Last July, shooting rampage by an extreme rightist in Norway has been reported on the front page of a number of newspapers all over the world. Due to the massacre in Utoya island of Norway, more than 100 people were killed or seriously wounded. Breivic, the murderer, and his lawyer claimed at the court that the tragedy was atrocious but necessary. He claimed that the Labor party (the ruling party in Norway) disappointed everyone by endangering Europe from the attack of Muslims. The offender also insisted that his action was to save Europe from the Muslim immigrants who are gradually threatening Europeans and that his is completely innocent. Breivic believed that the cultural difference between Christians and Muslims could not be in harmony. This led him to the belief that his mother land and culture could only be protected by banishing or eliminating others’.

Surprisingly, it is not hard to find people in our country who partially agree to this idea about foreigners and their cultures. After the incident in Norway, many say that people from other countries in Southeast Asia and China are causing social problems in our society, as Muslims do in Europe. An internet café of anti-multiculturalism has more than 6,000 members and the number is growing day by day.
It is true that a number of problems arose in Europe related to immigrants. Many say that the immigrants are taking away jobs from the natives, causing a great increase in unemployment population. Moreover, it is undeniable that conflicts among races are growing rapidly which can lead to riots and total disorder in European nations. For this reason, extreme rightists and their sympathizers in Korea claim that we should deport illegal immigrants and enhance the immigration controls in order to prevent social problems occurring in Europe. They also suggest statistic data of crimes committed by foreigners, insisting that they have high potential of becoming criminals.

However, we can say that it is almost impossible to banish all the foreigners when we consider the circumstances of our nation. First of all, most foreign laborers are participating in 3D jobs, which is abbreviation of difficult, dirty, and dangerous jobs. These work they take part in is not favored much by native Koreans. Therefore, decrease in the number of those workers can cause vacuum in labor of 3D jobs. Moreover, international marriage in the rural region is increasing rapidly. This is because farmers and rural residents are not preferred as a spouse in our society. International marriage is solving this problem we encounter these days. Most importantly, the significant exchange of products, service, and information between countries is mounting sharply. This is inevitably accompanied by increase in foreign residents in Korea.

As mentioned above, we have plenty of reasons to allow foreigners to take part in our society. In the age of globalization we are going through, it would be more appropriate to find a way to help foreigners blend in with our community. With proper measures, we can prevent the social problems related to immigrants like the ones that occurred in the European countries.

First of all, the sharp rise in the number of immigrants is making it harder for government to deal with the issue. Since there are so many people to handle, it is more likely that each one of the immigrants is not treated with great care. This causes foreign laborers to feel that they are isolated from Korean society and are not treated equally compared to the natives. Moreover, the illegal aliens are also raising a lot of problems. Since their residence in Korea is illegal, it is common that they are not protected by law of Korea. Therefore, they are often maltreated in their workplace. This is a clear violation of human rights and is giving foreigners a bad impression about Korea which can lead to conflicts between immigrants and natives.

One of the solutions we can come up with is to enhance the immigration control. By reinforcing the criteria for immigrating to Korea, we can reduce the number of foreigners in our society. By doing so, we can accept foreigners who are really necessary for our country and can provide them with more help to adjust to the environment of our community. When the time we are capable of accepting more foreigners comes, we can loosen the standard then. Furthermore, it is essential that we tighten up the control of illegal aliens. Since they cannot be protected or supported by our government, it would be appropriate to deport them to back to their home country or legalize their stay in Korea. The government should make best use of both measures in accordance with specific standards. That way, our society can reduce the chance of dissension and help foreigners at the same time.

Multiculturalism is often considered as a double-edged sword. It had brought conflict and chaos to many societies when we take a look at the history of the past. However, it has also brought harmony and strength to some others. The growth of merits and demerits completely depends on the measures we take toward foreigners.
 

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