South Korea like Japan is very homogenous with 3% of the population being of foreign origin. Foreigners can, like in places face obstacles they wouldn't otherwise encounter like racism and discrimination. Because there are no laws to deal with these types of behaviour discrimination and racism can be open and blatant. That said because Korea like Japan is facing declining birthrates the government has instituted policies which are meant to encourage immigrants to settle in the country. While it won't be easy and there will be moments of discouragement Korea could become a multicultural society.
It's happening most notably in a place called Wongok Village outside the city of Ansan, an hour's drive south of Seoul. At Ansan West Elementary School, the students represent dozens of countries — China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and several more. Most of them have managed to pick up the Korean language quickly, but for those who don't, the school is one of few public schools in the country to offer remedial Korean classes.
The elementary school is in the heart of Wongok, which is billed as a "borderless village" in which two-thirds of the 17,000 residents are non-Korean. Industrial work requiring cheaper migrant labor and Ansan city's efforts to provide services for non-Koreans led to a fourfold jump in Wongok's immigrant population from 2002 to 2010.
"There is real immigration going on that is supported, facilitated, advocated by the South Korean government," says Katharine Moon, the SK Korea Chair at the Brookings Institution. Her research focuses on the impact of a changing Korean population.
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