Students cast their votes during a class meeting at Sunil Middle School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, Sept. 5. The meeting was led by Anastasiya Yugay, left in the front, the class president from Uzbekistan who mediated between Korean and Russian-speaking students. At Sunil, 70 percent of the students come from multicultural backgrounds. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

ANSAN, Gyeonggi Province - Russian words reverberate through the halls of Sunil Middle School in the city of Ansan in Gyeonggi Province. Not only do students talk to each other in the language, but some classes, such as math, are also taught in Russian, presenting a rare sight in Korea's highly homogenous society.

At Sunil, 70 percent of the students come from multicultural backgrounds. And students from Russian-speaking countries account for more than 74 percent of them. Sunil has students from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, as new students continue to enroll at the school after their parents came to Korea seeking a higher income and better living conditions.

The proportion of students at Sunil Middle School from multicultural households has continued to grow over the years, from 11 percent in 2015 to 44 percent in 2019 and 70.2 percent in 2023. Sunil was named a multicultural international innovation school in 2017, enabling it to receive grants for extra-curricular activities.

The growing percentage of foreign students reflects an increasing number of immigrants in Ansan, who came to Korea seeking jobs at Banwol and Sihwa industrial complexes, which are among the country's largest manufacturing hubs housing factories for small businesses.

Ansan is home to the greatest percentage of foreign residents among comparable city-level administrative districts in the nation. As of September, the industrial city is home to foreigners who come from a total of 118 countries. A total of 12.9 percent of the city's residents are foreigners who mostly come from China and Russian-speaking countries, as well as Vietnam, according to Ansan city data. In contrast, foreign residents account for 4 percent of the total population of Korea.

Students listen during a class meeting at Sunil Middle School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, Sept. 5. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Ansan's diversity, meanwhile, has also created a racial divide.

With the foreign population concentrated in the western district of the city, some Korean parents change their home address to send their children to a more homogenous school in an affluent neighborhood, due to concerns that their academic achievements may be affected. This is partially based on prejudice against schools with a high percentage of multicultural students.

The language barrier and cultural differences weigh on relationships among students, class participation and academic performance.

Yugay Anastasiya, a second-year student who was born in Uzbekistan and came to Ansan during elementary school, is among the better-adjusted students.

“I volunteered as class president, because I wanted to help out the students who do not speak Korean,” she told The Korea Times. Yugay continues to receive private lessons after school to improve her Korean in order to blend in.

As class president, Yugay is concerned about the image of her school.

“I don't want people to say bad things about my school,” she said, referring to stereotypes that have been caused by delinquent students.

“Schools, the local government and the citizens should all work together to correct these perceptions,” Lim Mi-eun, a teacher in charge of multicultural education at Sunil, said.

Lim Mi-eun, a teacher at Sunil Middle School in charge of multicultural education, teaches Russian to third grade students. Sunil is the only middle school in Korea that includes a Russian language class in its curriculum. The class was added to enable Korean students to communicate with the substantial number of students coming from Russian-speaking countries. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

As ethnic Koreans with foreign nationalities continue to flood into Ansan, many teens are left unable to enter school, because they arrive after the school year has begun. Those that cannot be accepted by schools go to youth centers run by the local government.

This is not only a challenge Ansan faces, but a key task for local governments and education offices that seek to attract foreigners to fill a shrinking workforce.

The demographics of Ansan could show the direction Korea is headed as the country grapples with an aging and shrinking population. Korea's fertility rate hit a record low of 0.78 last year ― which means women who are able to give birth are not even having one baby on average. The working-age population between 15 to 64 is projected to halve by 2070 after peaking in 2019.

Korea had a total of 2.25 million foreign residents as of 2022, accounting for 4.37 percent of the total population. Korea is close to being defined as a multicultural society, where the percentage of people from multicultural backgrounds exceeds 5 percent of the total population. Migrants refer to people who relocate to another country in search of work and better living conditions, while this relocation is permanent for immigrants.

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Becoming a multicultural society

Korea has just started taking measures to open its borders further to foreign workers and make it easier for them to settle here.

Foreign workers, mostly from Southeast and Central Asia, have been filling up labor shortages suffered by the manufacturing, farming, fisheries and construction sectors in provincial areas. These workers enter Korea with an E-9 visa under the Employment Permit System introduced in 2004. The number of workers entering the country with that visa has grown over the past several years. The government doubled the E-9 visa quota this year as more sectors are suffering from labor shortages.

