religious sustainability among nepalese migrant workers in korea

인하사회과학논총 제26집(2010년), pp. 229~251

Thakur Subedi*, Jung Young-Tae**

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers'

Religious Sustainability:A case study Nepalese Workers in Korea

Key Words: Nepalese workers, Hindu, Religious Facilities, Religious Practice, Working environment,

Migrant Center

The paper examines how complex nature of

working environment and lack of religious facili-

ties affect Nepalese workers from practicing their

religion in Ansan, South Korea. We observed

factors such as food, housing, co-workers and

boss, migrant centers etc., associated to working

environment in order to assess the impact on

their religion. We conducted an in?depth inter-

view of 20 Nepalese individuals in the study

area. Our findings suggest Nepalese immigrants,

mainly from the Hindu community, are flexible in

their religion when it comes to adaptability in a

foreign country, and thus are well?accustomed in

a new environment. Towards the end, we hand

out few policy recommendations based on their

experience and assumptions, which we believe

upon implementation, might enhance their reli-

gious life in Korea.

I. Intoduction

“Everyone has the right to conscience and religion; this right includes freedom

to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with

others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, prac-

tice, worship and observance.”1)

The above stated quotation seems to have been left in the state of oblivion amid

the non‐stop flow of labor migration in Korea. Korea’s astonishing economic growth

and extensive demands for foreign labors from the small and medium sized industries

during 1990s opened the flood gate for many immigrants. As these immigrants repre-

sent different countries, they possess diverse religious background too. Lack of access

to justice for foreign workers, who have suffered abuses, and constraints on the mo-

bility of migrant workers and trainees are enough to indicate that these workers in

* Ph.D Candidate, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Inha University ([email protected])

** Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Inha University([email protected])

1) Liam Gearon, Human Rights & Religion: A reader (Sussex: Brighton and Portland. 2002), pp. 44.

230 인하사회과학논총

South Korea are not well protected against human rights violations.2)

Stories regarding Human Rights violation of immigrants are often seen covering

the newspaper headlines in Korea. However, despite its sensitiveness, people hardly

consider the seriousness of violation of such religious rights. As Korea is a secular

state with majority of people are aligned to non‐religious groups, several instances

of religion violations are passed unnoticed or without triggering a concern. Once

turned, attention is paid only to the gross human rights rather than its religious

aspects. This may be the reason that immigrants’ religious rights in Korea has been

of less concern until today as the Korean government does not seem to have taken

any stern measures towards it. Being a liberal and a signatory to the Universal

Declaration of Human rights (UDHR), the country needs to avoid the discrimination

on the basis of religion, race, color, sex, language etc.3)

When we look at Smith’s argument, we find the process of immigration or land-

ing in another country itself is a “theologizing experience” as religion provides an

ethical viewpoint and the resources that foster the immigrants’ viewpoint and with

which the immigrants can react to the confusion and alienation result from their

relocating. 4) From this perspective, religion not only offers an important individual

insight and psychological comfort to the immigrants but also it plays an important

institutional role, providing an anchorage for people undergoing the process of im-

migration in a foreign land5).

Similarly, in an American society, Herberg perceived religion as an essential set of

identity and association capable of building unities and identities, and through which

immigrants could find a place in new life6). Thus, it won’t be wrong to say that reli-

gious institutions provide a way to observe and understand immigrants’ life more

generally as well as the place of immigrants in the host society. However, these re-

searchers do not go beyond the realm of such religious institutions and ethical

viewpoints. Majority of them, instead of pointing out the problems and reasons that

2) Amnesty International, South Korea, “Migrant workers are also human beings,” Report (2006), p.15 at <http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA25/007/2006> (searched date: 9 October 2010).

3) Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), Article 2 at < http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml> (Searched date: 28 December 2009).

4) Timothy L. Smith, “Religion and Ethnicity in America,” American Historical Review, 83(1978), pp. 1155‐1185.

5) Philip Gleason, “Immigration, Religion, and Intergroup Relations: Historical Perspectives on the American Experience,” in Donald L. Horowitz and Gérard Noiriel ed., Immigrants in Two Democracies: French and American Experience, (New York: New York University Press, 1992) pp. 167‐187.

6) Will Herberg, Protestant, Catholic, Jew: An Essay on American Religious Sociology (Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1960, 2nd Ed).

Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Migrant Workers' Religious Sustainability 231

negatively affect the daily religious practices among the immigrants, only pay atten-

tions on the role of religious organizations such as how religious institutions can

change or improve their lives. Therefore, a strong need for a research on how and to

what extent these immigrants’ surroundings and activities associated with working en-

vironment and lack of religious facilities affect the immigrants’ daily religious

practices.

In Ansan city, few cases of religious dilemma7) among Nepalese immigrants

could be noticed due to unfavorable environment in the workplaces. Few of these

immigrants seem to be wondering about their religious identity. The Hindu religion

dominated cultures and traditions are no more to celebrate. They are involuntarily

celebrating Christmas, which they never did back in Nepal. Coming out of a strong

Hindu background and living in a country where majority of people are non‐reli-

gious would definitely affect the daily pattern of religious practices.

As there exists not a single study of this kind, discussion with them gave us the

idea for this research to carry out. Hence, to get to the bottom of our curiosity, we

decided to raise few research questions such as, how do these Nepalese workers

sustain their religious life in Korea? How do the working environment and other

external factors affect their religion? Do they find themselves in a state of religious

dilemma? Which are the factors that affect their religion the most? How much ef-

fort do they put on to sustain their religion?

