Gov't to conduct census on long-term foreign residents

SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to produce annual census reports on
living conditions and other general information regarding multi-ethnic families
and long-term foreign residents, government officials said Thursday.
The Ministry of Public Administration and Safety said that it will next month
collect comprehensive data on foreigners staying in the country for over 90 days
and those who have become naturalized citizens. The information will be used for
policymaking purposes, it said.
The data will include nation of origin and marital status, as well as the
educational status of children, said the ministry, adding the justice, education,
welfare and gender equality ministries will also participate in the project.
The government's decision comes as South Korean families in rural areas, in
particular, have grown increasingly multi-cultural due to a surge in
international marriages between Korean farmers and women from developing
countries in Asia.
A growing number of local farmers are venturing to countries like Vietnam, the
Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations as they face difficulty in finding
South Korean wives.
"We plan to use the newly collected data and information to produce policies that
sufficiently support foreign nationals arriving here to win South Korean
citizenships or for prolonged stays," an official said.
As of May 2008, there were some 890,000 foreigners staying in the country for
over 90 days, with the number of foreign nationals married to Koreans and their
children totaling about 144,400.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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