Social and Religious Challenges and Social Adaptation of Uzbek Marriage Migrants in South Korea

The purpose of this study is to analyze the cultural and religious adaptation of Uzbek marriage immigrants in Korea and derive policy implications for social integration. To this end, this study interviewed Uzbek women who immigrated to Korea through marriage to identify the personal, policy, and social difficulties they have faced in Korean society. In addition, this study examined the efforts they and their families make to overcome the difficulties and the systems and programs provided by the government for successful integration to identify their significance and limitations. The results of the study showed that Uzbek marriage immigrant women were experiencing difficulties due to differences in food, language, and religion, and were experiencing resistance, compromise, and assimilation. The variables that had the greatest influence on this process were Korean husbands, parents-in-law, and Uzbek women’s online communities. The faster the husbands and parents-in-law understood halal food and religious practices and did not impose Korean culture, the faster the adaptation. On the other hand, the programs of the ‘Multicultural Center’ provided by the Korean government were mainly language education, but were not helpful because they did not provide information on food and religious practices. Therefore, women solved this problem through digital networks, through which they obtained information about groceries, shared religious and cultural difficulties, and gained emotional stability. Therefore, our society needs to provide appropriate education to Korean families who welcomed married immigrant women as family members, such as husbands and in-laws, and implement the information and emotional stability provided by digital networks at the institutional level to promote the social integration of Muslim married women.