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| Kim Joon-sik, chief judge |
According to data released by Statistics Korea on Sept. 12, Korea's population counted over 1 million people in 335,000 multicultural families last year. The number of children in such families reached 190,000, 130,000 of which were elementary, middle or high school students.
For this year's awards, the judges set five evaluation categories ― responsibility and the spirit of team work, global leadership and multilingual ability, academic and other achievements, efforts to overcome adversity, and volunteer activities. All the applicants obtained high scores in all the categories.
Some applicants showed excellence in academic performance, arts or sports, while some others were fluent in two or three languages including the mother tongue of their parent who is from another country. This is concrete proof that efforts by relevant authorities and organizations that have supported multicultural children, such as the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, are bearing fruit.
The award applicants' performance and talents have given the judges the belief that children of multiracial families here will be a major pillar of the country in the future.
Now it is the country's and society's turn to actively support them so they can achieve their dreams.
"Populate or perish" was the slogan of Arthur Calwell, Australia's first minister for immigration. He came up with the slogan to explain and justify the country's need for massive immigration following World War II.
Australia at the time had a population of only 7 million, which was too small to maintain the country's defense and economic development. So it was a desperate task for Australia to accept immigration and increase its population.
Afterward the country abandoned its "White Australia" policy and began to accept immigrants from Asia. As a result, Australia had a population of 24.9 million as of 2018 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, recorded $55,710 of GDP per capita as of 2017, and became a multicultural society where 270 ethnic groups use 260 languages.
It is time for Korea to accept immigration as well, so the country can maintain and grow its population, economic power, defense potential and diplomacy. Children of multicultural families will play a key role during the process.
I offer congratulations to all the award winners and their family members. I also thank The Korea Times for hosting the awards.
Kim Joon-sik is the chief judge and honorary chairman of Asian Friends.