Prominent researchers like Levitt has already realized the importance of religious

places with regard to institutional ties with their home communities that provide an-

other ground for immigrants to remain connected to their homelands. 8) Thus, we

paid attention on external factors such as their networking and activities as well as

available religious facilities in the vicinity. As there lacked research on the impact

of internal factors related to working environment such as food, accommodation,

working hours, discrimination at working place, etc., we examined those factors to

sort out the impact on their daily religious life. We also inspected the impact while

visiting migrant centers on their religion as these organizations are generally asso-

ciated with Christianity in Korea.

For our purpose, we conducted an in‐depth interview between November 15 and

December 15 in 2009 in various locations around Ansan. As for the interview, we

7) “Religious dilemma”, in this paper, refers to a state of feeling when individuals doubt if they are following their religion properly or not.

8) Peggy Levitt, “Local‐level global religion: The case of U.S.‐Dominican migration,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37 (1998), pp. 74‐89.


used Nepali language. Ansan was selected for the research partly because this city

has been considered as a major hub, where around 33,290 foreigners live.9) The

sampling includes 20 individuals out of 263 Nepalese immigrants living in the

study area. These workers varied in age, religion, working places, visa status and

duration of their stay in Korea. The interviewed places include Nepali Restaurants

in Ansan and companies in Banwal and Shihung industrial area, where majority of

Nepalese are believed to be residing.

Secondary information sources comprise of Ansan City Hall, Ansan Migrant

Centres, Government Websites, newspaper articles etc. The Key Informants for pri-

mary information include Nepalese male workers, Ansan Migrant Centre Pastor,

Pastor Yong IL Choi, former secretary General of Ansan Migrant Centre, and few

City Hall Employs, who contributed for informal discussion. Several impact in-

dicators include, length of stay, status, working environment, spending holidays, liv-

ing and working environment, practicing religion, food, visiting migrants shelters,

social networking, etc.

Once the data were collected, we analyzed them descriptively to examine the im-

pact of working environment and religious facilities on their religion.

The samples exclusively cover low‐skilled Nepali workers living in Ansan area re-

gardless of their visa types. As the feeling of religious dilemma differs from in-

dividuals to individual, the result of this work cannot be generalized to other charac-

ters and groups even from the similar community. Also, since Nepal is known as a

Hindu Kingdom and 90 percent of our samples belong to Hindu community, the re-

search emphasizes much on the Hindu aspects compare to the 10% Muslim samples.

Therefore, unlike in‐depth study on Hindus, only a surface level study on the Muslim

workers has been conducted to screen the basic differences between the two. More

to this, the participants are very small; and since the time and place factors along

with religious facilities and working environment vary from region to region, the pre-

diction of this work cannot be universalized in the entire Korean context.

In the absence of existing literature, the work falls a short of expectation in gen-

eral theory testing, however the surveyed data and followed up analysis is enough

to justify its potentiality in addressing several hidden issues with regard to Nepalese

workers’ religious facets in Korea. As we covered only few basic factors mentioned

above, the result might miss‐match if new independent variables are added or exist-

ing variables are subtracted. However, regardless of few limitations, this work is

9) Ansan City, Foreigner Registration Sheet, (Ansan: Ansan City, September 2008), p. 1.


expected to serve as a baseline and fill the underlying gap in the field of immi-

grants’ religious concerns in Korea.

The introduction part outlines the background, where several important research

questions have been discussed; the second part depicts a brief situational analysis of

Nepali immigrants in Korea justifying the significance of the research. The third

chapter covers the data analysis part and answers to our research questions on how

working environment and lack of religious facilities affect the religious life of these

Nepalese immigrants in Korea. Finally, the concluding chapter interprets the out-

comes and conclusion with few policy recommendations to follow.

Ⅱ. Religious Sustainability of Nepalese Workers in Korea

Nepalese Immigrants in Korea

Nepal is among one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world

with per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of about US$ 470 and where 24.7%

of the population falling below the poverty line. Agriculture is the backbone of na-

tional economy providing a livelihood for three‐fourths of the population accounting

for about one‐third of GDP. More than 76% of the population depends on

agriculture. About 6% people are engaged in industry related occupation where as

18% are surviving by means of service sectors.10)

Because of the lack of industries and service sectors, unemployment rate in

Nepal is very high. Poverty and absence of opportunity back home pushed 202,794

people abroad for work in 2009 (Fiscal Year 2065/2066) up from 171,244 during

the same period in 200811). The existing data, ‐1.35 migrants/1,000 populations re-

trieved in 2010,12) is enough to justify that people want to leave the country at any

cost as there are only rare opportunities. The largest number heads for India and

gulf countries for work as the former does not require a Visa, while the latter is

easier and less costly. The other major destinations include Qatar, Malaysia, Saudi

Arabia, Israel, Dubai, Japan, South Korea, etc.

10) Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal (2009), at <http://www.cbs.gov.np/statis_2009_content.html> (searched date: 12 October 2010).

11) Republica, “18.5 pc rise in Nepali Workers Leaving for Jobs Abroad,” Republica (18 April 2010), at <http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=17630> (searched date: 28 December 2010).

12) “The World Fact book,” CIA, at <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the‐world‐factbook/geos/np.html> (searched date: 24 December 2009).


