Write a Commentary on Articles about Korea’s Migrant Assignment | Online Assignment

Write a short commentary on the provided articles. **Do not summarize the article; just give the reference. Move directly to identifying the key issues you want to raise** Here are some guidelines. • State your informed opinions about the clarity, relevancy, and accuracy of the article, using specific examples from the article to support your statements. which part do you agree/disagree with the author. • Find main arguments then explain how the key point ideas / arguments have been constructed. • Discusses and evaluates the strengths, weaknesses and important features of the article. • Base your discussion on a specific criteria. • it is better to include a paragraph of positive aspects and another of negative ones. • If your critique is more positive than negative, then sequence the negative points first and the positive last. • If your critique is more negative than positive, then sequence the positive points first and the negative last. • State your informed opinions about the clarity, relevancy, and accuracy of the article, using specific examples from the article to support your statements

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Son, S.A. orcid.org/0000-0002-3045-7939 (2019) National identity and social integration in
international marriages between anglophone women and Korean men. Asian Survey, 59
(4). pp. 630-652. ISSN 0004-4687
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SARAH A. SON
National Identity and Social Integration in
International Marriages between Anglophone
Women and Korean Men
When Love and Culture Clash
ABSTRACT
This article investigates the capacity and willingness of women from Englishspeaking
countries, married to Korean men, to integrate into South Korean society,
via examination of the expression of national identity in everyday life and the negotiation
of relationships across socio-cultural boundaries.
KEYWORDS: Korea, marriage migrants, national identity, integration,
multiculturalism
INTRODUCTION
This article explores the social integration of ethnically non-Asian women
from Anglophone (English-speaking) countries, married to Korean men and
living in South Korea. The study of female marriage migration to Korea has
grown in response to rising numbers of women, primarily of Southeast Asian,
Chinese, or Japanese origin, marrying South Korean men. In this research,
the diversity in the population of foreign wives overall is often overlooked,
and the much smaller population of ethnically non-Asian women from
Anglophone “Western” countries remains unexamined.1 However, the ethnic,
socio-cultural, and economic differences between women who have
come from other parts of Asia and those from Anglophone countries raise
SARAH A. SON is a Lecturer in the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.
She wishes to thank Gi-Wook Shin, Rennie Moon, the KORET workshop participants, and anonymous
reviewers for their assistance in preparing this article. Email: <sarah.a.son@gmail.com>.
1. Keuntae Kim, “Cross-Border Marriages in South Korea and the Challenges of Rising Multiculturalism,”
International Migration 55:3 (June 2017): 74–88.
Asian Survey, Vol. 59, Number 4, pp. 630–652. ISSN0004-4687, electronic ISSN1533-838X. 2019 by
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission
to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Reprints and
Permissions web page, https://www.ucpress.edu/journals/reprints-permissions. DOI: https://doi.org/
10.1525/AS.2019.59.4.630.
630
important questions about the relevance for this group of South Korea’s
policy efforts to support the integration of female marriage migrants. This
article thus investigates the integration of Western, native-English-speaking
female marriage migrants, taking as its focus their personal identification with
Korea and its people, in recognition of the salience of identity in facilitating
a sense of social inclusion or exclusion.
In the research on female marriage migrants to Korea, some attention has
been given to the agency of individual marriage migrants and their lived
experiences of exclusion or inclusion in relation to the host society.2 However,
multicultural perspectives have tended not to consider a sufficiently wide
range of variables influential in integration outcomes. There are a variety of
lenses through which migrant social integration might be analyzed, across
different disciplines. However, this study focuses on social collective identification,
particularly that associated with national culture, as informing the
terms of belonging and influencing migrant integration. This research is
modeled in part on a similar study on Anglophone marriage migrants in
southern Europe by Isaakyan and Triandafyllidou, which looked at the impact
of what the authors termed “expatriate nationalism” on migrant integration.3
Through analysis of 25 face-to-face and telephone interviews conducted in
Seoul in 2017, this study addresses the self-described processes of identification
manifest in the everyday interactions of Anglophone women with Koreans. It
then draws links between these identification processes and the women’s
perceptions of the degree to which they feel integrated into Korean society.
This article begins by examining the literature on foreign brides and
multiculturalism in South Korea, emphasizing the distinct characteristics of
Anglophone women. I then discuss the links between identity and integration,
particularly when identity is framed according to nationally derived
cultural parameters. I analyze the social identification practices of Anglophone
marriage migrant women, as manifest in their self-described relationships
and interactions with their husbands, extended Korean family, and
wider social circle. The analysis unpacks the tendency to frame social
2. Hyunjoo Jung, “Constructing Scales and Renegotiating Identities: Women Marriage Migrants
in South Korea,” Asia and Pacific Migration Journal 21:2 (2012): 193–215; Caren Freeman,
Making and Faking Kinship (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011).
3. Irina Isaakyan and Anna Triandafyllidou, “Anglophone Marriage-Migrants in Southern
Europe: A Study of Expat Nationalism and Integration Dynamics,” International Review of Sociology
24:3 (September 2014): 374–90.
SON / IDENTITY AND INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGES IN KOREA 631
difference in “national” terms, and considers how certain types of identification
may act as either a barrier or a conduit to social integration. I further
highlight the areas where multiculturalism policy has failed to engage this
group, in ways that differ from the experiences of Asian marriage migrants.
This failure can result in Anglophone women living their lives as “eternal”
expatriates, living somewhat apart from regular society.4
MARRIAGE MIGRANTS IN SOUTH KOREA
Marriage migration to South Korea, particularly that of female marriage
migrants, is a relatively recent phenomenon. Prior to 1990, most international
marriages were between Korean women and foreign men, who were
predominantly US or Japanese citizens. But in the 1990s, a significant shift in
both the patterns and reception of international marriages began to emerge.
The normalization of relations between South Korea and China, as well as
a series of other South Korean citizenship and labor policy changes, led to an
increase in marriages with female foreigners from China (many of whom are
ethnically Korean) and Southeast Asian countries.5 In 2015, of 14,677 marriages
between foreign women and Korean men, 12,299 were with women
from (in order of volume) Vietnam, China (including Chinese-Koreans),6
Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Cambodia, while just 577 were with
women from the United States.7 A common explanation for this trend
toward Southeast Asian brides in particular has been an increase in matchmaking
services to find brides from other Asian origins for certain groups of
South Korean bachelors where there is a shortage of marriageable women.8
4. The study is limited to women of Anglophone-country origin, to document the experiences
of this specific group, as distinct from women from countries such as Russia or parts of Europe who
may self-identify as Western, but who research has shown can differ in their expectations and modes
of integration from women from Anglophone countries (Isaakyan and Triandafyllidou,
“Anglophone Marriage-Migrants”). Ethnic-Korean women born and/or raised in Anglophone countries
were also excluded.
