Abstract
The three largest Korean religious organizations have worked to provide material, educational, medical, and social support to the various growing migrant communities. Among them, the Catholic community has been the most organized, sustained, and effective in its support of migrants by systematically providing for the legal, material, educational, and medical needs of various immigrant communities while advocating for their rights. Although lacking the centralized authority and organization of the Catholics, since the 1990s, Korea’s Protestants have also been active in supporting their country’s growing immigrant communities, which Evangelical churches also view as fertile grounds for proselytizing. The Korean Buddhist community, in comparison, has been slower to engage with Korea’s immigrants and has provided considerably fewer support services. In 2008, the Jogye Order organized the Maha Association for Supporting Immigrants to coordinate individual and localized Buddhist migrant support services at a national level. This article examines the Buddhist reactions to the increase in South Korean immigration over recent decades, with a focus on immigrant-support efforts supported by the Jogye Order for migrant Buddhist communities.
Highlights
Capitalizing on the month-long visa-free entry for tourists, in 2018, the sudden influx of over500 Yemeni refugees to the South Korean resort island of Jeju ignited a contentious national debate over the country’s immigration policies
This article examines the Buddhist reactions to the increase in South Korean immigration over recent decades, with a focus on immigrant-support efforts supported by the Jogye Order for migrant Buddhist communities
Fleeing the civil war in Yemen, the refugees were welcomed by many individuals and aid organizations on the island
Summary
Capitalizing on the month-long visa-free entry for tourists, in 2018, the sudden influx of over. Recalling Jesus’s flight to Egypt as a refugee, as well as the Buddha’s life as wandering medicant dependent on the generosity of others, the statement further implored Korea’s Buddhist and Christian communities to “welcome and embrace” the Yemenis, to “accept them as neighbors and seek a path for mutual prosperity” (Lee 2018) Despite these demonstrations of support, the South Korean government eventually bowed to negative public pressure by canceling visa-free entrance for Yemeni citizens to Jeju and granting only two of the. Catholicism, Protestantism, and Buddhism for religious market share in Korea and the fact that many labor and marriage migrants originate from Buddhist-majority countries like Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar Given this reluctance, this article will investigate the Buddhist reactions to the increase in South Korean immigration over recent decades. Order’s efforts to support the growing communities of Buddhist migrants residing in South Korea
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