Although there lacks real source about the actual date of Nepalese arrival in

Korea, it is believed that the flow started after 1988 Seoul Olympic when Korea

formally opened its door to foreign workers. Lack of opportunity at home and bet-

ter prospects of life abroad pushed many individuals in to this country. It is sup-

posed that many Nepalese travelled earlier here on temporary visa; got the oppor-

tunity to work and make money, which stopped them from going back. We noticed

one of our respondents, a 39 year old man (Case 17), who entered Korea in the

year 2000 on a tourist visa, sharing his past feelings, “I visited Korea in 2000 and

found a job with a very good salary, thus I did not return to Nepal”. (Ma ghumna

ayeko thiye, yeha kam garne manchhe ko khacho rahechha, paisa pani nikai ramro

thiyo tesaile ma Nepal nafarkikana yetai base).

Later, the Korean government’s initiative to assist small and medium sized in-

dustries suffering from labor shortages and expensive labor costs for 3D jobs

(Dirty, Dangerous and Difficult) created an environment that allowed the already

entered foreigners to stay here longer. It was only after the Asian crisis in 1997,

the government realized the burden of these people and started to regulate the flux

of migrants, thus to avoid illegal migration and fulfill the demand for blue‐collar

job numbers, Korea finally introduced Trainee System in 1994. Under this system,

Nepalese workers entered the country at a large scale. To some extent, it slowed

down after the adaptation of Employment Permit System (EPS) in 2003. Today, the

number of Nepalese in Korea is estimated about 6,150,13) among them 263 people

are believed to be working in Ansan and its vicinity14).

Why Religion in Korean Context?

Korea is a long standing home ground for Confucianism. Today it is dominated

by non‐religious groups (46.5%) followed by strong Christianity (29.3%), Buddhists

(22.8%) and rest of people make a few.15) However, major group of foreign work-

ers, particularly coming from countries like, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan,

Sri Lanka etc. have different religious backgrounds like Hindu, Islam, Buddhism

etc. Therefore, sometimes, these people not only find it difficult to adjust in a new

atmosphere, but also occasionally small conflicts turn up. Due to the working place

environment and surroundings, these migrants (mainly Hindu and Muslim) are de-

13) Ministry of Justice Korea, 2008, at <http://www.moj.go.kr> (searched date: 24 December 2009). 14) Ansan City, Foreigner Registration Sheet, (Ansan: Ansan City, September 2008), p. 2.15) Korea Statistics Information System, Statistics Korea(2008), at <http://kosis.nso.go.kr:7001/ups/chapte

rRetrieve.jsp?pubcode=MA&seq=292&pub=3> (searched date: 16 February 2010).


prived of practicing their religious rituals. More to this, due to the religious differ-

ences with the foreigners as well as Korean co‐workers, and sometimes even with

the boss, the immigrants find themselves in perplexed situation.

Quite often Korean evangelical Christians are seen expressing hostility to Buddhism.

Likewise, several incidents of burning and damage against Buddhist shrines and fa-

cilities have been witnessed, where some of the wrongdoers were identified as

Christians, or left messages denouncing "idol worship".16)These sorts of heinous ac-

tivities indirectly affect immigrants mind if he or she belongs to a part of such

ideology. Even if they are not associated to such creed, they may be well afraid to

initiate their own religious activities at their own. Hence, attention is required to

avoid any sorts of conflicts in the workplace as well as in the society outside.

One of our interviewee (Case 3) said, “I wanted to set up a small temple like

place inside my company so that I could pray every morning, however due to the

fear of the others I could not do so as they would insult me and expel me out of

the company”. (Ma euta sano thauma mandir jasto banayera sadhai bihana puja gar-

na chahanthe, tara aruharuko dar le malai beijjat garlan ra company bata nikalidelan

bhanne darle teso garna sakena).

Further, once these immigrants wish to practice their religion, it seems almost

impossible as the country does not have enough facilities (such as mosques or tem-

ples). Thus, lack of religious facilities and the unfavorable environment are the ma-

jor factors threatening immigrants’ religious rights, which is also an inseparable ele-

ment from fundamental human right. On the other hand, if the immigrants are to

face any job related difficulties, they have no choice but to visit Migrant Center

s17). Since majority of migrants centers are run by churches (and a few by

Buddhist groups), few of the immigrants, upon visiting there, face Hamlet’s di-

lemma “to be or not to be” as they might feel asking a favor from other religious

groups (belonging to different God) similar to denouncing their own religion.

Nepalese workers and their Religious Sustainability in Korea

The very gist of religious sustainability lies in a person’s acceptably and main-

tenance of his or her daily religious practices. Since religion is very sensitive in

16) Frank M Tedesco, "Questions for Buddhist and Christian cooperation in Korea," International association for religious freedom (5 May 1999), at < http://www.oocities.com/~iarf/tedesco1.html> (searched date: 29 October 2010).

17) Migrants Centers in Korea are mainly Pro‐Christian organizations that provide legal, social and oth-er supports to foreign workers and immigrants free of charge.


nature and attached to one’s internal identity, except in few occasions, it cannot be

observed, thus the victims usually try to conceal and suppress.

By birth Nepalese were stamped as Hindus until the new constitution adopted in

1992 stating Nepal a secular state. These Hindus comprise of 80.62% of the total

population followed by Muslim 4.2% and Christianity 0.25.18) Even in Ansan, the

above numbers approximately matches as 90% of our respondents were found to be

Hindus compared to 10%, who were Muslims. Majority of these immigrants we in-

terviewed used to practice their religion regularly when they were back in Nepal,

but could not maintain the momentum after their arrival in Korea, which they be-

lieve due to the absence of favorable environment.