5. Timothy Lim, “Rethinking Belongingness in Korea: Transnational Migration, ‘Migrant
Marriages’ and the Politics of Multiculturalism,” Pacific Affairs 83:1 (2010): 64–65.
6. “Chinese-Koreans” (Chosonjok) refers to ethnic Koreans with Chinese citizenship.
7. Many of those women with US passports are of ethnic-Korean origin, which arguably presents
different social dynamics. Government of the Republic of Korea, Statistics Korea, “Foreigners with
Korean Ancestry,” 2017, <http://www.index.go.kr/potal/main/EachDtlPageDetail.do?idx_cd¼2821>,
accessed April 12, 2019.
8. Lim, “Rethinking Belongingness in Korea”: 66.
632 ASIAN SURVEY 59:4
This has led to a popular view of these women as “mail-order brides” and
subjects of a “transaction” that is part of a national project to maintain
marriage and fertility rates.9 The same label cannot be applied to nonethnic-
Asian Anglophone women, who are a more recent group of marriage
migrant arrivals, having sometimes met their husbands in their home countries,
but more often while working as expatriates in South Korea, before they
married for love.
Anglophone female marriage migrants to Korea tend to be well-educated,
active participants in an increasingly mobile world, engaged in more permanent,
international lives abroad via marriage. They have access to
employment (many are English teachers),10 online and offline social groups,
and a range of services designed to assist with daily life in Korea. They are
also able to travel to their home countries regularly. Their Korean husbands
usually speak English with some competence (if not fluency), and many of
those husbands have firsthand experience of life and cultural norms outside
Korea.11 By virtue of their economic position, education, and cultural
background, Western women do not fit the common description of Asian
female marriage migrants as representative of hypergamy (marrying a partner
of higher social status). Instead, they bring greater perceived socioeconomic
equality to the relationship.12 Racial hierarchy and stereotypes
present in Korea also create a distinction in the experience of the Anglophone
migrants sampled for this study, who were all Caucasian but one.13
Furthermore, the cultural elevation of English as a world language and
a status symbol in Korea grants native speakers a higher position than
9. Eun Mee Kim et al., South Korea Advances toward a Multicultural Society (Paju: Nanam,
2012): 95.
10. Immigrant spouses from Anglophone countries are more often in white-collar, skilled jobs,
compared to those from Southeast Asia. (Government of the Republic of Korea, Ministry of Gender
Equality and Families, “2015 Statistical Data of Multicultural Families,” <http://www.mogef.go.kr/
mp/pcd/mp_pcd_s001d.do;jsessionid¼YLSEhMnQ1BRSKGzhxx48Eins.mogef10?mid¼plc503&
bbtSn¼63>, accessed April 12, 2019). In the eligibility survey for this research, 84% of the women
were employed or in higher education, and of those employed, 81% were working in the education
industry.
11. Korean government statistics report that Koreans married to immigrants from Anglophone
countries are much more likely to be able to speak their spouse’s mother tongue (English) than those
married to non-English-speakers (“2015 Statistical Data of Multicultural Families”).
12. Young Jeong Kim, “‘Daughters-in-Law of Korea?’ Policies and Discourse on Migration in
South Korea,” Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, University of Oxford, 2011.
13. The call for participants was open to women of all ethnic groups other than ethnic Koreans;
however, only one non-Caucasian response was received.
SON / IDENTITY AND INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGES IN KOREA 633
migrants from non-English-speaking countries in many social and professional
settings.14 These women thus have a more privileged status than
many other marriage migrants.
Scholarship on migrant wives has noted the South Korean state’s tendency
to seek to assimilate female marriage migrants; however, such policies have
tended to be tailored to the larger population of women of other Asian
origin.15 One way the state has sought to do this is by constructing these
migrants as “biological and cultural reproducers of ‘Koreans’,” while paradoxically
“relegating [them] as gendered dependents and ethnic others.”16
Karen Kim describes the tendency for the wife to be pushed toward assimilation
into Korean society in ways that meet Korea’s traditions.17 Studies in
psychology and sociology have described how Southeast Asian wives of
Korean men are expected to take on relatively traditional roles in the home,
learning the Korean language and traditional cuisine and providing care for
in-laws, while dealing with their own homesickness and loneliness.18 The
state- and society-led expectations imposed on these women has been found
to be out of step with established definitions of what constitutes multicultural
integration policy in other countries.19 However, as will be seen, Western
wives have tended to resist such policy provisions, exercising greater agency in
their participation in social life and carving out a more culturally autonomous
existence.
14. Government statistics state that couples including an Anglophone spouse reported
speaking to their children in the foreign spouse’s native language (English) far more than did
couples with a foreign spouse of other origin. There was also a reported tendency for the Korean
partner to encourage the Anglophone spouse to speak to the children in English in more cases than
occurs when the foreign spouse is non-Anglophone (“2015 Statistical Data of Multicultural
Families”).
15. Dong Hoon Seol and John D. Skrentny, “Why Is There So LittleMigrant Settlement in East
Asia?” International Migration Review 43:3 (2009): 578–620; Dong Hoon Seol and John D. Skrentny,
“Ethnic Return Migration and Hierarchical Nationhood,” Ethnicities 9:2 (2009): 147–74.
16. Minjeong Kim, “Citizenship Projects for Marriage Migrants in South Korea: Intersecting
Motherhood with Ethnicity and Class,” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and
Society 20:4 (2013): 455.
17. Karen L. Kim, “Korea and the Gender Construction of Female Marriage Immigrants,”
Pastoral Psychology 66:13 (2017).
18. Kim et al., South Korea Advances; Won Hee Jun, Sung Sil Hong, and Soo Yang, “Effects of
a Psychological Adaptation Improvement Program for International Marriage Migrant Women in
South Korea,” Asian Nursing Research 8:3 (September 2014): 232–38.
19. Dong Hoon Seol, “Which Multiculturalism?Discourse of the Incorporation of Immigrants
into Korean Society,” Korea Observer 41:4 (2010): 593–614.
