• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.40-53
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• 2008

A case study has been conducted on the changes in the identity and agency of international marriage migrant women who experienced a shift from a immigrant worker to a foreign spouse and a Korean citizen. The life histories of the eight female migrants living in Gumi area, a representative inland industrial complex in Korea, have been investigated by in-depth interview. The aim is to examine how the female migrants reconstruct and interpret their lives. The results reveal that the identy of a female migrant is flexible depending on her social positionality. The identities established from the past experiences in their native countries have been changed by their situations and conditions in Korea. The female immigrants recognize that their problems have been an important issue both in government policy and mass media. However, the female migrants express a strong revolt against the fact that they are considered as underclass victims or innocent people from underdeveloped countries. This implies their ambivalence toward international marriage that they selected subjectively. There is a finding to show a new possibility; the Transnational Marriage & Family Support Center supported by Government may provide a good ground for the female migrants to be a active group agent. The results illustrate that the international marriage migrant women could not be classified into a single group as wives. Called for are diverse researches reflecting the complex situations of migrant women.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.676-694
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• 2012

This paper investigates the regional distribution of female transnational marriage migrants by nationalities in South Korea. In addition, this research explores the regional distribution by nationalities, migration processes, and socioeconomic characteristics of female transnational marriage migrants in Chungcheongbuk-do in South Korea. Regarding the regional distribution of female transnational marriage migrants in South Korea, using location quotient, this study seeks to categorizes cities and counties in South Korea into five groups. Furthermore, using Thomas method, this paper tries to stereotype cities and counties in Chungcheongbuk-do into six groups, in order to identify significant nationalities in each group. The concept of transnationalism refers to the recent phenomenon that transnational social networks are prominent, linking societies at the global scale, as international migration has been rapidly increasing due to the globalization. Transnationalism provides insight into the in-depth understanding of socio-spatial structure of international migrants, transnational social networks, transnational identities, cultural hybridization, and so on.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.317-327
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• 2011

This study examined with a view to legal system how to get over the adaptation problem as well as protection of human right about the cases of marriage immigration have sharply increased in Korea through Globalization and this brought about serious matters to multi-cultural families : disguise marriage, contract marriage, frequent divorces, especially conflict, violence, maltreatment of couple is guaranteed efficiently include against mankind universal value regardless of race, class, region undergoing farm village female marriage immigrants by cultural difference. This study is when the families of the marriage immigrants are left unattended in the state of the crisis, it definitely seems to be a serious obstacle for social integration and cost vast social expense. Therefore, I suggest the problems of multi-culture family support law and improvement plans for Marriage bureau agency management law and nationality Act through a comparative method about legislation of each country which has dealt with a phenomenon called 'multi-cultural Society' and fact-finding of female marriage immigrants in Gwang-ju Metropolitan City, professing "the city of human right".

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.581-595
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• 2008

This study attempts to provide the main reasons and decision-making processes for marriage migration from a Vietnamese' perspective. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted in Vietnam. Interviewees are those who got married to foreigners but are waiting for visas and parents whose daughters are marriage migrants. According to 23 interviewees, the main reasons of marriage migration are as follows: individual aspiration, sacrifice for others, and the circumstantial effects or love. Individual aspiration, in particular, leads to an active pursuit of international marriage. Parental involvement in the decision-making process is rarely found. Decision seems to be wholly made by the female migrant herself based on an individualistic orientation.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.729-741
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to examine conflicts between female international marriage migrants(FIMMs) and their family members, and living conditions of FIMMs in Korea. The results will be useful in understanding FIMMs' struggles and will help them to develop their adaptive ability to family life. This study analyzed the factors in three dimensions: a Sociodemographic factor, a marriage-related factor and a factor of the migrants' relationship to their family members. All conflicts result from the lack of mutual understanding between the migrants and their family, and the differences between their languages and between their cultures. Of course, FIMMs can not adequately express their feelings and opinions in Korean language. Their loved ones and relatives can not express their feelings in the immigrants' languages, either. It is evident that there are a lot of misunderstandings caused from their language barrier. The public support for the migrants is limited. They live a lonely life and no consideration. Most of them complains that their husbands have no careful concern for their feelings. That seems because most of the Korean husbands have never had education enough to understand their problems in terms of international marriage. A close watch of what can be learned from conflict and complaints of women. However, any sympathy for foreign women's complaints should be evaluated in cultural sides: especially family life education programs for Korean husbands and their family members are required for a good grasp of typical intermarriage issues.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.268-282
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• 2012

International marriage migrants from developing to developed countries are to seek a better economic condition. There are only a few empirical research on comparing and analyzing economic condition of marriage migrants before and after marriage. This study attempted to analyze the relationship between the cognition on the change of economic condition before and after marriage and the socio-economic characteristics of Vietnamese international marriage female migrants. About 80% of interviewees of this study were motivated to marry Korean men for economic reasons; however, their household economic level was relatively low. Reflecting the household economic level, about half the Vietnamese women considered that there was very little difference in the economic condition before and after marriage; while, the percent of women considering the current economic condition as getting better were more than 4 times of that of women considering as becoming worse. The cognition on the economic condition change before and after marriage was positively correlated with the level of education attainment of husbands and themselves, the Korean language ability, state of occupation in Korea, the level of husband's income, involvement of management of living expenses and length of residence in Korea. The occupation in Vietnam and the state of remittance were not significantly related to the cognition on the economic condition change before and after marriage. Vietnamese marriage female migrants were highly motivated to have a job out of home to improve the economic condition of their own family and natal family. Concreted alternative programs should be made to help those women to work out of home.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.712-736
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• 2013

Since the 1990s, the international married couple, who were transnational migration has increased. therefore, there has been many studies on this approaches in the meanwhile, but enough analysis is not being done on the background of female marriage migrant and the adaptation of international marriage couples, because there is limits of the approach method. With the awareness of these issues, this study is about the analysis on the background and adaptation of them, based the data of surveys and in-depth interviews targeted international marriage couples in the area of Daegu and Gyeongbuk. The result of analysis survey on background of international migration was very high level about the recognition of the international marriage couple's global thinking, and analyzed this macro-background does not affect much about the international marriage couple's adaptation. However, this study were analyzed that the advance cognition degree to the other side, which are expected affect directly to the life and adaptation of all the couples is very low level.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.364-387
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• 2009

Female marriage immigrants have increased since the mid-1990s in Korea. Thus, their adaptation to Korean society has been a big social issue in Korea. There are a lot of academic researches on their adaptation to Korean society so far. We cannot sufficiently understand general main factors of their adaptation to Korean society because of methodological problems in the studies on the female marriage immigrants. Particularly, there are very few studies on female marriage immigrants' adaptation to their communities. This study analyzes determinants of female marriage immigrants' adaptation to their communities, using stepwise multi-regression. Data are collected from questionary survey on female marriage immigrants in Seoul, Gyeong-gi, Daegu, Gyeong-buk, Gwangju, Jeon-nam. Dependent variables are community life, spatial cognition and activities, and neighborhood relationship. Each dependent variable is analyzed with 30 independent variables through stepwise multi-regression. As a result, 16 positive determinants and 2 negative ones are selected. Positive determinants are resident identity, age, adaptation to home, number of Korean friends and same nationals' friends in Korea and so on. But, Korean language fluence is not selected as a significant factor. This is different from a general recognition. As exiting researches, the importance of social network and adaptation variables is also identified in this study.