Korean scholars laud Taiwan's NIA

The 11-member delegation, including Lee Jae-Boon and Park Kyun-Yeal from Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), Kim Yi-Soon, Chung Hae-Sook, and Min-Moo-Suk from the Korean Women's Development Institute (KWDI), visited the Jhuang Jing Vocational School.

Led by National Immigration Agency Director Hsieh Li-kung, Taipei City government officials and the headmaster of the school, the scholars toured certificate courses established for foreign spouses through NIA's funding and the city government's promotion.

Since their inauguration last year, the courses, including classes in cooking, baking, bartending and cosmetics, have helped 39 foreign spouses gain professional skill certificates. Two hundred trainees are expected to acquire certificates after passing written examinations.

The visit came one day after a study by National Institute for Demographic Surveys showed that an increasing number of East Asian men, especially those from Korea, Japan and Taiwan, are finding foreign brides, as the women in their countries are becoming less and less interested in marriage.

The study showed that 15 percent of marriages last year in Taiwan, and 8 percent in Korea, were international marriages.

As the number of foreign brides increased in recent years, the Korean government has been organizing similar courses to help foreign spouses blend in, but with limited success, said Park Kyun-Yeal from KEDI.

“The courses in Taiwan have shown great results and are good models Korea can learn from,” Park said.

The NIA regards building a multicultural society as the goal of immigrant assistance, director Hsieh Li-kung said. In addition to learning from the opinions and advice from central and local government officials, the NIA also listens to various non-governmental organizations, in order to jointly promote immigrant assistance with these organizations.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email