634 ASIAN SURVEY 59:4
IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION AND BELONGING
In the scholarship on marriage migration to Korea, the social identification
practices of incoming migrants as they relate to their integration are less
often studied, despite such knowledge being useful to understanding the
agency of migrants in facilitating their integration. Also less studied is the
way identity may be activated and influenced by relationships with Korean
family and friends. While some scholars argue that integration hinges on
the interactions between immigrant communities and government institutions,
20 the identity-driven actions of immigrants and their collective communities
are not without important social consequences, warranting
investigation into the extent to which migrants exercise their cultural identities
in daily life.21
Key questions this article must therefore address center around the nature
of immigrant integration and the role of identity—particularly that linked to
key markers of “national difference”—which can result in the formation of
boundaries between the immigrant and the host culture. The construction
of in-group/out-group dynamics is discussed in social identity theory, which
has been widely employed in migration research to explain why identity
matters in cross-cultural settings. Social identity theory describes the process
of developing conceptions of the Self and Others, to distinguish the identity
features of a collective from other collectives. It is argued that individuals
and groups find a sense of safety and security with the familiar by gravitating
to an “in-group” while excluding Others.22 Social identity theory holds that
individuals pursue inclusion in a group to enhance their self-esteem, identity,
and sense of security. People value their culture, for example, because it
helps sustain their group, with “groupness” serving basic cognitive and
emotional needs.23
Applying theories of in-group/out-group identification to their research
in Europe, Isaakyan and Triandafyllidou reveal the challenges inherent in
cross-cultural marriages where the foreign wife lives in her husband’s native
20. Jacqueline Hagan, “Negotiating Social Membership in the Contemporary World,” Social
Forces 85:2 (2006): 634.
21. David McCrone and Frank Bechhofer, “National Identity and Social Inclusion,” Ethnic and
Racial Studies 31:7 (October 2008): 1262.
22. Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity (New York: Polity Press, 1991).
23. Tobias Theiler, “Societal Security and Social Psychology,” Review of International Studies 29
(2003): 249–68.
SON / IDENTITY AND INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGES IN KOREA 635
country, and the social impact of the attempts by Anglophone women to feel
at home. The authors situate their analysis largely in the contestation of
identity framed in terms of “nation” and “culture,” in recognition of the
tendency in cross-cultural marriages to “nationalize” differences in the process
of accepting or rejecting the attitudes and behaviors of the host culture.
Isaakyan and Triandafyllidou draw on Billig’s work on “banal nationalism,”
a term he uses to describe the significance of everyday habits of social life,
including in private spaces, in the reproduction and maintenance of national
identity.24 In the context of cross-cultural families, women play a particularly
important role in the reproduction of identity at this often unseen, domestic
level, by passing down traditions, songs, foods, and other domestic symbols,
shaping the narrative of belonging to the common origin, and helping
children grow into the social world.25 Cross-border marriage thus provides
a fascinating site in which to view identity contestation at the everyday level,
as the “imported” partner both exercises her personal identity, derived from
her own national culture, and engages with or resists a sense of identification
with the host nation.
As described by Berry, integration occurs on two principal levels, the
psychological and the cultural. While at the psychological level integration
is marked by maximal learning of the new and minimal forgetting of the old,
on the cultural level it is represented by the acceptance of the value of
diversity by all those cultural groups in a society.26 Assimilation, by contrast,
focuses on maximal learning by non-dominant individuals, along with limited
tolerance of diversity, which can result in a lack of equity among all
social groups.27 It follows that when performed in a multicultural society,
integration should ensure the security of individual and collective identity by
involving social change to meet the needs of all the groups living together in
that society.28 In practice, however, immigrant integration is a complicated
24. Michael Billig, Banal Nationalism (London: Sage, 1995).
25. Isaakyan and Triandafyllidou, “Anglophone Marriage-Migrants”: 377; Lucy Williams, Global
Marriage: Cross-Border Marriage Migration in Global Context (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan,
2010): 54.
26. John W. Berry, “Integration and Multiculturalism: Ways towards Social Solidarity,” Papers
on Social Representations 20 (2011): 2.14–2.16.
27. Ibid.: 2.15–2.16.
28. Ibid.; Richard D. Alba and Victor Nee, Rethinking the American Mainstream: Assimilation
and the New Immigration (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003).
636 ASIAN SURVEY 59:4
process. Stigmatization and ostracism may result where the host society
perceives immigrants as not sufficiently committed to assimilation. In
response, when immigrants feel marginalized, they may withdraw from
mainstream society.29
In the study of immigrant integration, parameters of the “national” are
thus important, as it is primarily these parameters that define “diversity,” and
impact a sense of belonging. Isaakyan and Triandafyllidou emphasize culture
(principally national culture) as a primary site of in-group/out-group dynamics.
These concepts provide a helpful lens through which to view the everyday
practice of national culture in cross-cultural marriages, and its implications
for social integration from the perspective of the migrant. The primary
questions this article will therefore address are (1) how the parameters of
national identity of the nation of origin are reinforced by Anglophone wives;
(2) how the host nation is positioned as an Other in relation to the migrant
Self; and (3) how these forms of identification shape the woman’s social world
and her self-described ability to achieve integration in Korean society. In
focusing on Anglophone wives in Korea, this article engages with a population
which has been largely overlooked in the literature, but which warrants
attention, not least because of the contrast it provides to the muchresearched
population of Asian marriage migrant women.
DATA AND METHODS
This study involved narrative biographic interviews with 25 women from
English-speaking, Western countries, including the United States, Australia,
Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa.30 All the women are or
have been in marriages with Korean men and currently live in South Korea
(all names are pseudonyms). The sample was selected by posting a request for
participants to a private Facebook group for self-identified “Western women
29. Rahsaan Maxwell, “Occupations, National Identity, and Immigrant Integration,” Compar-
ative Political Studies 50:2 (February 1, 2017): 233.
30. According to Korean government statistics, the resident population of female spouses from the
US, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the UK totaled 832 in 2015. However, this
reflects passport country, and many of these women are ethnic Korean. Government of the Republic
of Korea, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, “Statistics on Foreign Residents by the Local Governments,”
2015, <http://kosis.kr/statHtml/statHtml.do?orgId¼110&tblId¼TX_11025_A010&vw_
cd¼MT_ETITLE&list_id¼A_7&scrId¼&seqNo¼&language¼en&obj_var_id¼&itm_id¼&
conn_path¼A6&path¼%252Feng%252Fsearch%252FsearchList.do>, accessed March 22, 2019.

