Emigrees and refugees in the Republic of Korea

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Defectors find no capitalist paradise
By Ahn Mi Young, Asia Times, 20 February 1999. Up until the early 1990s, North Korean defectors were hailed as freedom fighters and granted handsome money and decent jobs upon reaching the South. But as the number of defectors sharply increased since 1994, South Korea’s welcome wore thin.
Seoul’s invisible Chinese rise up
By Louise do Rosario, Seoul, The Straits Times, 22 October 2000. The strikingly small number of Chinese in this 40-million country show how uninhabitable the social environment is for them, even though many have lived on the Korean peninsula for generations.
Dreams of illegal workers end in despair
By Kim Sung-mi, The Korea Herald, 15 November 2003. Two suicides highlight the fear and desperation among illegal alien workers here as they face a massive roundup operation and deportation beginning tomorrow. An estimated 110,000 illegal migrant workers are expected to be forced out of the nation as the government moves to clear the decks ahead of the implementation of the new work-permit system for hiring foreign workers next year.
Sizeable minority defies worker policy
By Lim Mi-jin, Ko Ran, JoongAng Ilbo, 16 November 2003. After the government deadline for illegal aliens who did not qualify for employment amnesty came and went over the weekend, there were still about 110,000 persons remaining here illegally. Many say they have yet to realize the Korean dream and are still a long way from saving up enough to make their stay here worthwhile.