Yonhap News Agency hosts forum on policies for multicultural diversity in S. Korea

SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's government will make ongoing efforts to embrace multicultural households in mapping out related policies amid the coronavirus pandemic, a gender equality and family minister said Friday. "The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which is in charge of policies on multicultural families, will listen to the voices of local governments, media and civil society to improve policies," Minister Chung Young-ai said in a congratulatory message at the 2021 Multiculturalism Forum hosted by Yonhap News Agency, the nation's key newswire, at its headquarters in central Seoul. "We expect the forum will make appropriate suggestions for the government's multicultural policies in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic," she said. Yonhap News President and CEO Cho Sung-boo said in his opening remarks that the yearlong pandemic has caused difficulties for migrant women and children of multicultural families. "In the forum, we will review the actual status of the multicultural family support programs and explore specific ways to improve them," he said. Former lawmaker Lee Jasmine, a Philippine native who married a South Korean man, called for reducing blind spots of the government-led COVID-19 relief funds, saying that many migrants have been excluded from the financial benefits. Yonhap News has hosted the multiculturalism forum since 2013 to support the nation's multicultural household policies. About 10 experts and government officials were invited to this year's event for in-person discussions in consideration of the toughened social distancing rules. It was live streamed on YouTube. brk@yna.co.kr (END)