RENNIE J. MOON
International Students as Skilled Labor Migrants
for Korean SMEs
ABSTRACT
This study examines international students in Korea as skilled labor migrants, specifically
for small and medium-sized enterprises. It suggests that strengthening the
study–work pathway as in other advanced countries represents a viable, futureoriented
strategy in addressing the complications associated with hiring foreigners
from abroad.
KEYWORDS: skilled labor migrants, Korea, small and medium-sized enterprises,
international students
INTRODUCTION
Scholars have pointed out that one of the enduring weaknesses of the Korean
economy has been the underdevelopment of the SME sector (small and
medium-sized enterprises).1 While the roots of this problem lie in the Korean
developmental model, which is based on the chaebol (large, family-owned
conglomerates) and the historically uneven relationship between them and
SMEs,2 SMEs also continue to lag behind in financial, strategic, operational,
and technological capabilities.3 Faced with a relatively small domestic market
but lacking knowledge of and basic capabilities to enter foreign markets, few
RENNIE J. MOON is Associate Professor at the Underwood International College at Yonsei University
in Incheon, South Korea. Email: <rennie.moon@yonsei.ac.kr>.
1. Michelle F. Hsieh, “Similar Opportunities, Different Responses: Explaining the Divergent
Patterns of Development between Taiwan and South Korea.” International Sociology 26:3 (2011):
364–91. As defined by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, SMEs are enterprises with less
than 500 employees.
2. Jung-en Woo, Race to the Swift: State and Finance in Korean Industrialization (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1991).
3. Joon Nak Choi, “Introduction,” in J. N. Choi, Y. S. Lee, and G. W. Shin (eds.), Beyond the
Miracle: Strategic, Policy and Social Innovations for a Post-Industrial Korea (Routledge, 2017).
Asian Survey, Vol. 59, Number 4, pp. 607–629. ISSN 0004-4687, electronic ISSN 1533-838X.© 2019 by
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission
to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Reprints and
Permissions web page, https://www.ucpress.edu/journals/reprints-permissions. DOI: https://doi.org/
10.1525/AS.2019.59.4.607.
607
have survived in global competition.4 In addition, the wage disparity between
small and large firms in Korea is among the widest in the world.5 And
unfortunately, state support for SMEs (such as export promotion policies
and the recent innovation-clustering initiatives), while substantial, has largely
failed to improve the economic standing of Korean SMEs both domestically
and globally.6
In particular, with the shrinking Korean working-age population, SMEs
in Korea are facing serious labor shortages, especially in skilled sectors.
While plenty of Koreans are willing to work in the country’s large firms,
such as Samsung and LG, few consider working in SMEs, given their
significantly lower wages and job security, less attractive working conditions,
and low status in Korean society. As a result, although SMEs account
for 99% of all firms in Korea, 88% of total employment, and 67% of skilled
labor employment, the skilled labor shortage in SMEs is seven times that of
large firms.7 Unable to satisfy their skilled labor needs with domestic talent,
SMEs have increasingly turned to workers from abroad. However, this
approach to recruiting skilled foreign talent has remained challenging
and inefficient, due to high costs as well as geographic, immigration, and
cultural barriers.
Such challenges have prompted both migration and education scholars to
consider international students as a key source of skilled migrant labor. This
sort of “educationally channeled skilled labor migration”8 is well documented
in Western, settler societies (such as the US, UK, and Australia), where international
education has been used as an important way to both attract and retain
foreign skilled workers in their host labor markets.9 With the increasing globalization
of higher education and student mobility, non-Western, non-settler
4. Inchul Kim and Youngmin Kim, “SME Productivity and Export Promotion Policies in
Korea,” in Choi, Lee, and Shin, eds., Beyond the Miracle.
5. I. Pirie, “Korea and the Global Economic Crisis,” Pacific Review 29:5 (2016): 671:92.
6. Michelle Hsieh, “South Korean SMEs and the Quest for an Innovation Economy,” in
Beyond the Miracle.
7. Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, “Survey of the Supply and Demand Conditions of
Industrial Technical Manpower,” 2016, <http://www.motie.go.kr/motiee/presse/press2/bbs/
bbsView.do?bbs_seq_n¼158870&bbs_cd_n¼81>, accessed May 18, 2019.
8. G. Liu-Farrer, “Educationally Channeled International Labor Mobility: Contemporary Student
Migration from China to Japan,” International Migration Review 43:1 (2009): 178–204.
9. Christopher Ziguras, “Recruiting International Students as Skilled Migrants: The Global
‘Skills Race’ as Viewed from Australia and Malaysia,” Globalisation, Societies and Education 4:1
(2006): 59–76.
608 ASIAN SURVEY 59:4
societies in Asia experiencing demographic crises and labor shortages have
also embraced international students as skilled labor migrants. Japan, for
instance, initiated policies in the late 2000s to attract more international
students, including measures to help integrate them professionally into Japanese
society.10 International students in Japan are filling occupational niches
in SMEs, the mainstay of the Japanese economy and where skilled labor
demand is the highest.11
Likewise, labor migration studies on Korea, while few, have begun to
consider the human capital value of international students as skilled labor
migrants. The studies suggest that international students should be considered
key actors not just in higher education but beyond their initial status as
students, as labor migrants integral to the growth and future of the Korean
economy. However, existing studies have either failed to differentiate
between company types (i.e., between SMEs and large firms) or have focused
on international students’ labor potential in large firms rather than SMEs—
a major shortcoming, given that SMEs form the backbone of the Korean
economy and are where skilled labor shortages are most acute.
This paper examines how international students constitute a promising
pool of skilled labor for Korea, specifically in SMEs. Contrary to conventional
views, a certain segment of international students, due to their specific
preferences, goals, and motivations, are in fact flexible or even prefer working
in SMEs. And the fact that international students reside in Korea makes it
much easier for resource-poor SMEs to locate, verify the capabilities of, and
recruit skilled labor, compared to the costs and risks associated with bringing
in workers from abroad. Furthermore, international students who have recognizable
Korean higher education credentials, speak both Korean and other
second and third foreign languages (often including English) fluently, and
understand both Korean and foreign markets, are seen as ideal agents by
Korean SMEs to help them expand their businesses overseas. Thus, this
segment of international students, often overlooked in previous studies on
higher education or skilled labor migration in Korea, represents a promising
pool of human capital for Korean SMEs. Based on these findings, I suggest
10. N. Oishi, “The Limits of Immigration Policies: The Challenges of Highly Skilled Migration
in Japan,” American Behavioral Scientist 56:8 (2012): 1080–1100.
