This briefing comes from Korea View, a weekly newsletter published by the Korea Economic Institute. Korea View aims to cover developments that reveal trends on the Korean Peninsula but receive little attention in the United States. If you would like to sign up, please find the online form here.

What Happened

• The Seoul government has decided to include foreigners in its disaster relief payout scheme linked to the COVID-19 outbreak.
• Under this program, the city will pay up to 500,000 won (USD 421) to households whose income is below the median income.
• In June, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea advised that Seoul not exclude foreign residents from the assistance program without a reasonable cause.

Implications: Seoul’s decision to distribute relief funds to foreign residents is primarily motivated by its desire to relieve the economic stress of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite previous calls for the equal treatment of foreigners under the cash payout program, the municipal government had largely left them out of consideration. However, now that South Korea faces a new spike in COVID-19 cases, authorities are seeking to help more households cope with the potential financial fallout from the virus. This indicates that the government is more concerned about keeping the country’s economy afloat than it is about discriminating against its foreign population.

Context: In March, the South Korean government granted coronavirus relief funds to 70% of the country’s households. This plan excluded a majority of foreigners from receiving the one-time cash support, with the exception of those who are married to Korean citizens or hold permanent residency visas. Foreigners and migrant workers living in South Korea were the first to be hit economically by COVID-19, as many of them fill jobs with poor working conditions in the manufacturing, agricultural, and fishing sectors.

Korea View was edited by Yong Kwon with the help of Sophie Joo, Sonia Kim, and Chris Lee.

From the flickr account of the Republic of Korea

This briefing comes from Korea View, a weekly newsletter published by the Korea Economic Institute. Korea View aims to cover developments that reveal trends on the Korean Peninsula but receive little attention in the United States. If you would like to sign up, please find the online form here.

What Happened

• On July 29, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announced that the government will “push for measures to lengthen the stay permits for foreign laborers” to combat worker shortages in agricultural areas.
• Many workers already in Korea are unable to return home due to Covid-19, and none of the 5,000 seasonal migrant workers that farms requested through a government program have been able to arrive.
• Simultaneously, South Korea is pushing ahead with changes to its long-term visa system that disadvantage low-income workers in favor of attracting a “superior pool of foreigners.”

Implications: When it comes to immigration, South Korea’s policymakers are advancing policies that do not reflect the new reality created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The current labor shortage on South Korean farms has laid bare the contradiction between South Korea’s changes to its long-term residency visa, which will go into effect on Dec. 1, and the reality of high demand for unskilled workers in industry and agriculture. Despite fierce competition from highly-educated Koreans for well-paid jobs in government and large corporations, the visa changes will make it easier for highly-paid professionals to stay in South Korea while making it harder for much-needed migrant laborers to continue to stay in the country. If a reassessment of this visa change does not occur, undocumented immigrants may continue to fill South Korea’s worker shortage.

Context: South Korean agriculture has long depended on migrant workers from other parts of Asia to fill the labor gap in the country’s aging countryside. The pandemic’s effect on the flow of seasonal migrants became clear earlier this year, but the situation has become more pressing as the harvest season approaches. Despite this long-standing labor shortage in both the agricultural and industrial sectors, the government’s changes to the points-based F-2-7 long-term residency visa make it much more difficult for foreigners without high-paying jobs or university degrees to stay in South Korea long term. This visa allows some immigrants to stay in South Korea for up to five years, but the duration of stay allowed depends on points awarded. Those with low incomes may receive F-2-7 visas that are valid for less than a year.

Korea View was edited by Yong Kwon with the help of James Constant and Sonia Kim.

Picture from Wikimedia Commons

This briefing comes from Korea View, a weekly newsletter published by the Korea Economic Institute. Korea View aims to cover developments that reveal trends on the Korean Peninsula but receive little attention in the United States. If you would like to sign up, please find the online form here.

What Happened

• Last week, South Korea began requiring incoming travelers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and the Philippines to submit negative coronavirus tests when picking up their plane tickets. Flights from those countries are also limited to 60 percent capacity.
• Coronavirus cases from overseas remain a persistent problem, with a four-month high of 43 cases reported on July 13. On the same day, U.S. Forces Korea reported 11 new coronavirus cases among American service members.
• Health officials attributed the rise in imported cases to Korean factories hiring foreign workers, but the city government of Pyeongtaek, home to the largest overseas U.S. military base, is calling for American soldiers to also be tested before arrival.

