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Gyeonggi's antiracism laws are now in effect. How will they affect foreign residents?

Published: 15 Oct. 2025, 07:00 Updated: 17 Oct. 2025, 14:08

LEE SOO-JUNG
[email protected]

Foreigners and Koreans call for an end to racism at a rally held in front of Seoul Station in central Seoul on March 16, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. [YONHAP]

A set of ordinances prohibiting racial discrimination against immigrants came into effect in Gyeonggi last Friday, marking the first local laws in Korea to explicitly advocate racial equality.

On Sept. 19, the Gyeonggi provincial council passed three ordinances addressing three respective demographic groups: immigrants in general, asylum-seekers and unregistered foreign children born in Korea. The Gyeonggi provincial government proclaimed and enforced the ordinances four weeks after their approval.

The Gyeonggi provincial government, home to the largest foreign population in the country, has worked to make the region more inclusive, especially after immigration policy emerged as a key agenda item last year. The province says that now is the time to establish the legal basis for guaranteeing foreign residents' rights in order to better implement policies for them.

While the ordinances seemingly place foreigners and Koreans on equal footing in Gyeonggi, a slew of challenges remains to make equality settle substantially, experts say.

Equality explicitly stated

Foreign laborers and activists speak to demand the Korean government provide the Covid-19 pandemic relief fund to immigrants on the same basis as Koreans during a press conference on April 2, 2020, in central Seoul. [YONHAP]

In 2023, a Vietnamese laborer working in Gyeonggi was called an "idiot" by Korean colleagues for an apparent lack of Korean and English skills, according to a report from the Gyeonggi Migrant Integration Support Center. The harassment continued from the Korean workers, who said, "Vietnamese people, of course, do not know English."

The report also included another case, in which a foreign worker claimed that the wife of their employer had said, "Cambodian workers are always slacking off while Koreans are productive."

Such derogatory remarks are now technically outlawed in Gyeonggi. The first ordinance bans all forms of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, nationality and cultural differences against people with a migrant background.

All foreigners living in Gyeonggi — regardless of visa status or validity of their stay — are now protected by the ordinance. Specifically, the ordinance will be applied to 725,555 residents, accounting for 19.4 percent of all foreign residents in Korea.

The Gyeonggi provincial government aligned its rules to a universal standard by adopting the UN’s definition of discrimination as stipulated in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The international convention defines discrimination as “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin."

The Gyeonggi governor is required to develop and implement plans against racial discrimination every five years. Although the plans are required to detail means for damage relief and due diligence, specifics had not been outlined as of the first week of October.

“The province intends to identify and correct instances of racial discrimination, which were previously left unaddressed,” a provincial official from the Immigration Society Bureau told the paper. “This is only the beginning at the moment — the bureau is still in the process of conceptualizing details.”

International students pose for a photograph during an event held at Ajou University in Suwon on Nov. 17, 2024. [YONHAP]

Despite a mention of compensation for victims, the ordinance does not stipulate any punitive measures against individuals or organizations engaging in discriminatory behaviors.

Yoon In-jin, a sociology professor at Korea University, said the Gyeonggi provincial government can now protect and investigate cases of racial discrimination in a similar way, as the National Human Rights Commission of Korea handles cases of human rights abuses.

“Although its legally binding force might be weak in nature, it can come as considerable social pressure against discriminatory behaviors,” Yoon said.

Yet, other experts said that the omission of penalties can undermine the ordinance’s effectiveness.

Shin Ji-won, a sociology professor at Chonnam National University, said the effectiveness of the ordinance remains to be seen because the legal remedies and penalties are not clearly stated in the provisions. “In the absence of national laws guaranteeing racial equality [...] the ordinance itself is likely to have some limits,” Shin said.

Lim Dong-jin, a professor of public administration at Soonchunhyang University, also expressed similar concern and said that discriminatory behaviors “can only be punished when there are legal clauses governing penalties.”

“With no punitive provisions from these ordinances, their significance might be limited to enabling the provincial government to fund racial equality initiatives,” Lim said. "In and of itself, the ordinances are a meaningful step forward.”

