한국국제교류재단

From August 2021 to January 2022, I was in Korea on the KF’s Fellowship for Field Research, studying the migration of young Koreans abroad for job opportunities and their relationship with the Korean government. In the wake of the global economic crisis, youth unemployment is a worldwide problem that requires solutions. Under these circumstances, the Korean government has for many years supported overseas employment of its younger generation in diverse ways. My research is aimed at discussing such efforts from the perspective of government-level support for the overseas employment of young workers.

While in Korea, I researched topics such as how the Korean government—not only the executive branch but the entire administration—cooperated with institutes of higher learning, businesses and the media to promote overseas employment of highly trained workers; what discourse it formulated, and in what way; and the significance of such cooperation and discourse. To comprehend the generality and peculiarity of the Korean example, I also collected research materials and data on other countries related to their government-level support to educate young people and help them find overseas employment. Through my research, I built the theoretical grounds for inquiry on whether the Korean government’s efforts should be understood under the broad context of tilting toward neoliberalism or be weighed in the context of developmentalism. Apart from this, I also conducted interviews to collect stories of young people preparing to relocate to Germany to pursue job opportunities. Given the statistical finding that many of the migrants were young women, I talked to highly trained female workers who had moved or were planning to move to Germany. As mentioned earlier, I strived to form a solid theoretical foundation from the beginning of my field research, making concentrated efforts to collect materials conducive to building a corresponding theoretical framework, accumulating sources and data needed to build an empirical basis, and acquiring interview results.

My stay in Korea proved to be a valuable opportunity to gauge Korean policy toward its youth labor market and assess the reality of the market by directly talking to young people. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Director Soo-jin Park and Dr. Jong-cheol Kim of Seoul National University’s Asia Center for supporting my research in many ways. The Korea Foundation and I maintained close contacts before and after my arrival in Korea, and through an advance orientation, the KF gave me meticulously prepared information on the fellowship program and how to live in and adapt to Korea. Thanks to the KF, I experienced no inconveniences in Korea and could focus entirely on my research. I also express my profound gratitude to the KF officials who supported me during my six-month stay. Given my positive experience with the KF, I will commit to further research and educational activities.

University of Heidelberg Jaok KwonKF KF’s Fellowship