From the 1990’s onward, this became a common practice that was encouraged to keep the population growing. As a result, there is a niche immigrant population in rural areas with many needs that are not being met. Many of my students have mothers from Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand. These mothers and these families often require additional support, from Korean language assistance to legal support to acknowledgment of their background and heritage.
For migrant families, their needs stem from the fact that they are a small population within Korea, and often lack cultural and social support in their new communities. Because these migrant mothers and their children are expected to embrace Korean culture, there are not many resources that are available to support the other cultures in their heritage. Oftentimes, children in these families only speak Korean. Thus, many mothers in these families may feel socially isolated. Likewise, in order to function within Korean society and adapt to their families, migrant mothers also are expected to learn Korean. Because most Koreans here learn Korean at home and in school, resources for Korean-as-a-Second-Language programs may be scarce or lacking. Lastly, for a long time, many of these migrant mothers lacked some legal rights available to Korean citizens. This created complications, especially in cases of divorce, where Korean fathers would have more financial rights, and would be able to more easily gain sole custody of their children.
