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| Hwaseong Mayor Seo Cheol-mo, fifth from left, and Rep. Song Ok-joo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, seventh from left, pose with representatives of the foreign national community and city officials, during the opening ceremony of a cultural center, named Seoro (Korean for "each other"), for foreign national residents and those from multicultural families, Sunday. Courtesy of Hwaseong City |
By Jun Ji-hye
Amidst an increase in the population of residents with foreign nationalities across rural areas and small towns of Korea, some local governments are providing various support programs for foreign national residents in a bid to prevent them from being excluded from Korean society, as well as to enable the government to be more closely in touch with their lives and whereabouts.
Yeongam County in South Jeolla Province has decided to support all expenses for undocumented foreign nationals when they are required to be isolated in temporary quarantine facilities for two weeks after coming in close contact with COVID-19 patients.
The measure, the first of its kind among local governments across the country, came as it has been difficult for undocumented residents of foreign nationality either to be self-isolated at home or to pay for quarantine facilities designated by the government.
Jeon Dong-pyeong, the head of Yeongam County, said, "The measure is aimed at encouraging undocumented foreign national residents to go voluntarily through virus testing and to help those who came in close contact with virus patients by eliminating their concerns over expenses."
Gangneung City in Gangwon Province will set up a center dedicated to support immigrant workers systematically. The center, which is scheduled to open by the end of next month, will be tasked with mediating conflicts between employers and workers, offering Korean language education, and acting as a "control tower," allowing the government to be more closely in touch with the lives of foreign national residents than before.
Gangneung City has also provided immigrant workers, who came to get virus testing, with bread, face masks and hand sanitizers free of charge. Two pieces of bread, five masks and one hand sanitizer are offered per worker.
The city government introduced these measures as the number of immigrant workers in the city has rapidly increased from 600 in early 2020, to 3,000 now. Gangneung, with a population of 210,000, is one of the most popular tourist cities in Korea, and there has been a growing demand for lodging and agricultural workers. The city government has faced criticism for not systematically managing and supporting this recent foreign national population influx.
Infections of foreign national residents currently account for about 25 percent of the total number of infections in the city. Reasons for the increased rate of infection among foreign national residents vary and include poor living and working conditions, as well as religious gatherings.
For its part, Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province opened a cultural center, named Seoro, for foreign national residents and those from multicultural families, Sunday. Seoro is the Korean word meaning "each other."
The center was set up at the building of the Hwaseong branch of the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, offering a variety of meeting and educational opportunities, as well as a shared kitchen.
"Anyone can use Seoro from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., except for Mondays," an official from Hwaseong City said. "We hope the center will become a venue in which foreign residents can interact freely with each other."
Meanwhile, Yongin Immigrant Support Center in Gyeonggi Province has prepared various programs to help improve the human rights of immigrant workers and resolve conflicts with Korean employers.
One of the programs involves special lectures to be offered by a professional labor attorney, who will give advice on how to prevent and respond to workplace bullying, as well as essential information on labor laws here.
A total of six lectures will be offered via Zoom from June 12 to Aug. 28.
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