Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2101-3085

Date Available

7-1-2024

Year of Publication

2024

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Geography

Advisor

Michael Samers

Abstract

This dissertation examines the migration governance of South Korea with a focus on the immigration of less-skilled migrant workers. While geographers and broader social scientists have explored this topic, previous studies have two main foci: 1) individual immigrants and their activities; and 2) migration policy development. Despite these studies’ contribution to the scholarship, there seems to be a relative lack of interest in the South Korean state as a potentially crucial actor in governing less-skilled migrant workers. To address this gap, this dissertation draws upon (political) geography, related social sciences, and interdisciplinary fields such as border studies, migration studies, and critical social theory. This theoretical focus is supported by various archive sources, mainly state archive documents from South Korea’s National Archive and Information Disclosure System. Through such efforts, this dissertation provides a deeper understanding of the actors, institutions, policies, practices, and strategies, including the spatial reach of the state across international borders , that are involved in the governance of less-skilled migrant workers in South Korea. It also contributes to diversifying away from the theoretical and substantive dominance of Western-oriented scholarship on migration governance scholarship. Particularly, it addresses the following three issues:

Firstly, Paper 1 examines who enables less-skilled migrant workers to cross the border and enter South Korea. Studies on the (Asian) migration industry has typically centered on private agents, including migration brokers, and contact and logistic agents, that mediate and facilitate the cross-border migration process. These studies often assert that the migration industry is a universal mode of migration in/beyond the Asian region, particularly for less-skilled migrants. However, I contend that the significance of the migration industry cannot be universally applied across different places or cases. Instead, it should be positioned as one type within the diverse spectrum of migration governance. This argument is supported by examining the dominant role played by the South Korean state through the Employment Permit System (EPS). Furthermore, I conceptualize the EPS as state-led multilevel governance (sMLG) by combining the idea of state transformation and multilevel governance (MLG). The EPS functions as a governance system operating at various locations within South Korea and EPS-participating Asian countries. The South Korean state changes legal rules and administrative institutions and manages the transnational procedures for organizing and operating the EPS, from the recruitment of (potential) migrants to their actual entry into South Korea at Incheon International Airport. The findings of this study effectively challenge existing assertions in the (Asian) migration industry literature and contribute to migration governance research by introducing the idea of sMLG.

Secondly, Paper 2 investigates how the South Korean state manages less-skilled migrant workers, with a particular focus on examining the relationship between the state and migrants through the administrative documents and practices. Over the last two decades, studies on migration governance from diverse disciplines, including political geography, border studies, and anthropology, have all underscored the significance of administrative documents and practices. These studies draw from broader social science perspectives advocating for a disaggregated view of the state, emphasizing mundane practices and materiality. They aim to capture a more proactive role for administrative documents and practices, rather than viewing them as passive and dependent in the exercise of state power. By doing so, they have effectively highlighted the entanglement of the state and migrants, drawing inspiration from assemblage-like ideas. However, I argue that these studies may inadvertently resummon a monolithic and Hobbesian state model by emphasizing the oppressive and violent aspects of the state. To address this, I propose a theoretical framework that conceptualizes the state as a disaggregated entity that both exerts influence mutually with migrants (and other social actors) and governs migrants unilaterally. I therefore introduce the concept of an assemblage-apparatus complex (AAC), based on the similarities and differences between assemblage and apparatus. The analysis focuses on two cases, including the Foreigner Registration Number/Card (FRN/C) and the employment and insurance management system for migrant workers in South Korea. These policies enable the state to ‘read’ the migrant workers and regulate them (and their South Korean employers), positioning them as passive subjects of governance. Simultaneously, these policies grant migrants legal and administrative status and rights in South Korean society. Even though the balance between these two processes of apparatus and assemblage may not be fully equal, this analysis contributes to reducing the conceptual tension in examining the relationship between the state and migrants.

Finally, Paper 3 addresses the question of why the South Korean state has accepted migrants. In this section, I analyze how important political, social, and economic ideologies shaping South Korean society have influenced the immigration of less-skilled workers. Previous studies have generally focused on how (neoliberal) developmentalism and nationalism have impacted the migration of less-skilled workers into South Korea. However, I argue that understanding South Korea as a migration state necessitates considering liberalism as well as neoliberal developmentalism and nationalism. The interplay of these three socioeconomic and political ideas has continuously driven the South Korean government to accept more migrants, impacting on quota sizes, permissible sectors for migrant workers, and visa status. These three axes of ideas – liberalism, neoliberal developmentalism, and nationalism –shed light on the previously unquestioned motivations for the South Korean government to accept migrants.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2024.322

Funding Information

This study was supported by the Barnhardt-Withington Funds in 2021 and Kyujanggak Junior Fellowship for Korean Studies in 2023

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