<div dir="ltr"><div class=""><h1>New policy on multiracial families to focus on openness </h1>
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<span style=""><strong>‘More openness toward multiracial people is next policy target'</strong></span><br><br><span style="">By Kim Se-jeong<br><br></span><table class="" style="border-collapse:collapse;float:right;margin:0px 0px 0px 5px;width:100px" border="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><img src="http://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/newsV2/images/K2015112500223-200.jpg" alt=" " height="319" width="200"></td></tr><tr><td class="" style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:"nexus serif",georgia,serif;color:rgb(40,40,40);padding:3px;background-color:rgb(235,235,235)"><span>Kim Hee-jung, minister of<br>gender equality and family</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style=""><div id="startts">The
government will put a greater focus on correcting prejudiced views of
multiracial families and boosting the public's receptivity of them, said
Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kim Hee-jung in a recent
interview.<br><br><span>Her remarks show the ministry's policy focus
shifting from the current policy of helping marriage migrants adapt to
life here over the last decade.</span><br><br><span>"The policy has come
a long way, but what's more important now is for Korean society to
embrace these multicultural families more heartily," Kim said. "We will
make greater efforts to raise public awareness that these families bring
openness and flexibility to Korean society."</span><br><br><span>One
such effort was the revision of the Multicultural Families Support Act
passed earlier this month. The new law stipulates that services for
multiracial families would no longer always be free.</span><br><br><span>A
majority of immigrant wives in Korea are from other Asian countries
such as China, Vietnam, Mongolia and Japan. While Koreans often regard
them as lower-class citizens in need of help, many are reluctant to help
them, believing that the immigrant population places a burden on their
own opportunities for welfare.</span><br><br><span>One support program
for marriage migrants is a home-visit service, in which Korean language
instructors and social workers visit the family to teach the Korean
language or give counseling to make cultural integration smoother. </span><br><br><span>"So
far, all foreign spouses received the home-visit service for free
regardless of income level," the minister said. "But under the revision,
this will change and multiracial families in mid- and high-income
brackets will pay for the service. I believe this will help people see
these families as more than just recipients of social benefits."</span><br><br><span>The
revised law also makes it mandatory for teachers and heads of childcare
centers and kindergartens to take action to protect children from
multiracial backgrounds from discrimination. The ministry is working on
more details. </span><br><br><span><strong>Past and future </strong> </span><br><br><span>As the marriage immigrant population grew, so too did the need for effective policies.</span><br><br><span>According
to the ministry, there are almost 300,000 migrant spouses in Korea,
mostly women, and they are estimated to have had around 200,000
children. The ministry expects 1 million people will have multiracial
families by 2020.</span><br><br><span>The government began to offer
support programs for them in 2006 when the flow of marriage migrants
reached its peak, with bachelors in rural areas looking for wives from
other Asian countries.</span><br><br><span>The growing trend had various
downsides, such as family conflicts arising from the foreign spouses'
difficulties adapting to a new culture and relationship.</span><br><br><span>The
government began offering help to marriage migrants through 217
multicultural family support centers. The centers have proven effective,
helping reduce such conflicts.</span><br><br><span>Marking the 10th
anniversary of the government's policy for multiracial families this
year, Kim said the future policy focus for the next 10 years will be on
children, especially those who join their parent in Korea later after
the parent married a Korean citizen.</span><br><br><span>"These children
are more vulnerable to identity crises, and it's very critical to help
them grow without major trouble," she said.</span><br><br><span>One of
the support programs is the Rainbow School, with 17 branches around the
country offering information about Korea, Korean language education and
academic assistance to new arrivals.</span><br><br><span>The ministry
also runs a multi-language program, aiming at increasing fluency of
multiracial children in Korean and the language of the immigrant parent.
"We hope these children will be a bridge between Korea and the country
of their parent," the minister said.</span><br><br><span>Some 6,800
children have participated in the multi-language program, and the
government will make a database of the participants' profiles to support
their further academic and job careers.<br><br><a href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/11/116_191822.html">http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/11/116_191822.html</a><br></span></div></span></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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