11. G. Liu-Farrer, “Making Careers in the Occupational Niche: Chinese Students in Corporate
Japan’s Transnational Business,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 37:5 (2011): 785–803.
MOON / FOREIGN STUDENTS AS SME SKILLED LABOR IN KOREA 609
that migration policies in Korea should strengthen the study–work pathway,
as in other countries.
KOREA’S LABOR MIGRANTS: SKILLED AND UNSKILLED
Because the first major wave of foreigners into Korea from the late 1980s
onwards were unskilled migrant workers from China and Southeast Asia—
they have always been the largest migrant group—much of the literature on
labor migration in Korea continues to be focused on unskilled labor.12 Scholars
have considered the economic and social factors that led to the flow of
unskilled migrant workers into Korea, their contribution to the viability of
the Korean economy by filling low-paying “3D” (dirty, difficult, dangerous)
jobs that Koreans avoided, how government policies on unskilled labor
migration have evolved over time as a result, the plight and social perception
of migrant workers, civic activism around them, and how this particular
labor group continues to shape the public policy discourse on multiculturalism
in Korea.13
With Korea reaching the limits of export-oriented industrialization and
faced with slowing birth rates and a shrinking working-age population,
a growing body of academic and policy research has begun to consider the
increasingly important role of foreign skilled labor. Lee and Jun’s study, for
example, examined the factors in foreign skilled migrants’ decisions to extend
their stays in Korea.14 Choi conducted a survey of foreign skilled professionals
working in Korea and found that the most significant factors that influenced
their job satisfaction included support from Korean co-workers, income
12. Marriage migrants, while the second-largest migrant group, are recognized primarily for their
provision of reproductive labor rather than unskilled labor.
13. G. W. Shin, “Racist South Korea? Diverse but Not Tolerant of Diversity,” in Rotem Kowner
and Walter Demel (eds.), Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Western and Eastern Constructions
(Leiden: Brill, 2013): 369–89; A. E. Kim, “Global migration and South Korea: Foreign Workers,
Foreign Brides and the Making of a Multicultural Society,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 32:1 2009):
70–92; H. K. Lee, “Gender, Migration and Civil Activism in South Korea,” Asian and Pacific
Migration Journal 12:1-2 (2003): 127–53; S. Kim, “Racism in the Global Era: Analysis of Korean Media
Discourse around Migrants, 1990–2009,” Discourse & Society 23:6 (2012): 657–78; H. J. Kim, H. J.
Choi, K. W. Lee, and G. M. Li, “Acculturation Strategies Used by Unskilled Migrant Workers in
South Korea,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 41:9 (2017): 1691–1700.
14. Jusil Lee and Daesung Jun Jeon, “An Empirical Investigation of the Causal Relationship
among the Determinants of the Long-Term Stay of Foreign Professional Immigrants in Korea,”
Korean Policy Studies Journal 25:3 (2016): 409–28.
610 ASIAN SURVEY 59:4
satisfaction, opportunity for professional development, and satisfaction with
company benefits.15 Lee et al., in their quantitative study of 72 domestic
companies, found a positive relationship between the number of foreign
skilled professionals and organizational innovative performance.16 Jeon shows
that in contrast to foreign unskilled labor, the per capita contributions of
foreign skilled labor and value added are significant, arguing that government
policies should encourage the inflow of more foreign skilled workers.17
Some scholars, such as Lee, have called attention to the need to attract
foreign skilled labor to certain sectors of the Korean economy, such as the
finance sector.18
Few studies, however, have specifically examined the role of foreign skilled
labor in SMEs. Recent research on foreign skilled labor tends to focus on toptier
“global talent” or foreign skilled labor in Korea’s multinational corporations
such as Samsung and Hyundai.19 Alternatively, as in the literature
described above, most studies fail to make empirical or conceptual distinctions
between company types, that is, between foreign skilled labor in SMEs
and foreign skilled labor in large corporations. This is puzzling, since SMEs
provide most of the jobs for skilled labor but also suffer from the most serious
skilled labor shortages: in 2015, as noted, SMEs accounted for an estimated
67% of skilled labor employment, but skilled labor shortage rates for SMEs
were seven times as high as for large companies.20
With the rapid internationalization of the Korean higher education sector
and growing numbers of international students over the past two decades,
a small literature has recently begun to conceptualize international students as
skilled labor migrants. For example, Oh et al. used data on 380 international
students and 240 international student graduates on government scholarships
to investigate the various motivations and push-pull factors that encourage or
15. Yeon-Hee Choi, “Factors Affecting the Job Satisfaction of Foreign Talent Working in
Korean Companies,” Labor Studies 28 (2014): 133–65.
16. Jin Kyu Lee, Tai Gyu Kim, Hack Soo Kim, and Jun Ho Lee, “A Study on the Relationship
between Foreign Professionals and Organizational Innovative Performance and the Moderating Role
of Diversity-Friendly HRM,” Knowledge Management Studies 14:2 (2013): 137–54.
17. Seung-Hoon Jeon, “An Empirical Analysis on the Economic Impacts of Foreign Labor
Inflows in Korea,” Contemporary Society and Multiculture 3:1 (2013): 1–37.
18. Mi-Young Lee, “A Study on Current State of Brain Drain and Brain Gain Presented in the
Financial Field of Korea,” Business Education Journal 16 (2009): 67–86.
19. G. W. Shin and J. N. Choi, Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea (Stanford
University Press, 2015).
20. Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, “Survey of the Supply and Demand Conditions.”
MOON / FOREIGN STUDENTS AS SME SKILLED LABOR IN KOREA 611
deter international students from finding employment in Korea.21 Um et al.,
in their study of international students in science and engineering, underscore
not only attracting international students in this category of majors but
also the general lack of school–career pathways that are available to such
students.22 They suggest that policies to attract international students should
be more strategically aligned with the human resource needs of the labor
market, and they highlight the need for policies and programs that provide
better career support. Indeed, corroborating studies point to the mismatch
between the needs of the Korean economy and the supply of international
students and that while the initial desire to work in Korea is high among
international students, the number who successfully find employment is
small, by some estimates only 1% (see Shin, Choi, and Moon in this issue).23
Suh et al. point out that high-skilled labor policies should make better use of
the various linguistic and cultural advantages of international students, who
have spent considerable time in Korea compared to other foreigners.24 All
these studies attest to a growing recognition of international students as
skilled labor in Korea.
