Korea needs to make itself more 'attractive' to bring in immigrants, population expert says

"Korea isn't in the major leagues in the international immigration market," said Cho Young-tae, professor at Seoul National University's (SNU) Graduate School of Public Health, adding it is one of the reasons Korea needs to establish ...

Cho Young-tae, professor at Seoul National University's Graduate School of Public Health [KIM KYUNG-BIN]

"Korea isn't in the major leagues in the international immigration market," said Cho Young-tae, professor at Seoul National University's (SNU) Graduate School of Public Health, adding it is one of the reasons Korea needs to establish an immigration agency.

Cho's area of expertise is population research. He also served as an expert adviser for the population task force under President Yoon Suk-yeol's presidential transition committee in 2022.

Currently, immigration policies are dealt with by various ministries, such as the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Rather than having multiple institutions in charge, the Justice Ministry aims to establish an immigration agency that will oversee all foreigner-related policies.

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said he plans to establish such an agency within 2023. Plans are underway, with the Han visiting countries such as France, the Netherlands and Germany to meet immigration officials and seek advice on establishing an immigration agency in March.

Cho sat down with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, to discuss what needs to be considered when establishing a new immigration agency.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. Why do you think now is the time to create an immigration agency?

A.We need to start preparing now, so we can effectively welcome foreign workforce and prepare for Korea's population in the 2030s. That's why I agree with Han's plans to establish an immigration agency. The immigrants we currently have in Korea are also aging. Take ethnic Koreans from China or Joseonjok as an example. A lot of them won't be able to engage in economic activities in 2030, and their children tend to look for opportunities in China. We face labor shortages, especially in manufacturing, and we need child care service workers as Korea becomes an aging society. It's already late to discuss how to bring them in and how many people we need to bring in.

Is it absolutely necessary to create an immigration agency?

Current immigration policies are arranged by the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and they are all over the place. We need to create a system that will manage all foreigner-related policies.

But we are destined to fail if we continue to have unfriendly policies toward immigrants and merely change the name of the Justice Ministry’s Korea Immigration Service to make it the new immigration agency. The Justice Ministry currently leads immigration policies, but we need an independent organization that can encompass all ministries on immigration-related matters.

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon goes on a business trip on March 7 to meet immigration officials in France, the Netherlands and Germany. [YONHAP]

How attractive of a country is Korea for immigrants?

To put it short, Korea isn’t in the major leagues in the international immigration market but in the [minor league’s] Single-A. The same applies to those who are considering studying abroad. SNU is a good university, but it can’t compare to prestigious schools abroad. I had a high-ranking official in Vietnam that I know tell me he wanted to send his child to SNU. But one day, his child secretly texted me saying he wanted to go to a university in Britain. I just couldn’t tell the kid that he needed to attend SNU. It basically means that even SNU is struggling to attract international students.

It’s surprising that even SNU struggles to attract international students.

SNU has a lot of undergraduate students but struggles to recruit graduate students. There are two fields that I worry about for Korea's future, and they are child care and research and development (R&D). Quality is equally important as quantity when it comes to population. If graduate schools, which support our R&D, struggle, then the quality of our population falters. Many just see immigrants as additions to the workforce, but international students also make up a big portion of immigrants. Developed countries are active in welcoming talented international students as immigrants.

Some people easily misunderstand that there are no talented students in Southeast Asian countries, but Vietnamese students are the fifth largest group of international students in the United States. The number is continuously growing as well. Let's be realistic. Between prestigious universities abroad that teach in English and SNU, which university would talented students in Vietnam choose? They don't come to Korea. They see Korea as a nice country to travel to but not a country that they want to commit their future to. If we want to attract talent from abroad, we can't stand still. The same applies to the government.

But Korea’s immigration policies aren’t that friendly to countries like Vietnam, which sends its nationals to Korea.

We don't necessarily have to be a nice country. But immigrants won't choose Korea if we don't become an attractive country. Will the popularity of Korean dramas and K-pop last forever? From the mid-2030s, older adults will comprise one-third of Korea's population. We need to overcome our population problem with not just cultural attractiveness but also with the attractiveness of the system. To do that, we need an immigration agency to create and manage the system.

Cho Young-tae speaks at a press conference in May last year, briefing about population policy suggestions made by the population task force under President Yoon Suk-yeol's presidential transition committee. [KIM SANG-SEON]

You say that Korea will become a shrinking society in the future, which refers to a society whose population contracts significantly.

The people we have today determine our population in the future. Our birth rate is lower than the mortality rate, so we can't avoid becoming a shrinking society. A lot of people think being a shrinking society is a bad thing. But that's not always the case if we devise policies that will allow each generation of Koreans to function and live well, even with a small population.

There are sectors that need immigrants, such as manufacturing, child care and higher education. We need to create mid- to long-term immigration policies that oversee issues such as visa quotas, visa application process and settlement support. In this process, we need to consider both the pulling and push factors for countries sending and receiving immigrants.

What does the government need to do?

We need to offer more open immigration policies for foreigners. For example, we can’t have talented international students leaving Korea due to strict visa policies and going to countries like the United States. What’s the point if we educate them in Korea but lose them to other developed countries? We can’t do much about students leaving due to companies in other countries offering salaries double or three times that in Korea, but students who like Korea and can contribute to Korea shouldn’t have to leave due to systematic problems.

Those in their 20s and 30s who have been acquainted with foreigners and are more open-minded should play a central role in creating immigration policies that fit reality. I’m also part of an older generation, but people in my generation tend to have a black-and-white perspective when it comes to foreigners. They see foreigners as either white or non-white people and high-skilled or low-skilled labor. They also tend to think countries in Southeast Asia are just places for cheap labor. We shouldn’t exclude young Koreans when making policy decisions.

BY LEE YOUNG-KEUN, LEE TAE-YUN [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]