Rights for refugees and children

A Moroccan national, who applied for refugee status in Korea, protest against inhumane law enforcement he experienced at a shelter in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi during a rally on Feb. 10, 2022. [YONHAP]

The remaining two ordinances target refugees and children — demographic groups the provincial government identified as the most vulnerable.

The second ordinance, dubbed “Human Rights Protection of Refugees in Gyeonggi and Guarantee of Basic Living Standards” (translated) applies to refugees, refugee applicants and those in similar situations as refugees. Those on a G-1-99 visa — part of the miscellaneous visa category — are also eligible to receive benefits under the ordinance.

According to the ordinance, the Gyeonggi governor is able to order the implementation of projects providing emergency shelter, language education and medical services as well as psychological counseling for victims of torture, rape and human trafficking. Employment assistance and legal advice for refugee applications will also be available.

The third ordinance is for foreign children under 18 whose births were previously unregistered in their country of origin and in Korea.

The provision allows any person who comes across unregistered children to request that the Gyeonggi provincial government record the child’s birth. Applications for a provincial identification card require the child’s name, sex, birthday, address and the names and birth dates of their parents.

Unregistered children with provincial identification cards can access the same public medical and child care services as other Gyeonggi residents.

Yet, the provincial government clarified that the card does not provide Korean nationality or substitute as a visa permit. The province’s birth registration is only effective within Gyeonggi in terms of social services.

Setting a precedent

Kim Dae-soon, the second vice governor for administrative affairs of Gyeonggi, and other local officials visit then-newly opened provincial support center for immigrants on July 2. [YONHAP]

Despite action only coming recently, Koreans have known that the rights of immigrants have been an issue for some time.

A 2024 report from the National Human Rights Commission found that 60.5 percent of 15,597 Koreans aged over 18 answered that immigrants’ rights are not fairly or entirely protected. In a 2021 survey, those who answered that Korea’s social environment was not immigrant-friendly accounted for 62.5 percent.

Although Korea has accepted foreign populations in earnest since 2004 through the employment permit system to address labor shortages, the survey results showed that the Korean social system has lagged behind labor policy over the past two decades.

Some experts attribute the national government’s failure to enact laws guaranteeing racial equality to “political interests.”

Kim Kyung-hwan, a public administration professor at Ajou University, said the central government has acted passively to legislate laws protecting the rights of both legal and illegal immigrants because it could be criticized for tolerating illegal stays.

Lim said that "some identify Korea as a country for immigration, while others view immigrants as mere workers who do not belong to the Korean community."

“Most countries that accepted immigrants earlier than Korea have comprehensive antidiscrimination laws, which Korea has yet to enact,” Lim said. “For passage of the law, there should be a state institution solely dedicated to handling immigration, which Korea does not have currently. Adding on to that, responsibilities on immigration are fragmented across multiple ministries — the Justice Ministry handles border control, the Employment Ministry manages the foreign work force and the Education Ministry oversees foreign students.”

Yoon said the national government inevitably has a limit in regard to granting the same rights and protections to foreigners as Koreans.

“The central government views immigrants as foreigners — non-Korean nationals — and is in a position to distinguish policies between them and Koreans — its own people,” Yoon said. “A section of the public calling to prioritize Koreans [over immigrants] is still strong. This sentiment appears to pose difficulty for the government to implement progressive policies for better immigrants’ rights.”

For nationwide equality

International students receives medical face masks for the Covid-19 prevention at a college in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on March 16, 2020. [YONHAP]

Although the ordinances are only valid within Gyeonggi cities and counties, experts say that joint coordination between the provincial authority and the national government is crucial for the effective enforcement of local rules.

Lim said that countries with an advanced immigration system tend to run a “dual-responsibility system." In the scheme, central governments oversee visa-related laws and local governments manage welfare support, including education and living conditions.

Kim noted that local governments might be more adept at designing social welfare policies for foreign populations, as they perceive them as “local residents belonging to their regional community.”

Yoon said the central government should promptly legislate a law specifically prohibiting racial discrimination, adding that legal provisions to outlaw such behaviors would effectively lay the foundation for a multicultural society.

“In this sense, the Gyeonggi ordinances are a first step toward advanced immigration policies aligned with international standards,” Yoon said. “It establishes an exemplary precedent.”

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]