우크라이나 고려인 문제 해결 과정 분석: 2006-2009년 법적지위 회복 과정을 중심으로

While 13,000 ethnic Koreans as Ukrianian citizens live in Ukraine, 10,000-20,000 Koreans live there as illegal residents. Most of them moved from Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as so-called “sezonnik(seasonal labor migrants)”. After the collapse of the Soviet Union most of them continued to live in Ukraine without obtaining either Ukrainian or home country citizenship. As illegal residents these Koreans live like refugees without legal protection and social security benefits. The Korean Embassy in Ukraine conducted a social survey on the scope and the condition of illegal Korean residents in Ukraine in 2006. With the result of this survey, the Korean Embassy created a program to render support and legal assistance to stabilize the legal status of these illegal ethnic Koreans. It created a special committee with the Ukrainian government to solve problems related to illegal Korean residents. As the result of these coordinated efforts, in three years 324 Koreans obtained citizenship or green card of Ukraine or Uzbekistan, and some 600 Koreans registered as temporary resident. Although the special committee ceased to work in 2010, the process to stabilize the legal status of Koreans in Ukraine continued. So far some 1,000 Koreans have obtained either citizenship or green card. Support for Koreans living in Ukraine has been extended to economic life and education for their children. In 2009 the National Assembly of Korea passed a law for the stabilization of the legal status and stable settlement of Koreans living in the region of the former Soviet Union. The case of stabilizing the legal status of Koreans in Ukraine can be adopted as a model to solve problems of Koreans residing in countries of the former Soviet Union.