결혼이민여성의 이혼과 ʻ다문화정책ʼ: 관료적 확장에 따른 가족정책과 여성정책의 몰이민적·몰성적 결합

This study is a first attempt to analyze the controversial ʻDamunhwa policyʼ by taking its recent advance regarding increased divorce of multicultural families(MF) problematic. Misuse of divorce statistics, mixed policy targets, and contentious policy programs are the issues vindicating urgent need of sociological analysis of policies on immigrants. My arguments are first, the salience of state and policy in the process of migration and everyday lives of immigrants is well recognized and analyzed in western literature but hardly in Korea. Whereas, Korea is the only state which distinguishes female marriage immigrants(FMI) and MF as policy targets separate from other immigrants. Second, divorce rates of FMI from 7 major countries are newly computed by the author and found decreasing since 2008 and yet 3.5 times higher than that of the national average in 2011. They sharply fluctuate by countries of origin and year, rendering the possibility of divorce being considered as a stage in migration process and under the influence of immigration policies. Third, ʻbureaucratic expansionismʼ is proposed and utilized to explain the seemingly random usage of different terms for policy targets, and resulting immigration- and gender-blindness of the policy. Fourth, unlike the legal objective, general expectations, or the criticism by feminist groups and scholars, ʻDamunhwa policyʼ has no vestiges of ʻMF making projectʼ or family policy but is about socio-economic empowerment and securing stable legal status for FMI, in addition to supporting their basic needs. Thus, finally, not only socioeconomic bases of the already disadvantaged private patriarch but legal sponsor status are undermined by Damunhwa policy, or the state patriarch, which is conducive to divorce or the disintegration of the MF. Future research and policy should be both immigration- and gender-sensitive.