a socialist ideology, which in France translates with "being well off and secure in a clean neighborhood, but feeling sorry for what the rest of the less-educated population faces in their daily lives").
His point of view was very simple, not to say simplistic: Let everyone come, they will adapt and integrate automatically into our system, as it is the best in the world. Let's remember that this was when Mitterrand first came to power, and this elite was walking around wearing pink glasses, convinced that paradise was just around the corner.
As they say, the rest is history, and we find ourselves in a cul-de-sac, with a large population of second- and third-generation immigrants absolutely unable or unwilling to adapt to our system, and in some cases even hating the country and its people. And unfortunately some of them will go as far as misusing religion to go to war with us with the violence we lived through last year in Paris.
All these problems did not happen by accident, and there is no one in particular responsible for what we face at the moment. When I was a student in the mid-70s, as many other students did, I spent my summer vacations working side jobs. Being from the country, I usually worked in the orchards harvesting apples or peaches. The majority of my coworkers were immigrants from Portugal or Algeria. It was not only an economic choice of the bosses, as the minimum wage was not a thing to avoid regardless of the origin of the worker. It was just that most French people did not want the jobs. Most of the immigrants worked hard, but often suffered from racism in their daily lives regardless of how much they wanted to adapt to their new home. In other words, the French people accepted them because they needed them, but established some unspoken limits for them not to cross. Over the years, that translated into clusters of immigrant populations outside the larger cities, with limited access to education for their children. Eventually some found themselves involved in criminal activities such as drug trafficking among others. A perfect ground for religious extremists.
In my professional life I was lucky enough to live and work in several different countries, from the U.S. to Europe, Russia, Singapore, Korea. In all these places, immigration always remains the hot button and strikes a chord with the locals, remaining extremely sensitive. Everybody knows that immigration is needed for many different reasons, yet the same people will always find an excuse not to fully accept foreigners in their daily lives. That same invisible limit not to cross because people are people and sometimes act or say things only to protect their families or their hard-earned lifestyles. Hard to blame them in most cases (I am not speaking about the hardcore racists ― these will never change and live in their own little fake world).
In the end, only governments can establish laws and regulations and enforce them. For this to take place, it takes strong politicians with a vision of the long-term future. Now we know how difficult this is to find, and if France is any indication of what is coming for Korea, it's close to impossible since politicians have one main job to do which is to keep their jobs at all costs.
A foreign resident in Korea
We decided to respect the writer's request for anonymity to the best of our ability, considering his view can be of help to Korea determining the course of its immigration policy. ― ED.
His point of view was very simple, not to say simplistic: Let everyone come, they will adapt and integrate automatically into our system, as it is the best in the world. Let's remember that this was when Mitterrand first came to power, and this elite was walking around wearing pink glasses, convinced that paradise was just around the corner.
As they say, the rest is history, and we find ourselves in a cul-de-sac, with a large population of second- and third-generation immigrants absolutely unable or unwilling to adapt to our system, and in some cases even hating the country and its people. And unfortunately some of them will go as far as misusing religion to go to war with us with the violence we lived through last year in Paris.
All these problems did not happen by accident, and there is no one in particular responsible for what we face at the moment. When I was a student in the mid-70s, as many other students did, I spent my summer vacations working side jobs. Being from the country, I usually worked in the orchards harvesting apples or peaches. The majority of my coworkers were immigrants from Portugal or Algeria. It was not only an economic choice of the bosses, as the minimum wage was not a thing to avoid regardless of the origin of the worker. It was just that most French people did not want the jobs. Most of the immigrants worked hard, but often suffered from racism in their daily lives regardless of how much they wanted to adapt to their new home. In other words, the French people accepted them because they needed them, but established some unspoken limits for them not to cross. Over the years, that translated into clusters of immigrant populations outside the larger cities, with limited access to education for their children. Eventually some found themselves involved in criminal activities such as drug trafficking among others. A perfect ground for religious extremists.
In my professional life I was lucky enough to live and work in several different countries, from the U.S. to Europe, Russia, Singapore, Korea. In all these places, immigration always remains the hot button and strikes a chord with the locals, remaining extremely sensitive. Everybody knows that immigration is needed for many different reasons, yet the same people will always find an excuse not to fully accept foreigners in their daily lives. That same invisible limit not to cross because people are people and sometimes act or say things only to protect their families or their hard-earned lifestyles. Hard to blame them in most cases (I am not speaking about the hardcore racists ― these will never change and live in their own little fake world).
In the end, only governments can establish laws and regulations and enforce them. For this to take place, it takes strong politicians with a vision of the long-term future. Now we know how difficult this is to find, and if France is any indication of what is coming for Korea, it's close to impossible since politicians have one main job to do which is to keep their jobs at all costs.
A foreign resident in Korea
We decided to respect the writer's request for anonymity to the best of our ability, considering his view can be of help to Korea determining the course of its immigration policy. ― ED.
