This research brief examines why increasing numbers of children from multicultural families in South Korea are being sent to their mother’s homeland for schooling, focusing on the experiences of foreign women married to Korean men. Using data from 6,607 foreign mothers in the 2018 Korean Multicultural Family Survey, the study identifies key push factors such as discrimination, social marginalization, and challenges navigating Korea’s competitive education system and pull factors rooted in mothers’ strong cultural identity and desire for their children to retain their native language.

The findings reveal that these dynamics differ significantly depending on the mother’s country of origin and native language, with English- and Chinese-speaking mothers influenced more by cultural identity, while women from Southeast Asia are more affected by discrimination.

Access: Open

Authors: Doo-Sub Kim, Seunghyun Lee, and Saerom Lee

Affiliation: Center for SSK Multi-cultural Research

Date: 20/01/2023

Language: English

Country: South Korea