The reasons, at first, there is not even a single Hindu temple in the area and, sec-

ond the working hours and the timing of practicing the religion do not match at all,

which results in the forced‐negligence of the religion. As in Case 7, who used to vis-

it nearby temple every morning for pray, back in Nepal, here he finds no such pla-

ces to go, thus questions how to perform? (“Ma Nepal ma chhada sadhai ghar najikai

ko mandir janthe, puja garthe, tara yaha ta mandirai chhaina , kasari garne?”).

Generally, for a devout Hindu, the importance of early morning pray by visiting

a nearby temple is something that cannot be ignored. However, once they arrive in

Korea carrying “Korean Dream”, they are stunned. Not only the lack of communi-

cation hurts them but also they cannot roll on their religion in the new atmosphere.

For example, Hindu devotees are required performing fasting on specific days such

as Janma‐Asthami, Ekadashi, Durga Puja19), other holy rituals etc., however as they

work on these days, they are unable to maintain it. More to this, while working in

the factories these people have to share rooms and canteens with diverse religious

groups, which also result in inconvenience affecting their religion facets.

On the other hand, lack of religious facilities such as temples (there is not even

a single temple in nearby location in Ansan) around the working place and other

religiously supportive institutions woes them. Apart from this, if these immigrants

are to face any job related difficulties, they have to visit the nearby Migrant

centers. Since there are not any Hindu related institutions (majority of migrants

centers are run by churches), few workers face the state of religious dilemma while

visiting these centers because it requires asking a favor from other religious groups

or organization, which are associated with different gods. To several Hindu practi-

18) Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal (2009), op. cit.19) On these days, a devout Hindu is supposed to do fasting the whole day to perform the praying to

respective Gods.


tioners, this act makes them feel like as if though they are religiously humiliated or

their religion being denounced. Thus, these kinds of obstacles make it very hard to

keep up with immigrants’ religion in Korea. This deprivation often gives birth to a

sense of fear among these workers as if they are losing their religious identity.

How able are they to sustain their religion?

These religious related concerns primarily occur in a situation where there is the

dominance of a second religion in a society or in work place, where the new-

comers live as a minority, and secondly if the required facilities are unavailable.

Upon examination, it was found that majority of these immigrants felt that had

there been opportunities and accessibility, they would have practiced their religion.

Among the samples, 70% of the respondents, who used to practice their religion in

Nepal, could not keep it up here at all, for which the major reason was the time

regarding the work. On the other hand, 20% of them found to be practicing

partially. The 2 Muslims (Case 4 & 19) and one Hindu (Case 3) expressed that

they had really hard time in Korea in terms of practicing their religion. And inter-

estingly, for the remaining 10%, it was unnecessary, thus they just did not care

about it. Although, there appeared several reasons behind this, 20% of our samples

(Case 3, 4, 7 and 19) agreed on the fact that had there been facilities, they would

have practiced. From here, it is very pity to learn that 50% of the respondents

have already lost their religious affinity after their arrival in Korea because the

number was 70% when they were in Nepal. Hence, those 50 % individuals are in

a course of losing their religious identity (Hinduism) in the long run.

Length of Residency and life Satisfaction among Nepalese Immigrants

Most of the Nepalese workers in Korea suddenly found their life satisfaction high-

er after three years of stay compared to that of in the beginning. Under the trainee

system, as the law didn’t allow them to stay longer than 3 years, they would become

illegal20). However, the more they stayed, the better they used the language and

loved Korean food and made strong social as well as work‐networks. In the begin-

ning, their expectations were very high but the gain was low due to language bar-

riers, food, and other assimilation related issues. But after the first year, when they

started to learn and know the surroundings and could speak Korean language a little,

they found their satisfaction going up. As time went by and as they become more fa-

20) Within the Trainee System (D‐3 visa) in Korea, foreign workers were only allowed to stay up to 3 years, the first year as a trainee and later two years as a worker.


miliar to a Korean way of life, they were found paying less attention to the issues

such as religion, particularly the Hindu community. This is the reason majority of il-

legal respondents did not have any concern with religious matters as they were found

visiting not only migrant centers but also the Churches during the weekends. That

was the reason, even after their visa expired, instead of going back to Nepal, they

preferred staying here undocumented. For them, although the people at work look

very rude, the outside world is very harmoniums.

Ⅲ. Impact of Working Environment and Lack of Religious Facilities on Religion

The working environment is the place, where the immigrants spend bulk of their

time, and therefore it has a direct impact on their daily life patterns. Upon examina-

tion, we found that working environment had great impact on their religion too. We

assumed that both external and internal factors had direct influence on their religious

life. This is why; despite their willingness, these immigrants were unable to practice

their religion. Workers had difficulties in maintaining their religion due to their boss-

es, who sometimes request their workers to visit Churches or Temples together.

Because of the working nature in the companies these bosses are very strict on pro-

viding off days during especial religious occasions. Further, these immigrants were

often denied from celebrating any religious activities or festivals in the company

premises. Our respondent (Case 20), a 34 year old man told us that once “on Sunday

last year we were gathered at our company to celebrate the Dashain21) festival, we

also bought a goat for the slaughtering, however some of our co‐workers informed

the boss and he was angry at our celebration as he asked us to leave the place at

that time. We tried to make him understand but he did not listen to us. So, we had

to visit other friend’s company” (Gata sal hamiharu hamro company ma bhela

bhayeraa Dashain manaune bichar gareka thiyeau, Khasi pani kinera lyayeka thiyeu

tara kasaile sahu lai khabar garidiyechha, u risaudai ayera hamilai antai ja bhanyo,

uslai dherai samjhayem tara manena, tesaile hami haru sathiko ma janu paryo).