However, as in the literature on foreign skilled labor in Korea more
generally, studies on international students as skilled migrants rarely differentiate
between firm types, that is, between international students as skilled
labor in SMEs and international students as skilled labor in large firms,
reflecting an assumption that international students are a homogeneous
population with a preference for large firms. For example, Shin and Choi
examined international students in Korea, among other labor supply populations,
as potential skilled labor primarily for large firms, without much
21. Jung-Eun Oh, Chi-Young Koh, Kyung-Mi Kim, Sang-Wuk Ahn, Ji-eun Jang, and You
Kyung Han, “Long- and Short-term Strategies for Effective Utilization of Excellent Foreign
Students,” Report 2013–02, International Organization of Migration Research and Training Centre
Research, 2013.
22. Mi-Jung Um, Yoonji Lee, Dong Oh Park, and Dohoon Kim, “Research on Ways to Promote
the Recruitment of Foreign Graduate Students of Science and Engineering,” Report No. 25, Science
and Technology Policy Institute, 2012.
23. Gui-shik Min et al., “Policy Study for the Expansion of Recruitment and Support for Foreign
Students,” National Institute for International Education, Ministry of Education, Korea, 2014,
<http://www.prism.go.kr/homepage/many/retrieveManyDetail.do;jsessionid¼%EA%B5%AD
.node02?research_id¼1342000-201400072>, accessed May 18, 2019.
24. Young In Suh, Miran Kim, Eun Young Kim, Jae Eun Chae, and Yoon Na Kyung, “A Study
on Managing Foreign Students in Universities and Finding a Plan to Strengthen Support Systems,”
Research Report RR 2012–15, Korean Educational Development Institute, 2012.
612 ASIAN SURVEY 59:4
consideration of SMEs. The latter are most in need of foreign skilled labor
but have significantly fewer resources than large firms to recruit foreign
skilled labor internationally, and thus in a sense have more to gain from
recruiting international students already residing in Korea. As a result, that
study limited its scope to “global talent,” that is, international students
attending top-tier universities in Korea, or those students intending to and
more likely to find jobs in large firms. It thereby disregarded intra-group
variation among international students and their possibly varied characteristics,
motivations, and preferred career pathways.25 To address these limitations
in the literature, this study asks the following research questions:
How might international students in Korea be a potential pool of skilled
labor for SMEs? Do all international students prefer to work in large firms?
And is there an occupational niche for international students in SMEs
versus large firms?
DATA AND METHODS
I draw from various sources, including policy reports and studies published
by Korean government ministries. To illustrate some of the points regarding
international students and their job preferences, I also use interview data
from international students studying in Korea, initially collected as part of
a larger project on global talent.26
Based on these data, the following sections provide background on the
labor needs of SMEs in Korea; demonstrate why SMEs need foreign skilled
labor in particular; describe how Korea thus far has addressed this need
through foreign skilled labor and related policies; and make the argument
that international students should be given more serious attention as skilled
migrants, especially in SMEs. A concluding section discusses future research
and policy directions.
BACKGROUND: SMES AND FOREIGN SKILLED LABOR
While SMEs have more or less satisfied their unskilled labor needs with foreign
migrant labor, they are still far from meeting their skilled labor needs. In fact,
25. Shin and Choi, Global Talent.
26. See Shin and Choi’s Global Talent for details of the data and sampling used. Interview data
from this project were used with permission from the authors.
MOON / FOREIGN STUDENTS AS SME SKILLED LABOR IN KOREA 613
SMEs face far more serious skilled labor shortages than large companies in
Korea. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2016 surveyed 11,918
businesses (out of 98,715 businesses with more than 10 employees nationally)
to identify skilled labor supply and demand patterns.27 The report referred to
skilled labor as “industrial technical manpower,” defined as “a person with at
least a high school diploma who works in a company in R&D, as a technician,
as a manager of production or information and communications technology–
related tasks, or as an executive.” The survey (conducted from July to October)
showed total industrial technical manpower of 1,594,398 persons (35.5% of
total workers), with a labor shortage of 37,000 persons. The largest increases in
labor shortage rates were in bio-health, software, and other new industries.
When divided into three categories, most industrial technical workers
(42.9%) were employed in large companies (more than 500 employees),
followed by medium-sized companies (300 to 500 employees, 34.2%) and
small companies (less than 300 employees, 33.3%).
The most commonly cited reasons for the labor shortage rates were “lack
of persons with qualifications to perform duties/who are a right fit for the
working situation” (34.6%), “frequent changing of jobs or resignation by
employees” (28%), “changes in labor demands due to economic cycles”
(13%), “increasing labor demand due to business expansion” (9.5%), “lack
of supply of persons with majors or experience for the job” (7.7%), and
“many instances of scouting of the needed human resources by large companies
or competitors” (3.4%).
Increasing labor shortage rates were seen at all education levels except high
school, with the highest rates for those with college and advanced degrees. For
example, in 2012, the labor shortage rate for graduate degree holders was
1.6%, but in 2015, it had jumped to 2.4%. The occupational area most lacking
in skilled manpower was “R&D and specialists” (labor shortage rate of 2.3%).
In addition, the report revealed that companies were not able to fill 10.9%
(150,000) of the positions they had attempted to fill. Sixteen percent of these
were non-entry-level jobs, almost three times the rate for entry-level jobs
(5.8%). Unfilled jobs were highest in the electronics (12.5%) and mechanical
(11.6%) sectors, followed by software (9.7%), automotive (9.7%), and chemical
(6.5%). The rate of unfilled jobs in SMEs (11.5%) was about twice that
of large companies (5.8%), although headhunting and hiring in SMEs
27. Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, “Survey of the Supply and Demand Conditions.”
614 ASIAN SURVEY 59:4
accounted for as much as 89% of hiring activity among all companies. The
percentage of unfilled jobs in large, medium-sized, and small companies was
5.8%, 6.2%, and 11.8%, respectively: the smaller the company, the greater the
percentage of vacant jobs.
Reasons companies gave for not being able to fill jobs included “no people
with the skills and experience to start the job right away” (24.7%), “terms of
payment did not meet expectations of the job seeker” (21.3%), “not enough
people with education and qualifications to perform necessary tasks” (18.3%),
“low number of applicants for the relevant occupation” (10.1%), “it’s an
occupation that job seekers avoid” (9.9%), “fierce competition with other
companies to attract workers” (8%), and “poor working conditions and
environment” (5.3%).
