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Gendering Multiculturalism: Representation of Migrant Workers and Foreign Brides in Korean Popular Films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Jooyeon Rhee
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Abstract

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This article examines images of migrant workers and brides in recent South Korean films in order to demonstrate how popular media can complicate the issue of multiculturalism in Korea, and to problematize the ethnic and gender hierarchy embedded in multicultural policies and in the social fabric of Korean society.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 14 , Issue 7 , April 2016 , e6
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2016

References

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Banga Banga. 2010. dir. Yuk Sanghyo.Google Scholar
Namasŭt'e. 2005. Pak P⊖msin. Seoul: Hangyore ch'ulp'ansa.Google Scholar
New World. 2012. dir. Park Hunj⊖ng.Google Scholar
The Yellow Sea. 2010. dir. Na Hongjin.Google Scholar
Where is Ronnie.. 2009. dir. Sim Sangguk.Google Scholar
Wandŭgi. 2011. dir. Lee Han.Google Scholar
Amnesty International Korea.Google Scholar
Korean Film Council.Google Scholar
Korean Statistical Information Service. www.kosis.kr. Migrant World Film Festival.Google Scholar
Chŏbn, Hyŏbngbae. 2009. “Oegugin kŭlloja koyong chŏbngcha'ek [Employment policies on migrant workers in Korea].” Justice 109: 290–315.Google Scholar
Chŏbn, Hyŏbngbae. 2010. “Oegugin kŭlloja ŭi nodong inkkwŏbn [Labour and human rights of migrant workers].” Nodongpŏbp nonch'ong 18: 125–157.Google Scholar
Chŏbng Sŏbnhi. 2014. “Kungnae chunggugin yuhaksaeng ŭi taehak saenghwal silt'ae chosa mit kwalli pangan yŏbn'gu [A survey on Chinese students' living conditions in Korean universities and a study of the management of the students].” Chungguk ŏbmun nonyŏbk ch'onggan 34: 447–466.Google Scholar
O, Suung. 2010. “Hwanghae: aecssion/ssurillo [Hwanghae: Action/Thriller].” Chosun ilbo, December 23. Accessed July 23, 2015.Google Scholar
Chung, Byong-Ho. 2008. “Between Defector and Migrant: Identities and Strategies of North Koreans in South Korea.” Korean Studies 32: 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elfving-Hwang, Joanna. 2013. “Cosmetic Surgery and Embodying the Moral Self in South Korean Popular Makeover Culture.” The Asia-Pacific Journal 11.24(2). Accessed July 20, 2015.Google Scholar
Fattig, Jeoffrey, 2013. “South Korea's Free Speech Problem.” Accessed April 3, 2014.Google Scholar
Freeman, Caren. 2011. Making and Faking Kinship: Marriage and Labor Migration between China and South Korea. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephen. 2013. “Peterson Institute for International Economics, Freedom of Expression: South Korean Case Continued.” North Korea: Witness to Transformation, August 27. Accessed April 1, 2014.Google Scholar
Harvey, David. 2007. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. London: Oxford University Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Higham, John. 1993. “Multiculturalism and Universalism: A History and Critique.” American Quarterly 45 (3): 195–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Hwanghae kamdok Na Hongjin [The director of Hwanghae, Na Hongjin].” 2010. Kyonghyang Daily, 29 December. Accessed February 16, 2014.Google Scholar
Im, Yangjun. 2012. “Han'guk ijunodonja e taehan sinmun ŭi podo kyŏbnghyang kwa insik yŏbn'gu [Report patterns on and reception of migrant workers in newspapers].” Ŏnllon kwahak yŏbn'gu 12 (4): 419–456.Google Scholar
Kang, Chinung. 2012. “Diasŭp'ora wa hyŏbnjae yŏbnbyŏbn chosŏbnjok ŭi sangsang toen kongdongch'e [Diaspora and the imagined community of the ethnic Koreans in contemporary Yanbian prefecture].” Han'guk sahoehak 46 (4): 96–136.Google Scholar
Kim, Hyesun. 2006. “Han'guk ŭi tamunhwa sahoe tamnon kwa kyŏbrhon iju yŏbsŏbng [Multicultural discourses and migrant brides in Korea].” Han'guk sahoehak (special issue): 47–78.Google Scholar
Kim, Hyesun. 2014. “Kyŏbrhon imin yŏbsŏbng ŭi ihon kwa tamunhwa chŏbngch'aek [Divorce of married migrant women and multicultural policy].” Han'guk sahoehak 48 (1): 299–444.Google Scholar
Kim, Hyuk-Rae, and Oh, Ingyu. 2011. “Migration and Multiculturalism Contention in East Asia.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 37 (10): 1563–1581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Minjeung. 2014. “Can the Union of Patriarchy and Multiculturalism Work?” In Multiethnic Korea? edited by Lie, John, 277–300. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kim, Sŏbnmi. 2011. “‘Han'gukjŏbk’ tamunhwa chŏbngch'aek kwa tamunhwa kyoyuk ŭi sŏbngch'al kwa cheŏbn [A ‘Korean style’ multicultural policy and reflection on multicultural education].” Social Studies Education 50 (4): 173–790.Google Scholar
Kim, Yŏbngŭn, Ch'ŏbryŏbng, Chŏbng, and Kŏbnnam, Yi. 2012. “Tamunhwa kajŏbng chanyŏb ŭi chigŏbp insik, chillo taean yŏbngyŏbk mit chigŏbp p'obu [Occupational perceptions and zone of accessible alternatives, occupation aspiration of children from multicultural families].” Han'guk silkwakyoyukhoe, 25 (4): 169–194.Google Scholar
Kim, Yŏbnju. 2012. “Tamunhwa kajŏbng chanyŏb 37% ga wangtta [37% of children in multicultural families are bullied].” Chosŏbn ilbo, January 10. Accessed May 15, 2015.Google Scholar
Lie, John. 2014. “Introduction: Multiethnic Korea,” in Multiethnic Korea? ed. by Lie, John, 1-30. Berkeley, CA: University of California Preaa.Google Scholar
Lim, Timothy. 2014. “Late Migration, Discourse, and the Politics of Multiculturalism in South Korea: A Comparative Perspective.” In Multiethnic Korea? ed. Lie, John, 31–57. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Moenig, Udo. 2015. Taekwondo: From a Martial Art to a Martial Sport. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
No, Sŏbnghwa. 2011. “Yŏbnghwa ‘Hwanghae pip'an’ [Criticizing The Yellow Sea].” Moyiza. Accessed July 10, 2015.Google Scholar
Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar, and Kim, Joon K.. 2011. “Multicultural East-Asia: An Introduction.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 37 (10): 1555–1561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suh, Jae-Jung, Park, Sunwon, and Kim, Hahn Y.. 2012. “Democratic Consolidation and Its Limits in Korea: Dilemmas of Cooptation,” Asian Survey, 52 (5): 822–844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi, Jasŭmin. 2013. “Taehanminguk och'ŏbnmyongi ta tamunhwada [All fifty million Koreans are multicultural].” Dailian, February 10. Accessed April 1, 2014.Google Scholar