A Study on Korean National Policies on Youth with Multicultural Background in Terms of Mental Health

Abstract

Korea has been demographically transformed into a multicultural society for recent decades. Accordingly, Korean government has prepared the societal transformation through law and policy. However, these laws and policies need to be reviewed in terms of multicultural counseling, which was recognized as one of the most necessary policies by immigrants. In this sense, this research intends to focus on multicultural youth’s mental health while tracking and comparing the change of main national multicultual policies like Multicultual Family Policy, Multicultural Education Policy, and Youth Policy. This study’s results are as follows: first, Korean national policies have chronologically developed from the perspective of youths in crisis with maladjustment and marginalization to the perspective of youths as talented person with human right and social contribution. Second, Korean national youth policies have reflect each policy’s unique perspective of youth. Therefore, this research can help expand the depth and width of discussion for the next 5-years policy plans (2023-2028) by measuring the past and current Korean policies in terms of youth’s mental health.