Apart from those, food, accommodation, co‐workers related factors also contribute

negatively. These various factors affecting their religion on working environment

could be observed on the following basis:

21) The largest festival celebrated in Nepal, it is associated with Hindu religion, where Goddess Durga is worshipped. It is known for “Victory of good over evils”.


1. Internal Factors Internal factors are the factors directly associated to the work place and working

environment within the company surroundings. This includes but not limited to ac-

commodation, meals, working time, co‐workers and boss etc. Several internal factors

we considered to be affecting these immigrants’ religious aspects are:

Dormitory Sharing

Mankind has witnessed several instances of conflicts while living together, espe-

cially arising due to mix‐ups in religion. This is partly because the religious tradi-

tions and rituals are different from one religion to other. However, Korean compa-

nies, in general, neither provide single rooms nor do they separate workers on the

basis of religion. If someone feels uncomfortable and wants to go out, he or she

must pay for the living expenses privately in most of the instances.

We found this impact totally negative in Nepalese case as these Nepalese work-

ers had never confronted such situation and felt the “roommate” factor does not af-

fect them much. Which, we believe, partly due to the reason that 80% of them

were found to be living with the same country people, and with the Hindus. In

case of two Muslims (Case 4 &19), who were followers of Islam, shared the room

with a Pakistani, yet with the same religion. The remaining 2, who were living

with Koreans, had never faced any conflict on the basis of religion.

In this regard, the roommate factor doesn’t seem to have any impact on their re-

ligious lives but some of them (20%) advocated for its effect and considered it

might be one of the affecting factors in the workplace.

Meals in Canteens (Beef and Pork)

Korean foods generally include beef and pork as ingredients. But, according to

Hindu religion cow is regarded as Goddess Lakshmi, thus, eating beef is similar to

committing a heinous sin. At the same time, as cow is the national animal of

Nepal, killing or eating cow is considered as an illegal act by law in Nepal.

Similarly, Muslims are not allowed to eat pork22) as well as other meats except

‘Halaal’23). Sometimes, lack of basic knowledge about Islam religion, situation be-

comes tragic as Koreans are unaware that Muslims do not eat pork. In an incident,

Ridzuwan, a Muslim guy, had admitted, “Sometimes I am served a pork dish by

Koreans who know that I am Muslim’’.24)

22) Qur'an 2:173: “He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine…” 23) means lawful or legal: designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law, Sharia.


However, to our great surprise, upon examination, we found that 70% percent of

respondents, who were all Hindu believers, did not care for it. However, 15% in-

cluding 2 Muslims and only one Hindu were found too much affiliated with their

religion so that they prepared meal by themselves regardless of problems they faced

doing so. Among the rests only a single person was conscious as he used to check

the meal before eating while the remaining 10% left it to the circumstances to de-

cide if they would have it or not.

Co‐workers and Boss

Sometimes, the Korean bosses in the company request their employees to visit

Churches or Temples accompanying with him or her. Similarly the bosses often deny

them from holding any religious activities to celebrating such festivals within the

company. On examining the religious impact of work place among the Nepalese

workers, only one respondent (Case 1) was found to have some religious discrim-

ination by the Boss. It was mainly the boss used to force him to visit church on

Sundays to participate in the prayer. Although, he was not orthodox follower of

Hindu religion, he felt very stressed, which according to him had negative outcomes

in his work. Apart from him, 90% of them had never faced such situation. Majority

of them were found prioritizing their work as they concentrated on making more

money, thus they were less inclined to care on minor issues like this. However, there

were complains about the discrimination due to languages deficiency in comparison

with other co‐workers, which did not have to do with religion.

Working Hours

Majority of companies run throughout the weekdays including Saturdays (only

few companies have half day off on this day). The working hours differ from com-

pany to company, but in general, they run through 9 AM to 12 PM. Since many

workers are found paid for longer hours in monthly salary on flat basis25), they

work from 8:30~9 AM to until 6PM~12 PM, where they have each hour break for

lunch between 12 PM ~1 PM in the afternoon and for dinner from 6 PM to7 PM

in the evening.

Both Hindus and Muslims require different time schemes to perform their pray,

24) Won‐sup, Yoon, “Muslim Community Gets New Recognition,” Korea Times (May 29 2005), at <http://www.islamkorea.com/english/articlean2.html> (searched date: 28 December 2009).

25) Instead of receiving basic salary + overtime, they receive fixed salary/month for 10 to 12 hours of work.


thus they are unlucky due to time constraints at the working places. Our study

finds that except case 3 the other Hindus are not much concerned about it as the

other followers used different best suited time for the pray or they just ignored it.

Unlike the Hindus who pray once a day, it was very difficult for Muslims as they

require praying 5 times a day.26) We found those who were seriously concerned

about their religion sticking to their plan by adjusting to different times for pray,

however the Muslims had a very hard time while maintaining as they required 5

pray times a day, thus they felt being depressed because of time factor.

On the other hand, the major setback for them was during the Religious festivals.

For a Hindu devotee, festivals such as Durga Puja, Ekadashi, Teez, Dashain, Tihar

etc are very important to celebrate. Similarly for Muslims, Friday is the most im-

portant day, which is a very special day, called “Jumma”27). Not only on Jumma

days but also during their greatest festival days such as Fitr‐ul‐id, Bakr id, Muharram,

Ramadan etc.28), these immigrants work throughout the year regardless of celebration.

Hence, these are the days when they precisely feel being deprived of their religious

rights. Thus, we can easily conclude that the working hour have negative impact on

their religion as it denied them from practicing as well as celebrating their religious

festivals.

