Credit: Public domain.
However slowly, South Korea is becoming a multicultural society of immigrants. According to the latest survey by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family 여성가족부, a substantial proportion of immigrants to South Korea have lived in the country for an extended period of time, with 39.9% having lived in Korea for more than 15 years. And the children of immigrants are getting older - 43.9% are in their adolescence and young adulthood, defined in the survey as between the ages of 9 and 24.
But the children have a difficult family life and limited educational attainment. Among immigrant children, 10.5% and 11.9% said they don’t speak with their father or mother at all respectively. And only 40.5% attend college, a rate significantly lower than the national average of 71.5%.
