In 2024, the proportion of foreigners in the country will exceed 5% of the population for the first time. Korea is considered a ‘multi-racial and multicultural’ country according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This is much faster than Japan, which accepted foreign workers first. Entering a ‘multiracial and multicultural country’ means that the country is changing into a country where at least 1 in 20 residents is a foreigner, second-generation immigrant, or naturalized person. Representative multiracial and multicultural countries include Australia and Canada.
We can already easily encounter ‘Korean foreigners’. You can meet Jonathan and his younger sister Patricia, who are called the Princes of the Congo and speak the rich Jeolla dialect, as well as Daniel from Germany, Alberto from Italy, and Julian from Belgium on various broadcasts. American Tyler's Korean skills are amazing. Last year, Chairman Ihn Yo-han served as the chairman of the People Power Party’s innovation committee. Chairman Ihn is a Korean who was born and raised in Korea and became a naturalized Korean. Foreigners who appeared on holiday special programs and entertained people with their proficient Korean language skills are no longer a ‘special feature’.
International marriage is no longer an unfamiliar sight. The story of a foreign wife marrying a rural bachelor is a thing of the past. One out of 10 married couples is a multicultural couple. Foreigners of various nationalities are having international marriages in Korea, moving away from international marriages centered on Southeast Asian nationalities. Videos showing the daily lives of such international couples abound on YouTube. As we enter a multiracial and multicultural country, the government is preparing to establish an ‘Immigration Office’ under the Ministry of Justice.
With the entry into a ‘multiracial and multicultural nation’, the myth of our society as a ‘single race’ (homogeneous) was broken. Only those who deny this reality have the same bloodline and speak the same language band together to exclude immigrants. The story of discrimination experienced by mixed-race singer Insooni (Cecilia) is a story of violence committed by our community based on the myth of a ‘single race’. In 2007, the term ‘single race’ was completely removed from textbooks. Teenagers, the future of our community, are already more familiar with ‘Korean foreigners’ than with ‘single ethnic groups.’
It must change now. We need to expand our community's neighbors further. Until now, the main framework of our country’s multicultural policy has been ‘assimilationism.’ Immigrants adapt to and change in our country’s culture. If life in ‘our country’ is uncomfortable, then ‘you’ should change and adapt. However, in the future, there must be a change to ‘coexistence’ where immigrants and Koreans exchange help with each other. Korea's unique culture and foreigners' unique culture must be respected.
Symbiosis, accepting foreigners as our neighbors, can prevent ‘xenophobia’. The abuse and hatred directed at McDonald’s model Jenny Park, using ‘women’ and ‘black people’ as links, is a litmus test for fascism in our community. Hatred is based on prejudice and fear, regardless of faction. Internet comments are filled with endless hatred and prejudice against weak countries.
More than anything, I am worried about religious hatred. The hatred of Muslims shown through the construction of the Daegu Islamic Mosque showed the scale of our society's heart. The appearance of some sects trying to use hatred of Muslims as well as hatred of homophobia as a driving force has made us know what kind of attitude we Catholics should have. As a global religion, Catholicism can do well in embracing foreigners. There is a need for pastoral care that takes careful consideration of foreigners, centered around the Migrant Pastoral Committee.
In hindsight, the Korean Catholic Church may already be living in a ‘multi-racial and multi-cultural’ world. In the word ‘Catholic’, we can read the church’s will to work together with others through tolerance and solidarity, not hatred and discrimination. The new year has arrived. In the new year, he prays that Catholicism will become the center of ‘multiracial and multiculturalism'.