2. External Factors

External factors in our research are associated with immigrants’ daily activities out-

side the company premises. In many cases, they are linked to their work but some-

times not. These include, available religion practicing places, social institutions such as

migrant centers, churches, other social networks etc. Some of these factors that we

found to have negative effect on these Nepalese workers religious affair are as follows:

Lack of Religious Facilities

Religious institutions have remained a central point in immigrants’ life, as re-

26) Salat‐ul‐Fajr: Between the first light of dawn and sunrise; Salat‐ul‐Zuhr: After Midday; Salat‐ul‐Asr: Mid‐afternoon; Salat‐ul‐Maghrib: Sunset; and Salat‐ul‐Isha: From one and a half hours after the Sunset.

27) Called Salaat‐ul‐Jumma “Friday Prayer” in place of Zhuhr Prayer and is offered in flocks. Each week on Friday, Muslims are required to take a bath, dress in their best clean clothes, use perfumes and assemble in the mosque for the Prayer.

28) Carol E. Henderson, Cultures and Customs of India, (Westport, Conn: Green wood Press, 2002), p. 153.


flected in a recent renaissance of studies of immigrant religious communities.29)

Religious institutions have been often argued as places where immigrants can find

spiritual comfort as well as material support, friendship, may stand in the way of

their assimilation in the host society. While studying about Polish immigrants W.I.

Thomas found institutions such as the churches actually serve as the organizational

vehicles that allow them to participate in it.30) Importantly, religious institutions of-

ten provide the immigrants the resources and tools, which the immigrants consider

necessary for their survival in guest country. However, in Nepalese case here, they

did not have such opportunities, thus not only these people felt deprived of such

accessibility but also it obstructed their daily religious practices as many of our

samples were found to be directly affected by it.

On the other hand, it is quite pity to learn that for more than 10,000 Hindu (if

we include Indians, Indonesians and few from other countries) immigrants in Korea

there is not even a single Hindu Temple. For, Muslims there were only five mobile

and two permanent mosques31) until 2002. Although there has been increase in the

numbers now as few more mosques and prayer rooms have been established by the

help of Bangladeshi and Pakistani migrant workers, they are not enough to serve

such a large of around 130,000 Muslim populations32). According to the staff of

Ansan Foreign Worker’s Center, only two Muslim institutions exist in Ansan: one

Ansan Mosque and Islamic Center, and a Masjid in Wongokbon – dong, near

Ansan. Considering the working environment, the distance and time restraints, we

assume, these devotees hardly manage to visit the available facilities.

Thus, lack of Temples and limited Mosques and other related religious Centers

not only seem to have negative impact but also threatening these immigrants’ reli-

gious rights. Our study shows 30% (Hindu 20% and Islam 10%) workers agreed on

the fact that had there been facilities, they would have practiced it regularly. From

this, we determined that the lack of religious facilities have great impact on reli-

gious aspects of Nepalese workers in Ansan.

29) Young‐Il Kim, “The Correlation between Religiosity and Assimilation of First‐Generation Korean Immigrants in the Chicago Metropolitan Region,” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Loyola University of Chicago, 1994), in Dissertation Abstracts International, 55‐05A (1995), p. 1388.

30) Janowitz, Morris, “Thomas W.I. on Social Organization and Social Personality: Selected Papers,” (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966).

31) Andrey Lankov, “Muslim society in Korea is developing and growing,” Prauda (6 November 2002), at <http://english.pravda.ru/news/russia/06‐11‐2002/12184‐0/> (searched date: 24 December 2009).

32) "Korea's Muslims Mark Ramadan," The Chosunilbo (11 September 2008), at <http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2008/09/11/2008091161016.html> (searched Date: 27 December 2010).


Migrant Centers

Migrant centers are very popular in Korea and are considered as the helping

hands to foreign workers, especially to the illegal immigrants. Apart from the two

major Migrant Centers in Ansan, the City Hall is also providing similar services. In

the absence of enough government initiative, majority of the immigrants visit

Migrant Centers for legal issues, to learn Korean, for medical services and any oth-

er work related problems. Pastor Young IL Choi said, around 25 Non‐Government

Organizations (NGO) and Migrant Centers are running in Ansan to help the

foreigners. Majority of them (he said around 19) are run and supported by

churches. Apart from these, there are several institutions: Ansan Migrant Center,

Ansan Foreigner’s Center, 3 other small mosques and a Buddhist Center but no

Hindu Centers. Most of these institutions are set up to help protect the foreign

workers’ rights. Although ttheir objectives are diverse their goal aim to support and

make prepare foreigners to assimilate in Korean society with the concept of making

Ansan a “borderless village”33).

The programmes run by these centres are diverse yet focus on providing shelters,

organizing international festivals, organizing sports, assisting free medical services,

field trips, language classes, computer classes, law‐service etc. More to this, they

often campaign and lobby for the protection of human rights of the immigrants and

sometimes even give policy recommendations to the government.

Upon examination, we found majority (60%) of Nepalese visited there for work re-

lated issues such as salary problems, bonus problems, changing of work places,

Taejikam34) etc. The second largest group constituting 15% visited for free medical

services and the rest for other reasons such as meeting with friends, playing com-

puters games or entertainment, studying Korean language etc. Looking at the facts we

retrieved from these workers we found once these workers overstay, they need ex-

ternal supports from these institutions for any problems they face in the company. As

half of our samples are staying here illegally, these people have hard time in han-

dling any job related issues because of having limited access to the external facilities

and fear of being caught while going outside. Thus, they visit these Migrant Centres

and other NGO related institutions instead of City Hall. Contrary to it, the new-

comers with proper visa do not often visit as they are less likely to face such prob-

33) Admin, “Migrant Workers’ Support center opened in Ansan,” Korea Migrants’ Center (15 June 2005), at <http://www.migrantok.org/english/viewtopic.php?t=324> (searched date: 14 October 2010).

