The Blue House will hold a meeting on November 3 with representatives from migrant worker and immigrant rights organizations. This follows ongoing controversy surrounding President Yoon Suk Yeol's remarks about foreign workers and multicultural families, prompting the government to seek direct input from civil society.
According to the Blue House, Jeon Seong-hwan, the Chief of the Integration and Listening Office, will host the meeting with representatives from organizations such as the Migrant Worker Equality Coalition, the Migrant Women's Rights Center, and the Friends of Migrants Center. The meeting was arranged at the request of these organizations.
These groups plan to hold a press conference at 11 a.m. in front of the Blue House to condemn the president's comments regarding immigrants before attending the afternoon meeting. They are expected to demand an apology from the president and measures to prevent similar incidents in the future, as well as to convey their stance expressed during the press conference.
A Blue House official explained that the meeting aims to gather more detailed opinions from these organizations following the scheduled press conference on issues related to migrant workers. This is part of the regular communication efforts by the Integration and Listening Office to engage with various sectors of society.
The controversy began when President Yoon, during a Cabinet meeting on October 27, discussed labor shortages in rural areas and stated, "Bringing in foreign workers does not significantly benefit the national economy," citing that foreign workers remit their wages abroad.
Following this, President Yoon clarified on social media that his comments were meant to compare the contributions of foreign workers to those of domestic workers. He also requested a correction and apology from the media outlet that reported his remarks, emphasizing the difference between saying "does not help" and "does not significantly help."
On October 28, he shared an online post questioning the preferential treatment of multicultural family mothers in postpartum care facilities, suggesting a review of the need to abolish such preferential policies and amend related regulations. Civil society has reacted strongly, arguing that such messages could foster discrimination and hatred towards immigrants.
The Migrant Worker Equality Coalition emphasized that "migrants are rights holders as members of the community and should be the subjects of non-discriminatory policy-making."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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