The number of foreign workers residing in Korea with the E-9 visa has also been growing over the past decade, excluding 2020 to 2022, which were the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government in September unveiled measures that would facilitate skilled workers with the E-9 visa to obtain E-7-4 status, by easing requirements and boosting the quota. The E-7-4 visa enables the workers to stay for longer periods and bring their family members here. The workers, however, have to stay at their workplace for two more years to be able to obtain that status.

"The measure has not only aided businesses to stably hire skilled foreign workers, where the labor shortage is worsening, but also expanded the opportunity for foreign workers who have worked hard for businesses and social integration to settle in Korea," a justice ministry official said.

"We will set up various visa policies to help attract not only skilled workers, but also capable individuals in the science technology sector, who can contribute to national interest," the official added.

Krishna Adhikari is welcomed by his daughter, Krishti, after coming home from work on a weekday evening on Aug. 31. Adhikari works at an R&D center at a compay that develops reproductive genetic solutions, after obtaining a master's degree in management. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

The government hopes to attract more immigrants such as Krishna Adhikari from Nepal, who works at an R&D center. Adhikari came to Korea in 2011 after completing university in his home country. He worked at a textile factory for seven years until he decided to build up his career here.

“I thought I couldn't keep working only at a factory,” Adhikari said. “I also wanted to know how universities in Korea teach students and thought I would be able to build relationships with Koreans at school because this was difficult where I worked.”

He went on to pursue a master's degree in management and graduated with a focus on artificial intelligence. He now works for a company in Suwon that develops reproductive genetic solutions.

Adhikari purchased a home in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, where he lives with wife, daughter and newborn son. Over the course of 12 years, Adhikari upgraded his status from the E-9 visa to F-5 status which grants him permanent residency here. He plans to build up his career further.

“I want to set up a business in the coming years, incorporating internet of things into manufacturing to tackle the labor shortage at companies that are struggling,” Adhikari said.

Krishna Adhikari watches his daughter, Krishti, study Korean, as his wife Rupa Tiwari and newborn son Krizan look on. The government unveiled measures last month to help migrant workers get settled in Korea, like Adhikari has done. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

There are still some challenges for foreigners like Adhikari, who work and pay tax as they live in Korea. Even though he had F-2 residency status, he was denied a mortgage when he visited banks prior to purchasing his house.

Financial firms currently offer loans to foreigners, but the interest rates tend to be higher for them than for locals. The rates reach up to 20 percent.

“It is difficult for foreigners to get loans. I ended up borrowing from my friends and I finished paying them back,” Adhikari said.

Local governments, even those with large percentages of foreign residents, have yet to offer equal benefits in educational subsidies. Under current regulations on assisting multicultural families, only families that include a Korean parent are eligible for various forms of support.

Adhikari's daughter in first grade in elementary school learned Korean, made friends and adapted to school life. Still, Adhikari's primary concern about his future in Korea centers on his daughter.

“I am worried about her keeping up with classes that are taught in Korean, and also in case she will be discriminated at school for being a foreigner,” he said.

Foreigners are seen at Ansan's Multicultrual Village Special Zone on Aug. 31. Ansan was home to foreigners from 118 countries as of September. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Tasks ahead

Multiple government ministries have been in charge of a range of policies related to foreigners and migrants here. Korea has not had an integrated agency to be in charge of related affairs. This has led to inefficiencies and loopholes for migrants the government seeks to assist and further attract. The Ministry of Justice is now preparing to set up an immigration agency.

But there is a long road ahead for Korea to ready itself to become a more welcoming country for migrants.

According to a Statistics Korea survey released last month, 19.7 percent of foreigners who resided in Korea in the past year said they experienced discrimination. Shops, restaurants, banks and their workplaces were the most-cited as places where this happened.

For the respondents, the language barrier and loneliness were the greatest difficulties they faced living in Korea.

“Korea's stance toward foreign workers had remained unchanged for decades. The government has not regarded foreign workers as migrants but as providers of labor,” Park Sun-hee, a general manager at the Gyeonggi Institute of Research of Policy Development for Migrants' Human Rights, said.

Jang Han-up, director of Ewha Womans University's Center for Multicultural Research, said educating the public is essential.

"The public needs to understand that the dire population situation is why Korea needs to welcome foreign migrants. Education needs to be offered at schools for students, as well as for government workers who deal with policies regarding foreigners, and the general public," he said, noting the mass media plays an important role.