Implications: South Korea reveals its foreign policy preferences through its differentiated treatment of U.S. nationals compared to citizens of other countries in its ongoing effort to address the public health challenge. While American service members make up a substantial number of South Korea’s imported coronavirus cases, the South Korean government has not taken any actions to restrict their travel into the country. This contrasts the response in Okinawa where a rapidly growing outbreak among American servicemembers prompted Governor Danny Tamaki to demand tougher preventative measures from the U.S. military. Meanwhile, migrant workers from other Asian countries have faced tougher scrutiny.

Context: The countries targeted by the new pre-arrival testing requirement were described by the government as high-risk, but the list does not include the United States, India, Brazil, or Russia, which have the world’s largest coronavirus outbreaks. Instead, the list appears focused on countries with coronavirus problems that also send significant numbers of migrant workers to Korea. Vietnam, Thailand, and China, which have large numbers of citizens working in South Korea but are not facing high levels of virus transmission, were not affected by the new restriction.

Korea View was edited by Yong Kwon with the help of James Constant and Sonia Kim.

Picture from flickr user ƒliçkrwåy

This briefing comes from Korea View, a weekly newsletter published by the Korea Economic Institute. Korea View aims to cover developments that reveal trends on the Korean Peninsula but receive little attention in the United States. If you would like to sign up, please find the online form here.

What Happened

• South Korea’s agricultural industry is struggling with labor shortage as the outbreak of coronavirus is hampering the entry of seasonal migrant workers to South Korea.
• Last year, South Korea began allowing seasonal migrant workers to stay longer in the country in an effort to tackle labor shortage problems in the agricultural industry.
• In 2019, there were 3,479 seasonal migrant workers in the agricultural industry. 1,535 from Vietnam, 1,142 from the Philippines, and 233 from China.
• Since 2015, the number of foreign seasonal workers increased at an average annual rate of 6.2 percent.

Implications: The outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent restrictions on travel highlighted South Korean agriculture industry’s heavy dependence on foreign workers. As international flights to and from South Korea are de facto suspended, seasonal workers who are left without any travel options had to cancel their work trips. Farmers do not have many alternative sources of labor as many undocumented migrants are also returning to their home countries. The resulting labor shortage will likely impact both productivity and yield of South Korea’s agricultural sector.

Context: South Korea’s agriculture industry has been increasingly reliant on foreign workers to offset the chronic labor shortage in rural areas. In 2015, the South Korean government introduced a program that allows farmers to hire seasonal migrant workers to alleviate the labor shortage problem. According to the 2018 report by Korean International Migration Studies Association, the program has been widely popular, with demand for workers always surpassing their availability. In response to this high demand, the government gradually expanded the program, allowing more farm owners to hire more foreign workers. The program which started off with 19 foreign workers in 2015 was expecting to assign 4,797 foreign seasonal workers to 48 cities this year.

Korea View was edited by Yong Kwon with the help of Gordon Henning, Soojin Hwang, Hyungim Jang, and Ingyeong Park.

Picture from Wikimedia Commons

This briefing comes from Korea View, a weekly newsletter published by the Korea Economic Institute. Korea View aims to cover developments that reveal trends on the Korean Peninsula but receive little attention in the United States. If you would like to sign up, please find the online form here.

What Happened

• In 2019, the government introduced new measures to attract skilled foreign workers, hedging against a declining working-age population.
• In November, the Ministry of Justice eased visa requirements for foreign workers in key manufacturing industries.
• In December, South Korea also extended the maximum period of stay for seasonal migrant workers in the agricultural and fisheries sectors.
• Simultaneously, stricter rules for a long-term residency visa (F-2-7) took effect on January 2, 2020.

Implications: The South Korean government’s efforts to invite foreign workers have moved far ahead of laws that facilitate the long-term stay of those same immigrants, sending mixed signals about the government’s agenda. Recent revisions to the country’s immigration policies exemplified this disparity. The government recently extended the stay period of temporary workers and simplified the application process for skilled workers who are looking to fill positions in vital industries. Meanwhile, requirements for residency visas, which allow greater freedom of movement and a longer stay in South Korea, were toughened. Similarly, it became more difficult for skilled international workers to extend their stay in Korea or receive the same visa status for their immediate family.

Context: Demographers estimate that the working-age population in South Korea will drop by an average of 300,000 annually, significantly curbing the country’s economic growth potential. In response, the government is seeking to supplement the labor pool with foreign workers. Currently, however, efforts to attract more foreign nationals are mostly limited to temporary low-income workers or skilled workers in some key manufacturing industries. Widespread misconceptions around existing social programs that are aimed at integrating immigrants and prejudices against foreign nationals partially contribute to the government’s cautious approach to increasing the number of residency visa recipients.

Korea View was edited by Yong Kwon with the help of Gordon Henning, Soojin Hwang, Hyungim Jang, and Ingyeong Park.

Picture from flickr user Raymond Cunningham