An estimated ten million Southeast Asians currently work overseas (Economist 2007); of these just fewer than 200,000 work in the Republic of Korea (hereafter South Korea). As these statistics suggest, South Korea is not yet a major destination for Southeast Asian migrant workers, but these workers account for one-third of the country's growing migrant population of more than 500,000. The vast majority of these workers are employed in small manufacturing firms, which have suffered from acute labour shortages in recent years.

The influx of foreign workers is a relatively new phenomenon in South Korea, long a poor country that had sent emigrants abroad. And, even though the Korean Government is keenly aware of market demands and the need for inexpensive migrant workers, it is concerned about their number and settlement. In 1993, an industrial training programme was created to recruit “trainees” from developing Asian countries for entry-level jobs in manufacturing. While the trainee status meant lower-than-minimum-wage, no-benefits jobs for migrant workers, this now infamous programme brought in almost 200,000 Southeast Asians, including 67,000 Indonesians and 45,000 Vietnamese, before being phased out in 2006. With the sharp increase in the number of illegal migrant workers who overstayed their trainee visas, a temporary migrant worker programme was recently introduced to recruit foreign workers on a three-year, non-renewable contract. This new migrant programme includes elements of positive discrimination that favour ethnic Koreans, mostly Korean Chinese returning to their homeland after long exile. Ethnic Koreans are now eligible for work in the service sector, while all “other” unskilled foreign workers of non-Korean heritage are largely limited to jobs in manufacturing.

Southeast Asian migrants, along with South Asians, have borne the brunt of a recent upsurge in enforcement against illegal migrant labour, given that they “look different” in South Korea, where native Koreans account for 99 per cent of the total population. Many have endured random stops and I.D. checks without probable cause (Amnesty International 2006). In 2006 alone, nearly 12,000 Southeast Asians were apprehended; 4,500 of them were forcefully deported to their respective home countries (Ministry of Justice 2007). Despite these harsh, punitive measures designed to catch and deport visa overstayers and other illegal migrant workers, Southeast Asians have put down roots in South Korea, proving that a temporary migrant programme will eventually lead to a large gap between policy and reality (Cornelius et al. 2004).