Ministry of Justice collects ‘multicultural benefits’ from local governments… Problems with not setting income standards, etc.

It was found that local governments across the country provide multicultural families with benefits such as reduced fees for using public postpartum care centers, priority admission to daycare centers, and reduced fees for using public facilities.

As 20 out of 26 multicultural family projects in Seoul do not have an ‘income standard’ set, there are concerns about reverse discrimination regarding high-income multicultural families.

Some local governments responded that they do not have separate preferential policies targeting only multicultural families or that they are providing the same level of benefits as other vulnerable groups.

According to the legal community on the 5th, the Ministry of Justice received the results of a survey on the status of preferential policies for multicultural families from a significant number of local governments across the country.

When President Lee Jae-myung previously raised the issue that the multicultural family support system is inconsistent with fairness and has the potential for reverse discrimination against Korean families, the Ministry of Justice sent an official letter to local governments across the country at the end of last month requesting cooperation in determining the status of support for multicultural families.

The Ministry of Justice requested a response by the 3rd of this month, but it was found that some local governments had not yet sent one, saying they were collecting data.

◇ 26 projects in Seoul… Priority admission to daycare center, discount on postpartum care center usage fees, etc.

The city of Seoul received an official letter from the Ministry of Justice on the 30th of last month, but is still collecting data on multicultural family support projects from 25 autonomous districts.

There are 26 multicultural family support projects that the Seoul Metropolitan Government previously identified.

This is the result of the first survey prepared according to Mayor Oh Se-hoon's prior inspection instructions.

The final number of projects may vary as this is not the result of a comprehensive investigation requested by the Ministry of Justice.

Seoul's multicultural family support project includes priority admission to national and public daycare centers, free online education at Seoul Run, and support for use of Seoul-style safe postpartum care centers.

National and public daycare centers give children from multicultural families first priority for admission regardless of their parents’ income. It is the same ranking as children of basic livelihood recipients.

'Seoul Run', where you can take online lectures from famous instructors, also applies income criteria to ordinary families, but children from multicultural families can use it without any income restrictions.

At the Seoul-style safe postpartum care center, mothers from multicultural families are given priority admission and a 50% discount on usage fees. Ordinary mothers pay 2.5 million won for two weeks, but mothers from multicultural families pay only 1.25 million won.

Small business financial support projects are also subject to inspection. Multicultural families receive preferential treatment in terms of sales reduction requirements when applying for emergency self-employment funds and credit score requirements when applying for quick dream funds.

Support for moving expenses for young people, priority selection of overseas volunteers, and free support of recycled bicycles were also identified as related projects.

Of the 26 projects identified to date, 20 do not have an ‘income standard’ set.

At the center of the 'multicultural family reverse discrimination controversy' that has recently emerged is priority admission to daycare centers and support for benefits for high-income multicultural families.

◇ Reduction of facility usage fees in Gwangju, Jeonnam, etc. Gangwon provides childcare admission preparation fees

Gyeonggi Province is promoting Korean language education, interpretation and translation services, and support for the initial settlement of marriage immigrants.

The method of supporting public postpartum care centers, where controversy over reverse discrimination against Koreans has been raised, is different from other local governments.

Gyeonggi Province operates public postpartum care centers in Pocheon City and Yeoju City, and gives priority access to mothers who meet 11 qualifications, including not only multicultural families but also people of national merit, low-income families, single-parent families, and North Korean defectors.

However, he explained that, like Seoul, multicultural families are not given priority for admission.

An official from Gyeonggi Province said, "The target of the multicultural support policy is multicultural families, so there is no element of reverse discrimination in the first place because it does not compete with Koreans. However, the preferential treatment of children from multicultural families to daycare centers is a legal benefit and is a nationwide issue, so the central government must review whether reverse discrimination exists."