34) Bonus money usually paid after the successful completion of a year’ work, it amounts up to a month’s salary.


lems except the language barrier. Even without any specific reason these Nepalese

were keen on visiting these centers for merry making and learning other skills.

However, the truth is since majority of migrants centers are run by churches,

these Nepalese workers might face the religious dilemma of whether to visit the

center or not. To our surprise, we found nobody directly facing such threats yet a

few respondents felt religiously discriminated at migrant centers. It was also very

amazing to see many of these workers (except the Muslim interviewees) preferred

to visit migrant centers as well as the churches during the weekends. We found al-

most half of our examples visited there regularly while the rest were split between

non‐visitors and occasional visitors. From this, we came to learn that only 15%

found to be religiously concerned upon visiting these pro‐Christian centers. Among

the rest, 65% had no effect at all whereas 10 % realized a bit concern followed by

10%, who could not or did not share any idea. This clearly shows Nepalese work-

ers in Ansan are very flexible by nature as only a single Hindu felt negative along

with the Muslims while visiting the centers.

As about the nature of the institutions, 10% mentioned these institutions as bad

because they considered them as hypocrites just trying to spend church money to

raise the Christian numbers. Yet the mainstream of them, that is 75 percent, felt

easy being there, where majorities preferred to visit on regular basis.

On the other hand, it is also learnt that companions, who are in connection with

Christian people attached to the centers would get the first priority while getting

their jobs done due to their acquaintance with the Pastors or other church members.

We found 11 instances when these Nepalese were asked to convert to Christianity

by the Koreans they met in the Church and one instance by the Korean co‐worker.

However, no migrant centers was found involved directly in such issues. In total,

about 60% of these immigrants had such experiences but no one seems to be con-

verted to Christianity. Thus, it can be concluded that visiting Migrant Centers or

Churches have mixed reactions as Muslims going against while majority of Hindus

enjoyed visiting there.

Religious Activities and Social Networking

People can’t think of living outside the social boundary no matter if they live in

their own country or abroad. The case of Nepalese in Ansan is no more exception.

Due to workload, nature of working environment and accessibility, they hardly par-

ticipate in such activities during the week days. However, the gathering mostly

takes place on Saturday evenings or Sundays in nearby Restaurants and stores run


by their natives. During these days, they buy their country foods, phone cards, as

well as send money to their home countries through this network called “Hundi”.35)

The figure below displays how these Nepalese workers spend their holidays and

weekends:

<Figure 1> Spending Weekends and Holidays

Source: Field Survey, 2009

We find most of these people enjoying their holidays and free time by gathering

together in one place. In Nepal, almost all national festivals are associated with re-

ligion such as Dashami, Tihar, Tiz etc. Regardless of overtime work, they gather

somewhere or visit someone senior’s house to celebrate the festival. As Case 1

mentioned, “Since no holidays are given by the company on these days, we set

programs for closest Saturday or Sunday to celebrate the events together” (Chad

Parwa ko dinma company ma bida nadine bhayekoole hami najikko sanibar wa aai-

tabar jutera ramailo garchhau).

To our greatest surprise, if it is not the time for festivals or celebrations, during

the holidays or on weekend, majority or about 45% of the immigrants from Hindu

community were found visiting churches and migrant centers, which prove their

flexibility on their religious issues while adjusting in the society they live. Their

motive was not to practice religion, rather it was to have fun and meet old as well

as new friends. Only 15% of the respondents were visiting to their respective reli-

gious institutions in Seoul or in friends’ home, which include two Muslims and one

Hindu (Case 3). The other 10% preferred to stay at their rooms and watch movies

or take rest so that they would feel refreshed for the other day’s work. But the

second largest group consisting of 30% found to be interested in get‐together with

friends for drinking and having fun.

Apart from the offline networks, there were also few instances of online net-

35) An informal value transfer system based on the honor of a network of money brokers.


<Figure 2> Continuity to job and Further Stay

works among them through which these people used to communicate. However, the

online facilities are not as popular as among the academics, diplomats, business-

persons and students yet few of our samples were found using it regularly. Most of

them were using messengers and emails to communicate with their friends and rela-

tives within and outside the country.

Do they want to stay more?

Migrant workers in Korea often face difficulties interrelated to their working con-

ditions but they usually tolerate the conditions in order to keep their employment

status intact.36) Despite several difficulties regardless whether it is related to work-

ing environment or related to religion, insecurity and poverty back home forces

many immigrants’ to stay in Korea longer. Since they have no choice but to stay

they are obliged to view religion only as second to the survival. The diagram be-

low shows the mind of our samples if they want to stay here longer or not.

The figure above depicts that 40% of the Nepalese workers want to continue the

job and stay here compared to 30%, who are undecided. They think it as an op-

portunity, hence must earn money as much as possible. The rest 30% seem to be

in mood to go back soon as the economic crisis was costing too much prompting

the exchange rate going down. The second reason they might be caught by the im-

migration authorities, thus losing any future opportunity to entering Korea again.37)

Source: Field Survey, 2009

36) US Department of State, Human Rights Country Report, 2006, at <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78778.htm> (Searched date: 21 October 2010).

37) If an illegal foreigner leaves Korea voluntarily, he or she will not be subject to restriction on re‐entry.


