Why is There So Little Migrant Settlement in East Asia?

Abstract

Unlike states in Europe, East Asia settles very few migrants and has not developed a European‐style multicultural society. We seek to explain this variation using comparative analysis of two of the most advanced states in East Asia, South Korea and Japan, with several states in Europe. Focusing on family reunification – almost always the precursor to migrant settlement – we examine the effects of several independent variables, including supranational institutions, independent courts, interest groups, political culture, and the perceptions of migrants. We conclude that both Korea and Japan have less migrant settlement because of the lack of regional institutions pushing for family reunification rights, an elite political culture that still maintains the assumptions and repertoires of a “developmental state,” where rights may be sacrificed for economic growth and order, and migrant perceptions of greater immigration control in Asia.

Nemzetközi vándormozgalom és kezelése Dél-Koreában

“…Az igazi problémát éppen az okozta, hogy még a számtalan elvégzett kutatás is nehezen választotta szét a valós bántalmazásból származó szociális beilleszkedési és pszichés problémákat a bevándorlás és beilleszkedés nehézségeiből általánosan adódó negatív érzetektől (정남옥 -이명하 2010, Panuncio -Bae 2012: 63). Dél-Koreában nemzetiség szerint, 2002 A helyzet javítására a kormány 2006-tól egyre több támogató programot hirdetett meg a házasság céljából bevándorló nők számára, a multikulturális társadalommal kapcsolatos diskurzus is élénkebbé vált (Seol -Skrentny 2009b, Kim -Kang 2007, de leginkább azt a hatását érdemes kiemelni, amelynek kö-vetkeztében a bevándorlási politika egyre nagyobb hangsúlyt fektetett az integrációra. Ez utóbbinak ma is az egyik központi eleme a vegyes házasságokban élő külföldiek és gyermekeik beilleszkedése (Lee 2008).…”

Negotiating gender dynamics in heteronormativity: extramarital intimacy among migrant Filipino workers in South Korea

“…The global restructuring that incorporated Korea into the advanced capitalist economy led to rapid wage increases and severe labour shortages -mostly in small-and medium-sized manufacturing corporations -resulting in more and more foreign migrant workers coming into the country (Seol 1999, 93). The Korean government implemented the Employment Permit System in 2004 as an alternative to the Industrial and Technical Training Program (ITTP), which had caused unfavourable working conditions for trainees and an increase of undocumented migrants (Seol and Skrentny 2009). 2 Under this new scheme, more male migrants have been employed in industrial '3-D' work (dangerous, difficult and demeaning), who perform heavy physical labour (Lee 2008, 223).…”

Establishing Identity: Documents, Performance, and Biometric Information in Immigration Proceedings

“…Seol and Skrentny (2009) found no policies or politics of family‐based immigration in South Korea equivalent to those in North America and Europe, where the right to family reunification—supported by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the judiciary, and supranational bodies—became a conduit for the rise of the multicultural society. This article only partially agrees with this view.…”

“…Nevertheless, the complex moral terrain navigated by migrants to establish trust, maintain respectability, and resolve disputes may remain profoundly dissonant with the basic premises of bureaucratic justice and the vision of morality upheld in the immigration state. Seol and Skrentny (2009) found no policies or politics of family-based immigration in South Korea equivalent to those in North America and Europe, where the right to family reunification-supported by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the judiciary, and supranational bodies-became a conduit for the rise of the multicultural society. This article only partially agrees with this view.…”