Sunday, April 19, 2009
Basic Act on the Treatment of Foreigners in Korea translated into English.
Via Benjamin Wagner, law professor at Kyung Hee University, comes news that the Basic Act on the Treatment of Foreigners has been translated into English. He emailed the attachment to me, and I posted it to waygook.org so that I can link to it on this page. View or download the .pdf file here.
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12 comments:
Can you give some context about why this is worth taking the time to read? Who enforces what is written here? Who can reform it if changes are needed? What does it have relevance for? How does it affect foreigners living here? Are there any connections to Immigration policies . . . ?
I skimmed the first 4 pages and saw nothing that made me think it was worth reading any further.
All I saw, in terms of relevance for foreigners, is the Borg policy put in a Korean context, "We are the Koreans. Your distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile."
J
"The purpose of this Act is
to stipulate the basic
provisions concerning the
treatment of foreigners in
Korea; to help foreigners
in Korea to adjust
themselves to the Korean
society to reach their full
potentials and to create a
society where Koreans
and foreigners in Korea
understand and respect
each other with the aim of
contributing to the development of Korea and
the social integration."
See--it's the Borg mission statement.
And this is hilarious--talk about writing legislation that legalizes appropriation and usage of funds for reasons other than meeting to talk about foreigners . . . that is, to meet in a "Business Club" and have your drinks, meal, and special ending to the night paid for all without anyone asking any difficult questions . . .
"Commissioners who attend
s the meetings of the
Committee, Working
committee or subcommittee
may be paid allowances,
travel expenses and other
costs within the budget,
except when public
officials attend the
meeting to address the
issue directly related to
his agency."
"Article 10
(Safeguarding
Human Rights of
Foreigners in Korea)
National, municipal. and
local governments shall
make efforts such as
conducting educational
programs public
communication activities
and whatever activities
proper and necessary to
prevent unreasonable
discrimination against
foreigners in Korea or
their children and to safeguard their human
rights."
This stuff is FUNNY! I wonder who they paid to write it for them?
"Article 11 (Support for the
Social Adjustment of
Foreigners in Korea)
National, municipal, and
local governments may
provide foreigners in
Korea with education,
information and
consultation about the
common basic knowledge
necessary for living in
Korea."
Right . . . and this is supposed to happen when, where, and how? I can just imagine some gov't person trying to explain Korean culture to a bunch of new teachers when this person has almost no English, and no understanding of their own culture--ha!
"CHAPTER Ⅳ Creating a
Society Where Koreans and
Foreigners in Korea Live in
Harmony
Article 18 (Enhancement
of Understanding about
Cultural Diversity)
National, municipal, and
local governments shall
make efforts to take
measures such as
education, public
communication activities,
and correction of
unreasonable instructions
in order to ensure that Koreans and foreigners in
Korea understand and
respect each other's
history, culture and
institutions.
"understand and
respect each other's
history, culture and
institutions." Right . . . uhm, I can see this happening around about 2099 . . .
Article 19 (Together Day)
①To create a society
where Koreans and
foreigners in Korea
respect each other's
culture and tradition and
live in harmony, May 20
is designated as "Together
Day" and one week
starting Together Day is
designated as Together
Week.
"Together Day"? What is this? Why has no one told me about it? When will the first one be? Is it a national day? FUNNY! What a sad joke . . .
②Matters necessary for
Together Day event may
be determined by the
Minister of Justice or
Mayor of special city,
Mayor of metropolitan
city, Governor of Province, and Governor of
special autonomous
province respectively."
Right. I'm sure the mayors of each city around the country are right on top of organizing this--uh-huh . . .
Okay. I answered my own questions about the relevance of this piece of paper to how it might impact my living and working conditions in Korea.
J
It's there because it hadn't yet been posted online, so people can read it if they'd like.
It's great that such legal standards exist for foreigners, although these were no doubt created to protect the foreign laborers that so greatly outnumber us (and whose situations are so greatly worse than ours). However, you can have all the legal framework you want, but that won't change when immigration applies things willy-nilly or when bodies like the Labor Board won't give you a fair shake, as we've seen recently. I'd like ATEK and those working in tandem with it address what's actually going on with foreign teachers, rather than always framing it in grandiose terms such as human rights violation, or some such thing.
And I agree I don't see how things like cultural programs can be legislated. It's worth reminding people that "foreigners" means more than just "Caucasian English teachers."
I'm just thinking about how there's such a huge lack of cultural awareness and knowledge in Korean TEACHERS--let alone the general public.
Let's just say that it's an eerie feeling when you say, "Who's the most famous reindeer of all?" to a class full of Korean teachers--and MAYBE 25% of them knew the answer . . .
J
Wow, I hope you were joking about the reindeer thing.
Why is it a shock that Koreans don't know about Rudolph... aren't we being a tad culturo-centric?
I think the shock comes from the fact that they teach children, and love to teach them English songs that are very popular in America . . . so the shock comes when they don't know one of the biggest Xmas song cultural background info facts . . .
ROK Hound is right, though, it's more a FAKE kind of shock on my part than any kind of authentic shock . . .
Why on earth should they know about a western cultural icon, particularly when theres maybe two choices in western culture.
I thought the answer was Bambi
KT article concerning this Act:
"Foreign Teachers Group Wants More Dialogue With Policymakers"
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/04/113_43733.html
Hi Brian, my name is Nidya. I cannot see or download the Act you posted in waygook. Do you mind sending it by e-mail to me? its doc08010@grips.ac.jp many thanks before.
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