• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.224-229
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify foreign worker's health problem. Method: Data were collected by interview and analyzed by using the Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. Result: The most frequent health problem was 'diarrhea' and the next, 'cold' and 'dental caries'. There were significant differences in health problem by gender. There were significant differences in health problem, regular health checkup between legal workers and illegal workers. Conclusion: Judging from this study result, health program for foreign workers should be developed according to whether they are male or female and whether they are legal or illegal immigrants.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.789-805
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• 2014

This study is performed to verify immigrant wives' perceived conflicts with mother-in-laws and coping experiences. In order to understand in-depth conflicts between female immigrants and their mother-in-laws, we selected 8 foreign daughter-in-laws who have stayed over 5 years in Korea. We applied van Manen's phenomenological methods. After the data analysis, 7 fundamental themes were derived and these are as follows: First, mother-in-laws as a prison guard, second, living a conscious life of other's eyes, third, annoying words from mother-in-laws, fourth, treat married female immigrants as invisible woman not as family members, fifth, saying we are one finger which can overcome pains from biting, sixth, mother-in-laws can't let her son go, seventh, not distributing love. In addition, coping behaviors were as follows: they just deal with living a conscious life of other's eyes, making a feeble complaints, accepting it with understanding, resisting the situation, evading and enduring the circumstances. Husband was most reliable supporter and secured hiding place. Her friends were her spirit supporters.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.208-211
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• 2017

The biggest challenge immigrants face is language. We realized that Korean education contents suited for it are lacking more than we thought. To help with the above problems, we decided to make a mobile game for Korean conversation education. The proposed game is based on the online course of Sejonghakdang and is composed of life conversation which can be used immediately in real. We selected female marriage immigrants from China who have a large number of foreign residents and need a lot of Korean education but have a relatively low chance of being contacted. In the case of female marriage immigrants, communication was possible, but it was characterized that the composition of sentences was not smooth. Considering these features, we chose the game method that can match the problem in the unit of the word.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.891-902
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• 2008

Some Korean men choose to marry a foreigner expecting that marriage will solve all their problems. Therefore, this case study is to provide basic information on how to prevent conflicts in the marriage and how to get used to the marriage life. first, it is apparent that these match-makings between Korean men and married Female Immigrants are commercialized and are based on the two parties' convenience. Second, it is more possible that the issues with the role of husband/wife and the allocation of household labor stem from the cultural differences from international racial differences rather than Korean men are authoritative or patriarchal. It seems that the foreign brides from the third world countries choose to many Korean men with only a single purpose to financially help their parents. While neither willing to share household labor nor providing what is expected to be a wife, they demand financial assists for their parents or choose to get a job at a factory to make money. Third, the husbands expect their wives to learn Korean since there is not much opportunity to learn the wives' language and the culture. Also, the textbooks are rare to find for the languages. Moreover, the husbands do not have the enthusiasm or the ability to team due to age Fourth, the Korean men are rather psychological, financial, social victims than domestic abusers.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.29-38
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• 2010

Objectives: This study purports to comparatively study health condition, health behaviors, and health care utilization of Koreans living in Korea and in the US, and then, to analyze the factors influencing them. Methods: The collected data were analyzed on the basis of the 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Of 25,196 adults aged 19 or older, 7,802 respondents to health behavior survey and 5,526 respondents to physical examination survey. The analyzed data of the Korean Americans were the results of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research in 2005. This study analyzed the responses of 645 known Korean respondents to the 2005 CHIS. Results: In regard to differences in overall health condition between the two groups, it was found that both the male and female Korean Americans thought their own overall health conditions were relatively poor compared to Koreans, especially in relation to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. For smoking status considered as one of health behavior factors, smokers of the Koreans account for 46.1% which is higher than that of the Korean Americans and the proportion of the Koreans smoking daily is also at least two times higher than that of the Korean Americans. Similarly, for alcohol drinking, the Koreans showed higher drinking experience rate and no less than three times higher drinking frequency than that of Korean Americans. Conclusion: It is expected that this study will contribute greatly to solving health problems among foreign immigrants and overseas Koreans in future by clarifying any differences in health status and health behaviors resulting from sociocultural differences despite of similar genetic factors.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.222-231
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• 2012

