• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.89-110
• /
• 2010

Relying on the concept of "multicultural space", this paper aims to examine the ways in which the adaptation of foreign professional migrants to the Korean society has been geographically differentiated. Due to the limits of spatial perspectives, existing studies on the adaptation of foreign migrants to the Korean society tend to ignore the geographical variations in the ways in, and the degrees at, which foreign migrants have been adapted into the Korean society. There are, however, significant regional variations in the living conditions, physical and cultural environments, and economic opportunities that are given to the foreign migrants in Korea, so that the adaptation of foreign migrants to the Korean society is regionally differentiated. In order to prove this, this paper explores whether and how the ways in which foreign professional migrants have adapted to the Korean society have been regionally differentiated on the basis of questionnaire surveys and statistical analyses.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.295-318
• /
• 2009

This paper explores micro-contexts of transnational migration and decision-making process of foreign migrants in Korea with four types, that is, married immigrants, immigrant workers, professional immigrants, and foreign students, analyzing dates of questionaries and interviews. Some findings can be summarized as follows. First, married immigrants and immigrant workers show relative lower level of micro-environments than professional immigrants and foreign students. Secondly, immigrants workers fill closest in geographical contiguity among immigrants' types, while married immigrants recognize more different in cultural comparison than the former. Both immigrants workers and foreign students think living environments of Korea better than other types, but immigrants workers consider relatively higher the level of technology, while foreign students evaluate lower that of education in Korea than other types. Thirdly, married immigrants give a relatively low score to the easiness of immigration, while both immigrant workers and professional immigrants give a high score to the job environment of Korea. Finally, all types of immigrants show a high portion in a self-decision making for international migration, while professional immigrants have much more experiences on visiting other countries than other types, and both married immigrants and foreign students seem to have utilized their networks with family members who live abroad.