To address these labor shortages, Korea has turned to recruiting foreign
skilled workers, although so far without much success. A synthesis report
released by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance in April 2017 involving the
relevant ministries showed that although the absolute number of foreigners
residing in Korea has increased substantially and continuously (from
1,400,000 in 2011 to 2,050,000 in 2016), the number of skilled foreigners
has stagnated since 2012. In 2016, there were only an estimated 48,000 skilled
foreigners, compared to 50,000 in 2013.28 Moreover, since most of the skilled
foreigners are language instructors (15,594, or 32%) or cooks, only about 12%
are actually “skilled” in the sense that they could fill the high-skilled labor
shortages in the Korean economy. To make matters worse, as many as half of
skilled foreigners stay in Korea for less than three years, and only 6% stay for
10 years or more. This stems from both work and non-work factors, including
perceptions of a glass ceiling, concerns regarding job tenure, language and
cultural barriers, and the perception of a general lack of tolerance and acceptance
of foreigners by Korean society.29
WHY KOREA’S SMES NEED FOREIGN SKILLED LABOR
Many Korean companies, large and small, need foreign skilled labor, but
there are a number of interrelated reasons that are specific to the SMEs. First,
28. The Korean government classifies those individuals with work visas from E1 to E7 as skilled
labor.
29. Ministry of Strategy and Finance, “Plan for Attracting Foreign Skilled Labor,” 2017; Lee and
Jeon, “Empirical Investigation”; Shin and Choi, Global Talent.
MOON / FOREIGN STUDENTS AS SME SKILLED LABOR IN KOREA 615
despite high youth unemployment in Korea over the past decade,30 native
Koreans generally prefer to work only in the large firms, as demonstrated by
the wide gap in labor shortage rates between large firms and SMEs described
in the previous section. This suggests that the coming demographic decline in
the labor pool and the smaller number of Koreans seeking jobs will hit SMEs,
not the larger firms. The large firms will have no problems hiring, while the
SMEs will face increasing shortfalls. HR managers at SMEs often mention
how difficult it is to hire local Koreans with advanced degrees like a master’s
or Ph.D., and worry about their firms’ ability to lure new people regardless of
native/foreigner status.
A software company: We hope that talented people with solid skills will come
join us, but since we are a small company, the local Koreans who tend to apply
are those with low-level skills, educated through short-term courses at private
academies or cyber-universities.31 Good, talented Koreans don’t consider
applying to a small firm like ours. Young people don’t apply. People with
experience want to go to the large companies. It doesn’t matter to us who we
hire, Korean or non-Korean, but our dilemma is that people with top-level
skills simply don’t apply in the first place.32
Firm-size wage differentials are a key factor in why natives shun SMEs, as
shown in a 2017 report by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and
30. Youth unemployment in Korea has risen over the past decade, to a record high of 12.5% in
February 2017. This is in contrast to neighboring countries such as Japan, where youth unemployment
has consistently decreased over the past decade and has stabilized at a rate about half that of
Korea’s (5.1% in September 2017, versus 9.4% in Korea). Trading Economics, “South Korea Youth
Unemployment Rate,” 2017, <https://tradingeconomics.com/south-korea/youth-unemploymentrate>,
“Japan Youth Unemployment Rate,” 2017, <https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/youthunemployment-
rate>, accessed May 19, 2019.
31. A common practice among native Koreans is to apply for jobs in SMEs using licenses earned
from taking short-term courses at private academies. Compared to such applicants, HR managers
have recognized that foreign applicants who have been educated over long periods of time have
a much stronger foundation in the basics, so their task understanding is much better.
32. Song Dong Park, “Foreign Skilled Labor, Foreign Student Policy Improvement Plan,”
ResearchA Plus, 2017: 129, <http://www.prism.go.kr/homepage/entire/retrieveEntireDetail.do?
pageIndex¼1&research_id¼ 1092000-201700007&leftMenuLevel¼160&cond_research_
name¼%EC%99%B8%EA%B5%AD%EC%9D%B8þ%EC%A0%84%EB%AC%B8%EC%
9D%B8%EB%A0%A5&cond_research_start_date¼&cond_research_end_date¼&pageUnit¼10&
cond_order¼3>. All quotations from this source were originally in Korean. They have been translated
into English by the author, and are used here with permission.
616 ASIAN SURVEY 59:4
Trade.33 Although since 2008, hourly wages for SMEs have increased at a yearly
average rate of 4.2%, slightly better than large companies (3.9%), wages across
all industrial sectors in SMEs in 2016 were only 59.6% of those in large
companies, and the gap has been widening since the early 2000s. Wages in
SMEs fell from 65.8% of the average large-company salary in 2003, to 64.8% in
2007, 62% in 2015, and 61.6% in 2016.34 In the manufacturing sector, wages
in SMEs were as low as 51.5% relative to large companies. The smaller the
company, the larger the income disparity. For companies with 5–9 employees,
10–29 employees, 30–99 employees, and 100–299 employees, wages were
49.5%, 58.4%, 63.5%, and 68.6%, respectively, relative to large companies
(defined in this report as having more than 300 employees). Regular employees
at SMEs make even less than temporary employees at large firms (52.7% versus
62.7%, respectively, of regular wages at large firms, as of 2016).35
Contributing to this wage disparity is the fact that 94.9% of irregular,
fixed-term workers are employed in SMEs, with the percentage of irregular
workers in SMEs (35.6%) being much higher than that in large companies
(13.6%). Furthermore, the wages of irregular workers in SMEs were only
59.7% that of irregular workers in large companies. This is in stark contrast
to Japan. According to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, wages
for small firms (10–99 employees) and medium-sized firms (100–999 employees)
in the last 15 years have been as high as 75% and 83%, respectively, of
wages in large firms (more than 1,000 employees).36 In Korea, low wages and
temporary employment also tend to be accompanied by poor working conditions,
low social status, and meager job benefits.37 Given these circumstances,
hiring foreigners with the right skills and education but who are
also willing to work for less than native Koreans earn is an important option
33. Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, “An Analysis and Implications of the
Income Disparity between SMEs and Large Companies,” Industrial and Economic Issues Report
No. 28, 2017.
34. “Wage Gap Widening between SMEs, Large Firms,” Korea Herald, August 31, 2016, <http://
www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud¼20160831000559>.
