NHRCK has engaged a program since the year 2006 where the Chairperson visits a community where human rights condition needs to be addressed and hears in person what the weak and minorities have to say. Last March 29, Chairperson Cho Young Hwang paid a visit to Jangsu Elementary School located in Jangsu, Jeollabuk-do.
The Commission selected the location since there is a large population of Asian female immigrants who married Korean males in Joellabuk-do Province.
Two Standing Commissioners of the NHRCK, Jeong Gang Ja and Kim Ho Joon, accompanied Chairperson Cho Young Hwang to hold a bull session with some 40 Asian female immigrants. The administrators and educators from the Jeollabuk-do Office of Education and Jangsu Elementary School also attended the problems with and solutions for the offspring of the internationally-married couples. The meeting also made an opportunity to discuss long-term solutions for the nurturing and education of the Kosian (Korean+Asian) children as the rate of international marriage is sharply increasing.
The foreign mothers who attended the discussion expressed their difficulty in raising their kids due to the fact that they do not know hangeul and the Korean language. They also discussed the financial difficulties, problems involving education as well as the possible areas of discrimination that can occur due to the different skin color. They asked the Commission to resolve these problems.
NHRCK is committed to looking into the problems and discrimination faced by the children of internationally-married couples to find appropriate solutions. As the first step, the Commission is planning on engagine the Survey and Research on Human Rights Condition of Children of Immigrant Families starting from this April.
