SONG Jiewuh

Professor of Political Science & International Relations, Seoul National University

SONG Jiewuh
Times of the Remarks 2024. 11. 12. 10:00-10:55
Title Research Findings 1 - Strategies for Flourishing in a Shrinking Society: Conditions for Ensuring Attractiveness as a Country

SONG Jiewuh is a professor of political science at Seoul National University whose research focuses on problems that lie at the intersections of philosophy, politics, and law. Questions of whether positive laws or policies, controversial as they are, can be normatively and philosophically justified, and what improvements or reforms to such laws and policies are demanded by normative and philosophical considerations are recurring themes explored in her work. She lectures on human rights, law and democracy, freedom and justice, and political philosophy, and serves on the editorial board for Seoul Review of Books.


[Session Title and Description]

The Future of Korean Immigration Policy

Increasing attempts are being made to find solutions to the problems caused by population decline and demographic change in immigration. This session will examine three aspects of this topic. First is the need to objectively and realistically assess how helpful immigration is in solving problems that are the result of a country’s changing demographic structure. Second is the need for changes to Korea’s current immigration policy if immigration is to be a reasonable choice both for Koreans and for foreigners. Third, the direction of such change must simultaneously meet both the socioeconomic needs of Korean society as well as international standards pertaining to migration and immigration as well as human rights and labor. For example, attempts to use migration as a way to easily obtain “cheap labor” while ignoring or bypassing international standards will not be in the economic interests of Korean society. Accordingly, the future of Korea's immigration policy must be a “principled opening.”