Immigration News: October, 2005 - Volume 12

Japan, Korea

About 15,000 Filipino entertainers or performing artists have lost job opportunities in Japan and more are expected to lose jobs because of tightened entry requirements prompted by the US Department of State naming Japan as a country not doing enough to halt trafficking in women.

In July 2005, Japan and Myanmar agreed that 2,000 Burmese trainees a year could be admitted to work in small Japanese companies for up to three years of work and training. The Japan International Training and Cooperation Organization will work with 40 recruiting agencies in Myanmar to find the trainees. Between 1992 and 2003, JITCO arranged for the arrival of 200,189 trainees from China; 37,493 from Indonesia; 20,337 from the Philippines; 14,393 from Thailand; and 12,929 from Vietnam.

Some 497 Burmese have sought asylum in Japan since the 1980s and 61 have been recognized as refugees, usually on the grounds of religious persecution. Burma is a Buddhist nation, and most of the Burmese granted refugee status are Christian.

Korea. On August 17, 2004, a new Employment Permission System was introduced in Korea. Under the previous industrial trainee program, foreigners were assigned to small companies for a year of work and training at a sub minimum wage, prompting many to leave and work for higher wages as irregular workers.

Under the new program, foreign workers can be employed at the minimum wage or more for up to three years. However the number of legal guest workers is small- only 2,000 a month were admitted in the first seven months of the program. There are still an estimated 160,000 irregular workers in Korea, and the government plans to remove them before the end of 2005. Employers say that, if legal guest workers do not flow into the country before stepped- up enforcement begins, there will be labor shortages.

To speed up certification that guest workers are needed, the government in March 2005 reduced the period during which employers must seek Korean workers from three months to seven days or less. Most of the obstacles are in sending countries, where migrants must pay for a two-week course in Korean that can cost several months of their home country wages.

Some 8,600 South Korean miners went to West Germany in the 1960s and early 1970s, as did 10,400 nurses. Some married Germans and stayed, and in an effort to attract retirees home, the government of Namhae County created a German village of 75 homes. Even though some of the German-Koreans use their subsidized homes only as vacation homes, the county plans an American village for similar Korean-American retirees.

Many Koreans give up Korean citizenship to avoid compulsory military service, but still retain special privileges in Korea as overseas Koreans. This may change, as bills have been introduced to take away special privileges for overseas Koreans who did not fulfill military service in Korea.

Some South Korean families are reportedly emigrating because of excessive pressure on their children in school; the government reported that 10,500 children left the country in 2003. Experts say that education is the surest way to upgrade social status, which explains why over 85 percent of young people go to college, but many parents aim to prepare their children for the top five of Korea's 360 colleges and universities. About 70 percent of high school students participate in after-school hagwon programs to raise their scores on the College Scholastic Ability Test, with some families spending 30 percent of their income on hagwons.

Masami Ito, "Asylum in Japan eludes Myanmar's close-knit Chin minority," Japan Times, August 20, 2005. Mayen Jaymalin, "15,000 Filipino entertainers Lose Jobs in Japan," Newsflash.org, August 30, 2005.