In order determine potential correlations of multicultural family's male spouses' bicultural stress and communication with their marital satisfaction, this study surveyed male spouses of foreign female participants in a variety of multicultural family assistance programs available at national marital immigrants assistance centers and healthy family assistance centers of Korea, The results of this survey can be summed up as follows: First, with regard to subordinate categories of bicultural stress, it was found that cultural shock (M= 4.32) scored the highest mean points in bicultural stress, while perceived hostility scored the lowest mean points in bicultural stress, where the higher points indicate the higher bicultural stress. Secondly, in terms of cultural adaptation stress, it was found that the group exposed to higher cultural adaptation stress felt more satisfied at marital life. Thirdly, with regard to communication with foreign female spouses, it was found that frequently communicating group had higher marital stability. Finally, it was found that communication worked as a mediator in potential effects of bicultural stress on marital satisfaction.

• 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.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.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.116-127
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• 2015

The phenomenon of international migration since the 1980s comes to be born 'multi-cultural families support law' due to the foreign workers' inflow into labor market and to a rise in married female immigrants caused by globalization and diversification. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to examine who are participants? given being led to the enactment of 'multi-cultural families support law' by which the social issue called multi-cultural family is highlighted as the public agenda. Also, the mobilization will be selected and explained among three types in mobilization model, outside initiative model, and inside access model in the process of driving by confirming it as the government's formal agenda out of social issues. With having the case characteristics in mind, the aim is to research by choosing a case analysis method that uses research theses & books, newspaper, daily newspaper, election pledges, civic group, internet, and seminar data based on the existing theory and model. The temporal scope is limited to the one from the time as saying "revise the Overseas Korean Act of opposing the banishment of migrant workers" in November 2003 to February 2008 when 'multi-cultural families support bill(alternative plan)' is legislated with agreement by the 7th plenary session for the 271th provisional session of the National Assembly.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.24
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• pp.46-61
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• 2011

This paper considers how Koreans found their positions in the complex, overlapping, disjunctive, and interconnected "Oriental" repertoires in the early Cold War years. When we use the term, Oriental, it should require careful translation from context to context because it may be subject to very different sets of contextual circumstances. Klein views Cold War Orientalism in the complex of various regions including East Asian and Southeast Asian countries; however, when Koreans are contextualized at the center of the discussion the Orientalism produces another discursive meaning. Even though many great researches have been done on Korean immigrations, Korean American literatures, and US-Korea economic, political, and foreign relations, not many discussions about Korean American popular cultures have been discussed in the basis of the Oriental discourse in the United States.For this argument, this paper investigates the performative trajectory of a girl group "Kim Sisters" who began to sing at the US military show stages in South Korea in 1952 during the Korean War. They moved to Las Vegas show stages in 1959 and later appeared in Ed Sullivan Show more than thirty times during the 1960s and 70s. Meanwhile, they not only returned to South Korea often times to perform at the stages for Korean audiences in South Korea but also played at the shows for Korean immigrants in the United States. Korean American immigration to the United States has followed a different route from the majority of Asian American population such as Chinese or Japanese Americans, which means that efforts to compare this particular group to the others may be unnecessary. Rather doing comparative studies, this paper, therefore, focuses on the formation of the intersecting and multiple identities of Korean female entertainers who were forced or forced themselves to be incorporated into the American popular "Oriental" imagination, which I would call "embedded" identities. This embeddedness has been continuously maintained in the configuration of Korean characters in the United States. This will help not only to observe the discursive aspect of Asian American identity politics but also to claim a space for comparatively invisible Korean characters in the United States which has been often times neglected and not brought into a major Asian American or Oriental historical discourse. This paper starts with American scenes at the beginning of the twentieth century to trace Americans Oriental imagination which was observable in the various American cultural landscape and popular music soundscape. It will help us more clearly understand the production and consumption of the Korean "Oriental" performances during the early Cold War period and especially the Korean performance in the American venue, silently overshadowed into the political, social, and cultural framework.