Rep. Chin Young

By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter

A group of lawmakers plan to submit a bill next week that would make it mandatory for public institutions and hospitals to provide multilingual services, sources said Monday.

"The bill would require public organizations and hospitals designated by the government to provide translation and interpretation services in foreign languages, including English and Chinese," said Kim Seong-hoi, secretary general of the Korea Multicultural Center.

Chin Young of the governing Grand National Party and 36 other lawmakers launched the Parliamentary Multicultural Forum in June for the bill.

Chin told The Korea Times that the bill, dubbed Basic Multicultural Law, will bring a fundamental change in Korea's immigration policies.

"I expect the basic law to serve as the groundwork for future policies. The bill calls for the creation of the Korea Multicultural Foundation (KMF) and the integration of major immigration laws," he said.

Chin said that the bill will integrate the Act on the Treatment of Foreigners in Korea, the Act to Support Multicultural Families Living in Korea and a planned Anti-Racism Act, announced Sept. 6 by Rep. Jun Byung-hun of the main opposition Democratic Party.

However, it has been currently shelved due to an interparty standoff.

Kim said that the government plans to provide multilingual services in major public buildings in eight languages, whose population in Korea has surpassed 10,000.

"If passed, district offices, city halls and public health centers will be required to provide services in different languages," he said.

"As a way to counter resistance to the new measure, tax incentives will be provided to them, as well as those who provide such services on a voluntary basis."

Kim played a pivotal role in drawing up the bill, which was complete in late September.

He also pointed out that the new bill would make elementary education compulsory, regardless of visa status.

Of 1.15 million foreign nationals, the number under the age of 12 has surpassed 92,900, according to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.

Roughly 16 percent of the total foreign residents, or 182,800, are known to be undocumented.

Though the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child states that all countries should make primary education available free to all, many Korean schools still reject the admission of illegal migrant workers' children due largely to lack of enforcement.

Kim expects the bill to solve such social problems facing Korea which is increasingly becoming a multicultural society.

Under the bill, individuals who do not follow the new mandates will be fined 1 million won ($860) or more, or given a prison term of between one and three years, according to Kim.

Institutions that violate the regulations will also be fined a minimum of 10 million won, he added.

Chin, chairman of the forum, said the bill stipulates the creation of an immigration policy control tower in the Office of the Prime Minister in an effort to streamline administrative processes.

"Currently, all 12 ministries, including the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, are involved in immigration issues, causing inefficiency and redundancy in administrative work," Chin said.

"In order to tackle the problems, the bill calls for the prime minister's office to serve as a control tower and the public administration ministry to play a leading role in implementing immigration services."

Chin also said that state-funded KMF would research immigration-related matters and provide welfare services.

He said that the KMF would run with an annual budget of roughly 70 billion won, secured from fees for visa applications and other types of processing fees.

Chin said he will submit the bill shortly after a closed-door meeting on Friday. He expects it to pass the legislature with bipartisan support later next year.

The lawmaker said immigration is not an option, but a must to cope with the country's aging population.

Korea's birthrate stands at 1.13, one of the lowest in the world, according to Statistics Korea. By 2050, the population is projected to decline by 6.41 million and the proportion over 65 will be the highest among OECD countries.

leeth@koreatimes.co.kr