[Robert J. Fouser] A 'welcomeness consensus' for migrants

Korea Herald

20-03-2025

Earlier this week, the 'Dong-A Ilbo' ran a story on how local governments in South Korea are repurposing abandoned public facilities to revive local economies. The article mentioned that Yeongyang-gun in North Gyeongsang Province, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is planning to accept 40 refugees from Myanmar later this year. The county plans to repurpose an abandoned school to create a resettlement facility.
Across the country, other local governments have been trying to attract migrants from abroad. In August, The New York Times ran a piece on efforts by the city of Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, to attract ethnic Korean migrants from Central Asia. The city repurposed an abandoned university dormitory into a resettlement center that offers free housing and meals for four months after moving to Jecheon.
Areas in other advanced countries with population decline have worked to attract migrants, despite recent criticism from right-wing political leaders. In the US, small and medium-sized cities facing deindustrialization and depopulation have long tried to attract migrants and refugees.
For example, Dayton, a city of 135,000 in southwest Ohio, launched the 'Welcome Dayton' initiative in 2011. This community-driven effort aims to make the city more immigrant-friendly by focusing on four areas: Community engagement, business and economic development, education and health and social services. The initiative encourages local businesses to hire refugees and migrants, thus boosting the local economy and fostering diversity. Migrants have helped the city make up for a 50 percent drop in population since its 1960 peak.
Running through various reports on efforts to attract migrants and refugees is the issue of welcomeness. How do local residents, particularly in rural areas and small cities, react to an influx of different people from abroad? And how do migrants and refugees interact successfully with their new community?
One issue that most resettlement programs focus on is language education. Most local governments in South Korea offer Korean language classes to adult immigrants while many schools help non-Korean students learn Korean. Companies that employ foreign workers, many of which are located near larger cities, also offer Korean language classes. Taken together, there is a lot of Korean language education taking place in areas that have been more closed to outsiders.
Korean language proficiency is only part of the story. Another important aspect is a welcoming atmosphere in the community, which is not necessarily teachable. Instead, local leaders need to make the case for the benefits of attracting new people to the community. This requires leadership and a strong consensus in the community.
To return to the examples of Jecheon, Mayor Kim Chang-gyu, a retired diplomat, has taken the lead in developing programs to attract Central Asian migrants, which has encouraged local government and private sector cooperation. Equally important, leadership has helped maintain a consensus in favor of welcoming migrants.
In the case of Dayton, 'Welcome Dayton' has maintained cooperation among government bodies, non-profit organizations and the business community. A survey in 2023 showed that 57 percent of residents would welcome a migrant moving in next door, whereas only 13 percent would not welcome a migrant neighbor. Strong local consensus has helped maintain support for migrants despite Donald Trump's strong showing in the 2024 election in southwest Ohio.
Jecheon, Dayton, and other places with a successful history of accepting migrants counter the negative narrative about migrants that has filled the news since the mid-2010s. Communities facing long-term decline are often willing to try new things, such as accepting migrants, to slow or even arrest the decline. They turn the natural urge toward self-preservation into creating a welcoming atmosphere for those searching for a better life.
But there is a caveat. Communities that welcome migrants often have an unstated tolerance threshold. Migrants in Jecheon are still a small percentage of the population. In Dayton, the total foreign-born population is only 5 percent, slightly lower than average for the state of Ohio and much lower than the 27 percent in California. Resistance to migrants often begins to grow as the population increases because they are no longer viewed as guests but as competitors. The threshold differs by time and place, but attitudes change with rapid increases in population that create new challenges for the community.
At the end of 2024, the population of foreign nationals in South Korea passed 5 percent for the first time. Places like Jecheon and faraway Dayton have developed a 'welcomeness consensus' that offers a model for the nation it continues to attract more people from abroad.
Robert J. Fouser, a former associate professor of Korean language education at Seoul National University, writes on Korea from Providence, Rhode Island. He can be reached at [e-mail]. The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed.