Good morning, fellow Koreans,

Now that the summer vacation season has started, I hope every one will be able to enjoy a pleasant vacation, refreshing your body and mind. I also recommend that the civil servants who have worked relentlessly with scarcely a break over the past two years go on summer vacation with their families this year.

Today, I would like to speak with you about a recent incident that has made us reflect on ourselves.

An unexpected tragedy happened to a young Vietnamese bride, who was only 20, just eight days after she came to Korea. Ms Thach Thi Hoang Ngoc met a Korean man through an international matchmaking agency and married him in Vietnam. She came to Korea right after she was married and was murdered by her mentally ill husband.

Though born into a poor family, she was a good daughter who worked hard for her family and sent home most of her wages. “I will live happily” were the last words she said to her father when she phoned home. I am truly saddened and feel much regret. I pray for her soul and offer my deepest sympathy to her family.

The number of immigrant spouses in Korea has already surpassed 180,000, and the number of their children has exceeded 120,000. It is also noteworthy that four out of 10 married men in Korean farming and fishing communities have wives from other countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines and China.

Families with multicultural backgrounds are now regarded as common in our society. It is only right for our social awareness to become more mature in step with such a change, but to my great regret, there still seems to be much room for improvement.

In addition, a handful of international marriage brokers must rectify their wrong ideas and practices. The Government will take this opportunity and try to work out measures to improve the situation. 

When I visited Cambodia last October, Prime Minister Hun Sen asked me to treat immigrant spouses from Cambodia living in Korea as if they were my own daughters-in-law.

The Government has been implementing policies that takes into consideration the needs of multicultural families. However, I can do more considering all of them are my own daughters-in-law. I felt sorry when I heard what Prime Minister Hun Sen said. At the same time, I am determined to work harder on behalf of them.

After hearing the heart-rending news this time, I personally wanted to meet with the bereaved family to offer my condolences. However, their early departure from Korea prevented me from doing so, thus I had the Korean ambassador to Vietnam visit their home and convey my sympathy.  

In life, one priority of paramount importance is to marry the one you love and respect and to make a home together. Regrettably, however, there seems to be some Korean husbands who fail to respect the immigrant women who have come to Korea to marry them. Such an inappropriate attitude hurts all Korean people and all the people in the countries where the brides came from as well. This has got to come to an end, now.  

When I visited Mexico at the end of June, I had a chance to meet with the Korean residents there. Most of them were descendants of early Korean emigrants who left their homeland in 1905 to work on the sugar plantations. When I heard their life stories filled with hardships, hot tears welled up in my eyes.  

Up until the 1960s, some 20,000 Korean miners and nurses flew to Germany to support their families. We all can conjure up the difficulties they had to undergo on remote foreign soil far away from home.   

The tears they shed at that time are no different than those of the workers from other countries and immigrant women who have come to Korea. Unless their tears stop, it is impossible for us to consider Korea as an advanced nation in a genuine sense, no matter how much the national income soars.  

I am sure that all the stories of the workers and brides from other parts of the world are not negative. A case in point is a story about Ms Park Kyung-ok who returned to Korea after working as a nurse in Germany for seven years. Even after her retirement, she did not hesitate to rush anywhere where migrant worker patients needed care. She clearly realized the fact that workers from other nations now working in Korea are just like we used to be in the past.

I know of a food-catering company run for the benefit of socially vulnerable people. What is impressive is that women from different countries make and sell their own traditional foods there, contributing to the revenues of the restaurant.

In the local elections last month, Ms Lee Ra, a Mongolian woman married to a Korean, was elected to a provincial council on a proportional ticket. I am so inspired by the newly naturalized women who are realizing their dreams as proud members of the community.

I am aware that the Government has much more to do in this respect, but government policies, too, have been yielding some good results. Nationwide, there are 171 centers for multicultural families devoted to helping the women settle down smoothly. Those women with diverse backgrounds and their multicultural families make Korean culture more colorful and raise our national competitiveness, particularly when viewed from a long-range perspective.

Their children are likely to speak fluently the languages of both their mother and father and will be equipped with the desirable traits of the two cultures. So there is good chance that they will grow to be talented global citizens.  

Let us look back on the history of ancient Rome as well as the pre-modern and modern histories of the United Kingdom and the United States. When they maintained their tolerance toward different people and cultures, their national fortunes thrived.   

Fellow Koreans,

In the 21st century, not only goods but also people from different countries travel long distances freely. As many as seven million Koreans live overseas. Likewise, more and more people will immigrate to Korea from other countries. This is unparalleled in the history of Korea. The Republic is truly becoming a multicultural society.  If we look at the countries that prospered in the past, all of them digested foreign cultures well and achieved national integration. They thrived as the result of mixing traditional culture with other outside cultures.

Let us all make sure that we broaden our hearts and wholeheartedly welcome the people and culture coming from the outside. Government policies will also have to pursue openness as they interact with the world.

When we continue to endeavor in this way, we will be able to build up a country where people from all over the world can realize their Korean dream.

The weather has been hot and humid lately. Despite that, I assure you I will gladly join all the citizens who are sweating at their workplaces, so that their labor will bring about rewarding and happy results.

Thank you very much.