한국사회 이주 무슬림 커뮤니티에 관한 연구 －유입, 적응, 사회적 네트워크를 중심으로-

Korea is known as homeogenous nations throughout the history. But Korea’s long history of being a homogeneous nation is facing a rapid change as Korea is fast becoming a multi-ethnic society with a growing number of foreign migrant workers, international students, and inter-racial marriages. About a decade ago, Korea was a country where foreigners stood out among the crowd. But now, it is easy to see foreign communities scattered around the Seoul metropolitan area and outside the capital. There is even a prime time talk show solely dedicated to what foreign residents in Korea think about the country. With the growing number of foreign brides, migrant workers and foreign students, the number of foreign residents exceeded the 1 million mark as of August 2007. Considering that the number stood at a mere 40,000 in 1990, it is truly a dramatic change. Although multi-cultural Korean society is the fastest growing debate in the Korean society, there is a big lackness that deals on the muslim community or immigrant in Korea. According to immigration office data, among 1 million foreign immigrants in Korea, there are an estimated 104,427 Muslims living in Korea, occupying 10% of foreign residents. Considering the high birth rates among muslim immigrants and stagnated birth rates of Koreans, it is worthwhile to investigate muslim communities in Korea. Perhaps, it is the right time to research on Muslim immigrants in Korean society. Considering the mentioned above, this research focuses on the influx, adaptation, and social network of Muslim Immigrants in Korea as the first year subject of the government sponsored project on “Acculturation and Adaptation of Immigrant Muslims in Korean Society: Coexisting with Koslims (Korean-Muslims) in a Multi-Cultural Society”. To investigate and to collect data from various muslim groups in Korea, this study divided the Koslims into five categories; Arab Muslims, non Arab Middle East Muslims, Central Asian Muslims, South Asian Muslims, and South East Asian Muslims. In order to outline the Muslim communities in Korea, initially, this research has employed various statistic data as qualitative method. However this study was done mainly through field research using survey method. Questionnaire and a face-to-face interview were used to explain the peculiarity of the different Muslim communities in Korea. Questionnaire and interview questions were prepared in 10 different languages. Collected data were carefully analyzed through SPSS program with cross tabulation and frequencies analysis. Based on fieldwork among Arab, non Arab Middle East, Central Asian, South Asian, and South East Asian Muslim communities in Korea, this article examines the present condition and social network of the Muslim immigrants in Korea. It investigates not only the general situation of the Koslims in Korea but also explores their adaptation and attitude toward the Korean community.