By Jung Min-ho
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) will set up an advisory group of foreign residents to reflect their opinions in formulating and implementing policies related to people from overseas.
SMG recently set up a preparatory committee to select members and determine their specific roles with the aim of launching the group by the end of 2015.
The eight members of the committee include Korean Migrant Workers Human Rights Center director Yang Hae-woo, Yonsei University Japanese studies Prof. Han Seung-me, Sungkonghoe University sociology Prof. Park Kyung-tae and other experts in issues related to multiculturalism.
“What we are trying to do through this is to listen to the voices of foreigners living in Seoul,” an SMG official told The Korea Times, Tuesday. “Since they do not have the right to vote, their opinions tend not to be reflected in policies.”
The number of foreigners in Seoul more than doubled to 415,059 this year from 207,417 in 2007. They account for 4 percent of the city’s population.
Last year alone, the city government handled 74,000 complaints from foreigners.
Since last October, three meetings have been held toward setting up the advisory group.
“We are looking at how the cities such as Tokyo, Kawasaki and others in Germany formed and operated such political organizations for foreigners,” the official said. “We are trying to learn from their cases of success and failure.”
To make the system permanent, the SMG is considering revising its ordinance.
Inspired by popular TV show “Abnormal Summit” on cable channel JTBC, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon will have an informal round-table meeting with 10 foreign residents in February. Park will discuss the problems they encounter living in Seoul.
The SMG said more such meetings were expected to be held.
The mayor recently told The Korea Times that the city would work more to embrace growing diversity, noting that multiculturalism was a precondition for prosperity.
Moreover, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and other experts in multiculturalism, the SMG has run a support center for the city’s growing multicultural families.
“Even though one in 25 Seoul residents now is a foreigner and many foreigners tend to stay for over 10 years, there have been few ways for them to participate in Seoul politics,” said Cho Hyun-ok, from the SMG’s Women and Family Policy Affairs Office. “We will work harder to communicate with them.”