35. Won Suk Jang, “While Full-Time Employees at Large Firms Earn KRW 1 Million, Temporary
Employees at Small Firms Earn KRW 370,000,” Joong Ang Ilbo, May 26, 2017, <http://news
.joins.com/article/21609806>.
36. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, “Summary Report of Basic Survey on Wage
Structure (Nationwide),” 2017, <http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-l/schedule_releases
.html>, accessed May 19, 2019.
37. Koogin Bae, “Militant Labor Unions in Large Firms Are the Culprit,” Donga Ilbo, June 7,
2017, <http://news.donga.com/Main/3/all/20170607/84745053/1>.
MOON / FOREIGN STUDENTS AS SME SKILLED LABOR IN KOREA 617
for SMEs. A biotech startup said, “We have on board a young Chinese
engineer with a Ph.D. from China. Considering his young age, he has an
excellent track record in terms of patents and publications. Hiring a native
Korean of similar caliber would require paying a salary beyond our means.”38
Also, foreign skilled professionals in certain sectors provide specific skills
that are scarce among the domestic labor force, and this scarcity is felt more
acutely by SMEs because local workers prefer working in large firms. Software
development firms, for example, have often described the mismatch
between the types of software engineers needed by SMEs and the types
available in Korea:
A software company: Korean IT is advanced, but too concentrated in certain
areas. It’s mostly dominated by Java developers. Our company in particular
makes online shopping malls for foreign countries, not Korea. We need developers
who can provide multilingual support and software solutions in
a foreign context. But developers that are commonly found elsewhere in other
countries are very scarce in Korea, especially in software development.39
An office automation company: Right now India is doing better than Korea.
Maybe Korea will be better if there’s an upgrade of technical skills, but for
now, there’s no other substitutable labor available [other than foreigners].40
A software company: We’re developing our own software, so we have about 80
people working in our software development department. Also, we needed
software experts who can handle Android, Linux, open source, so we hired
about six Indian researchers.41
A software development firm: We hired foreigners because we had trouble
finding an engineer with that level of skill among Koreans. If there were
Korean engineers with similar capabilities, we would have preferred hiring
Koreans.42
Foreigners with work experience at another company are especially preferred
because they can be deployed for work tasks right away without additional
education or training. A software company said, “Our Indian employees
generally have advanced degrees and more than five years of work experience,
38. Park, “Foreign Skilled Labor”: 105.
39. Park, “Foreign Skilled Labor”: 109.
40. Park, “Foreign Skilled Labor”: 130.
41. Park, “Foreign Skilled Labor”: 120.
42. Park, “Foreign Skilled Labor”: 130.
618 ASIAN SURVEY 59:4
mostly from Samsung electronics. We bring in folks we can use and put to
work immediately.”43
In addition to providing skills that are scarce in the domestic workforce,
foreign skilled workers are valued for their ability to support operations that
involve exporting products or expanding overseas, as well as contributing to
technology transfer, which helps strengthen the skill capacities of native
Korean employees. While large firms can allocate substantial resources to
hiring foreign labor and can capitalize on their extensive experience working
with foreign markets, SMEs are at a disadvantage in both (as demonstrated in
the following sections). Also, SMEs looking to hire foreigners abroad often
face stiff competition from larger firms that hire foreigners on-site for their
subsidiaries. The chaebol have hired so many software engineers in Vietnam,
for example, that is has increased the cost of engineers in the overall market,
which in turn has discouraged and prevented SMEs from realistically running
effective subsidiaries in Vietnam.44 In other words, SMEs lack the option of
setting up subsidiaries in foreign countries and often find themselves stuck in
Korean locations. As a result, the linguistic and cross-cultural skills of foreigners
are that much more valuable and difficult to acquire for SMEs.
An e-commerce startup: For us there are two cases in which we simply cannot do
without foreigners. The first is when foreigners bring specialized technical
skills that cannot be substituted. The second is language and culture. For
example, if we wanted to do business with Azerbaijan, then we’d need a person
who speaks the language and understands the culture of Azerbaijan.45
HOW HAS KOREA ADDRESSED THE ISSUE OF RECRUITING
FOREIGN SKILLED LABOR?
SMEs have recruited foreigners mainly through job fairs, referrals by acquaintances,
on-site recruiting, private employment agencies, headhunters, and
KOTRA46—channels that mostly import foreign labor directly from abroad.
43. Park, “Foreign Skilled Labor”: 120.
44. Personal email communication with Prof. Joon Nak Choi, November 25, 2017.
45. Park, “Foreign Skilled Labor”: 108.
46. The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency is the state-funded trade and investment
promotion organization operated by the government of South Korea. In recent years, one of its roles
has been as an intermediary to help SMEs locate and hire foreigners.
MOON / FOREIGN STUDENTS AS SME SKILLED LABOR IN KOREA 619
Of these, there has been a tendency to prefer on-site recruiting, private
employment agencies, and referrals by acquaintances.47
One of the main challenges for these approaches has been cost. Because
foreigners are hired from abroad, the recruitment process takes much more
time and resources than hiring local Koreans. This can be particularly burdensome
for SMEs with poor resources. For example, travel and accommodation
expenses for employers to fly back and forth has become burdensome.
Hiring foreigners requires extra resources, and since many skilled foreigners
are recruited from developing countries, local mail systems are underdeveloped,
so it takes longer to verify academic credentials and receive recommendation
letters.
KCC Corporation, a medium-sized manufacturing firm: We don’t have anyone
residing in those countries we hire from, so the transportation and accommodation
costs are substantial. Then there are additional costs that vary with
different types of contracts and the demands of our potential hires. These
people have a lot of experience applying for jobs abroad, so they tend to
stipulate certain conditions, like family-related demands. When these demands
become too excessive, we simply can’t accommodate them.48
In a similar vein, the administrative costs and complications associated with
immigration procedures are particularly burdensome for SMEs since they
have significantly thinner resources as well as fewer employees. When entry
procedures are delayed, a common occurrence, employees may not arrive
when they are needed the most, or work may be begun on a temporary
short-term visa (such as C-1 visa) which later needs to be inconveniently
changed to a formal E-7 visa. Most visas expire after one year and require
the hassle of renewal and visa extension fees.
A mobile development and manufacturing company: Sometimes we really want
hires to start work right away and we wish the work entry and visa procedures
for foreigners could be simplified. There are times when the foreign hire comes
to Korea but the visa issuance is delayed. So it’s possible that that person might
change his mind. . . . And we’re not allowed to let anyone begin work before
the visa is issued. But they work anyway, since they’re already here.49
47. Park,