[KS] Kyujanggak Colloquium: Antonio Fiori, Immigration, Multiculturalism and Welfare State in Korea

[서울대학교 국제한국학센터]

Dear List Members,

You are cordially invited to the 56th colloquium on Korean Studies organized by the Kyujanggak Institute of Korean Studies. Dr. Antonio Fiori, who is professor of Korean Studies at the University of Bologna and research fellow at Kyujanggak, will speak on "Immigration, Multiculturalism and Welfare State in Korea." 
The colloquium will take place on Tuesday 27 September at 12:30 in the Kyujanggak seminar room (ground floor, Seoul National University building #103). Light lunch (sandwich) will be provided for those who arrive by 12:30.

Abstract
Is Korea really and inexorably becoming a multicultural country? The response to this question is still highly debated in the country, especially because Koreans have always been proud of their ethnically homogeneous society. Nonetheless, with more than a million foreigners living in the nation nowadays Korea seems to be gradually opening its doors to the outside world. The 'composition' of foreigners coming to Korea is variegated: most of them are unskilled workers, now indispensable to the country because of the modified structure of the society and job market. The main objective of this work is to analyze the main social conditions that have 'forced' Korea to become a multicultural country: among these the most important are a very low fertility rate and a very long life expectancy, shortage of brides, and shortage of people willing to perform certain jobs. Some of these trends will be examined in comparative perspective, in order to give a better representation of the Korean situation. Finally, in the light of these deep societal changes in Korea, I would like to examine the sustainability of its young welfare state system and to what extent it needs to be modernized taking into account the presence of a relevant number of foreigners.
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