Restructuring the Discourses for a Real Multi-cultural Society in South Korea

South Korea is transforming into a multicultural society complicatedly and rapidly. But, the existing discourses have many limits to realizing a multicultural society because they are restricted to partial immigrants or lopsided toward the subjects like the government, multiculturalism, and human capital only. This study focuses on the possibility of a macroscopic discourse by introducing new ways of achieving a multicultural society, including international marriage migrant women (IMMW), foreign workers, and North Korean migrants. First, it suggests that the leading subject of the multicultural society should change from government to community. The multicultural society led by the government cannot help but have many problems and limitations because of depending mainly on social welfare. Second, it argues that the discussion level for a multicultural society must come down from abstract multiculturalism to concrete ethnicity to understand immigrants precisely. Third, it contends that the value of a multicultural society should be pursued not for human capital but for social capital. It is necessary to think of a multicultural society as helpful and profitable in respect of immigrants or in respect of both immigrants and natives. It is time to find a path to the multicultural society on the Korean model through macroscopic discourse.