Preferential policies commonly operated by 14 cities and counties in Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province include ▲ priority use and admission to local children's centers and daycare centers ▲ additional points for waiting list for child care support projects ▲ additional points for selection of successor agricultural managers ▲ priority for selection of rural housing improvement projects.

In Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, seven cities and counties, including Taebaek, Sokcho, Yeongwol, Cheorwon, Hwacheon, Yanggu, and Yangyang, provide priority opportunities to use public postpartum care centers or reduce fees for mothers from vulnerable groups, including multicultural families.

At the Gangwon-do level, childcare center admission preparation funds are provided to children from multicultural families.

The target groups include children from low-income families, children with disabilities, and multicultural families who are newly admitted to daycare centers in the province this year, children who are the second child or older in multi-child families, and children with at least one parent who is disabled. Accident insurance premiums and clothing purchase costs are supported within the range of 105,000 won per child.

A provincial official said, “It is not clear whether the system to support multicultural families by including them as a vulnerable class can be considered a separate preferential policy,” and added, “We plan to review it after checking the details of the discussion by the Ministry of Justice’s working-level subcommittee.”

Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special City also provides a discount on public postpartum care center usage fees to mothers from multicultural families.

Ulsan City explained that no projects that could be classified as a multicultural preferential treatment system have been identified in the data collected to date.

◇ Collecting business data from Chungbuk, Gyeongnam, etc... “There is no preferential treatment system for reverse discrimination.”

Daejeon City also announced that it does not have a preferential system for multicultural families that could lead to reverse discrimination.

The city is operating a support project to improve multicultural family relationships that supports awareness of gender equality and healthy communication between multicultural family couples.

Multicultural families are given priority to participate, and other families are recruited within 50% of the total number of participants.

It was determined that there was no potential for controversy over fairness in the mentoring and career/employment counseling for children of multicultural families implemented as part of the special education development zone project. Those eligible for support are children from multicultural families aged 7 to 18.

North Chungcheong Province and South Gyeongsang Province announced that they are collecting data related to the multicultural support project requested by the Ministry of Justice and have not yet submitted it.

Gyeongnam also announced that there is no priority for benefits such as public postpartum care center usage fees for mothers from multicultural families.

◇ Do high-income multicultural families also benefit?… Ministry of Justice reviews foreign policy based on fact-finding survey

The preferential policy for multicultural families has been implemented in earnest since 2006, when the issue of discrimination against female immigrants arose as international marriages increased.

However, recently, controversy over fairness has arisen over whether priority is given to multicultural families in the process of using public postpartum care centers or entering national or public daycare centers.

The fact that mothers from multicultural families ranked second in the reservation rankings for Seoul-type public postpartum care centers, along with mothers of national merit and mothers with multiple children, was spread through online community posts.

The controversy grew as President Lee Jae-myung shared the post on his

It was also known that in the ranking of admission to national and public daycare centers, children from multicultural families ranked first along with children from recipients of basic livelihood security, single-parent families, dual income families, and households with two or more children.

However, some voices say that support for multicultural families should not be uniformly reduced.

This is because it is difficult to judge based on income alone, as there are still families who face difficulties in employment, children's education, and use of public services due to unfamiliarity with the Korean language and culture.

Some say that a careful approach is needed to ensure that improving the multicultural family system does not lead to negative perceptions or stigmatization of immigrants.

Based on this survey, the government plans to examine how preferential benefits for multicultural families are actually operated.

The Ministry of Justice plans to review future foreign policy in consultation with government ministries and related organizations based on the submitted data.

We plan to come up with ways to improve the system by examining whether there are projects that receive preferential treatment regardless of income just because they are a multicultural family, and whether there is any possibility of reverse discrimination against Korean families.

(Jeong Yun-ju, Kim Dong-gyu, Lim Chae-du, Heo Gwang-moo, Hyeong Min-woo, Jeon Chang-hae, Lee Jae-hyeon, Lee Jeong-hoon, Kim Do-yoon, Kim Jun-beom)