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I. Introduction
South Korea (henceforth Korea) is rapidly becoming an ethnically diverse society. Today the number of registered foreigners in Korea is more than 1.2 million, accounting for about 2.4 percent of the total population. The number of foreigners in Korea grew very rapidly; it increased from approximately 110,000 in 1995 to over 1.2 million in 2010, marking a nearly ten-fold growth during the period. If the current trend continues, it is expected that the number of foreigners in Korea will reach the 1.5 million mark in 2012, 2.53 million in 2020, and 4.09 million in 2050 or 9.2 per cent of the total population. According to some estimates, the proportion of foreigners in Korea will be as high as 14 percent by 2050. These estimates are not outlandish forecasts, for various social indicators, such as the country's record-low fertility rate, all point to the importation of even more foreigners in the future, near and far.
Korean society as a whole has responded well to this new multicultural reality. The government has taken actions, albeit slowly, to accommodate the needs of migrant workers and marriage migrants. For migrant workers, the government has taken measures to grant them more rights and create better working conditions for them. For marriage migrants, the government has provided Korean language and culture programs to help them better adjust to Korean society. In view of carrying out these policies, the government has enacted the Foreigners Treatment Act and the Multicultural Family Support Act, and established an agency such as the Korea Immigration Service to manage the affairs of immigrants. Also, "multiculturalism" has become a guiding principle of policies dealing with foreigners in Korea, particularly focusing on measures to help multicultural families and their children. Civil groups have done their part in campaigning for the rights of foreign-born residents and supporting their adjustment in Korea. The role of mass media in Korea is also noteworthy. Irrespective of their political orientation, newspaper editorials have called for more tolerant attitudes toward foreigners and the news media routinely reported on cases involving discrimination and human rights violations suffered by foreigners, raising the public awareness of their plight. As a result, many surveys have shown that Koreans largely hold positive views on migrant workers and marriage...