A Study on Guest Worker Settlement in the Netherlands and Its Implications on Korea

Abstract

This study examines the current case of guest workers in South Korea and its future, including any chances of permanent residence of these residents, by the usage of the historical case of The Netherlands (1949-1980s). Whereas the Western European country of The Netherlands had accepted many guest workers from 1949 until the year 1973, and expected them to return to their respective native countries, a big part of them decided to stay living in The Netherlands and settle themselves permanently. This paper studies the following question: what are the chances that similar developments (i.e. permanent residence of guest worker migrants) might take place in the country as they did in The Netherlands? Furthermore, ideas about multicultural society and the impact on integration policies in both cases are also examined. The first part of the essay compares the Dutch and the Korean cases, whereas the second part looks at the similarities and differences between ideas about multicultural societies. The last part discusses effects of guest migrants in Dutch society and politics of the 2000s, applying this to any future case scenario of South Korea. Major findings were that the Dutch government did not only ignore the fact that guest workers were there to stay in their country, but that also the governments ideas related to multicultural society led to misappropriate policies regarding integration, still causing fierce discussions in contemporary The Netherlands. South Korea and its government are heading in the same direction, and new policies are needed to successfully lead further integration of guest workers and other foreigners in Korean society.