A Study of Multiculturalism in the Unification Church as Reported in the Press : Based on analysis of media from the last 10 years regarding Japanese immigrant women

Abstract

The Unification Church, which has been performing marriage blessing ceremonies that have transcended religious, racial and national barriers since the 1960's, has produced many international couples. This study seeks to shed new light on Korean multiculturalism from the perspective of Japanese women who, after receiving a Unification marriage blessing, have been living in Korea for over 20 years. Japanese women who married into the Unification Church live as citizens who follow the Church's ideal vision of multiculturalism. This ideal has been reported positively by the media. The news reports done on these women, and the positive they image portrayed, show that the Unification Church's vision of multiculturalism, transcending national and religious barriers to live as world citizens through true love, is coming to fruition. Multiculturalism in Korean society has gone beyond the stage of abstract theory, and is now in a concrete and substantial stage that needs to be developed through research. Through the research gathered here, it is shown that at first, Japanese immigrant women worked hard to adapt to Korean society; but that as time went on, they worked hard to actively participate in and positively contribute to Korean society. This sort of multiculturalism goes beyond assimilation or tolerance; it shows that multiculturalism in Korea requires mutual communication with Korean society and immigrants in order to create peace.