Ⅳ. Conclusions and Recommendations

Recommendations

Although we could not discover great impact of working environment on Hindus,

a strong impact was observed among Muslim Nepalese immigrants. However, both

these groups made us feel that their religious life in Korea would be better without

making any revolutionary changes in the current system. The first and foremost we

perceived was they should be provided pray time and place. A small consideration

on working hours either by the company owners or managers could make it possi-

ble easily. Here, Migrant centers and related NGOs can play a significant role by

working as a mediator.

Second, giving cash instead of Meal‐coupons (Shik‐Fyo) seems to be a great

idea. Doing this, the workers can manage their food by themselves so that they can

easily avoid beef and pork. Third, as still there seen few minor instances of reli-

gious discrimination inside and outside the work place such as forceful participation

in other religious ceremonies organized by company bosses or co‐workers, it needs

to be discouraged. Fourth, a large numbers of immigrants wished for holidays dur-

ing their festivals such as for Hindu (Dashain, Tihar, Teez) and Muslims (Fakr id,

Bakar id, Muharram and Ramadan) so that they could celebrate, the company own-

ers can make it possible by providing non‐paid holidays on these days or they

might be asked to work on other free days such as during the weekends.

In addition to those, we found 25% of the immigrants were adhered to the im-

pression of building few Temples, Mosques or Masjids in the vicinity not only

would bring happiness to them but also promote the idea of making Ansan a

‘Borderless Village’. More to this, organizing international festivals regularly and

creating an environment for diverse religious activities will definitely boost con-

fidence among the immigrants. For Migrant centers, 45% of the samples still think

they are imposing church rules indirectly, thus these organizations should be trans-

formed in to a pure foreign helping organization.

Finally, as these immigrants could practice their religion only partially due to

several their efforts to enjoy their full religious rights would go in vain in the ab-

sence of support from everywhere, especially from the government, the company

and the Migrant Centers. Above stated endorsements would definitely play a vital

role in this regard as they represent victims’ own mouthpiece. Once the working

environment in the company becomes favorable and more facilities to access their

religious demands are met, no doubt these people will be able to practice their reli-


gion fully while living as a foreign worker in Korea.

Conclusions and Discussions

There are few points that can be made regarding daily religious practices of

Nepalese workers in Korea. Based on the observations in Ansan, we found working

environment and lack of religious facilities have a mix result on the religious as-

pects of these immigrants. Only 15% of our samples found to be strongly affected,

whereas the rest had little or no effect at all. For both affected numbers, the lead-

ing concern was the Korean food accounting for about 85%. Majority of them

voiced against the nature of working hours and lack of religious facilities affecting

their daily religious practices. Nepalese workers appear to have less concerned with

the religion itself than their preference to forge social networks. Therefore, in gen-

eral, for these immigrants, religion does not seem to be a powerful resource of de-

sirable social capital as observed by Andrew Greely. 38)

Going through the observations, we witnessed no conflict while sharing the dorms

with other religious groups. However, the strong orthodoxy to Islam could easily be

observed as the only existing two Muslim samples were found to be staying with a

Pakistani instead of their own nationality. Likewise, we found Mainstream of un-

documented Hindus have positive opinions about visiting Migrant Centers contrary to

the Muslims and a few others. We came to know that despite religious complexity

most of the migrant workers put an effort to adjust themselves in Korea by suppress-

ing their religious desires rather than returning back to native land. However, further

study on their activities in Korea and their links to home country is required before

drawing such conclusion.

60% of our respondents were undocumented and were living in Korea over a pe-

riod of six years in average. Among the rest, 20% of them were holding G1 Vis

a39), who also lived for similar duration. It means, 80% of the workers were well

familiar to the Korean society, thus spent their life in Korea quite comfortably.

During their long stay, they often needed assistance from the Migrant centers or

Churches or NGOs. Thus, they did not feel any concern related to religion no mat-

ter what they ate, where they visited or lived. The remaining 20% were the one

who really cared about their religion. Hence, those above observed factors might

have different impact if we examine the result on the basis of their visa status

(legal vs. illegal). Therefore, further research involving legally residing Hindu com-

38) Andrew Greeley, “Coleman revisited,” American Behavioral Scientist, 40 (March 1997), pp. 87‐94.39) Korean Visa categorized under “other” reasons


Serial No. Sex Age Location Korea Entry Date

01 M 31 Shihung 2003.3.10

02 M 28 Ansan 2004.1.28

03 M 29 Banwal 2006.9.26

04 M 31 Shihung 2003

05 M 26 Banwal 2004

06 M 34 Ansan 2005.12.13

07 M 30 Banwal 2006

08 M 29 Shihung 2005.12


10 M 40 Ansan 2002.11

11 M 30 Banwal 2002.11

12 M 31 Ansan 2005


14 M 31 Banwal 2005

15 M 37 Banwal 2004.4

16 M 32 Shihung 2004.1.28

17 M 39 Ansan 2000

18 M 29 Banwal 2005


20 M 34 Ansan 2003

munity will serve to shed more lights on the religious facets of these Nepalese

workers in Korea.

Details of Interviewees

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une 2005), at <http://www.migrantok.org/english/viewtopic.php?t=324> (searched dat

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Amnesty International, South Korea, “Migrant workers are also human beings”, Report (200

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Gearon, Liam, Human Rights & Religion: A reader (Sussex: Brighton and Portland, UK, 2

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* 인하대학교 정치외교학과 박사과정

** 인하대학교 정치외교학과 교수

국문요약

근로자들의 종교적 지속성에 근무환경과

종교적 시설이 및는 영향에 관한 사례연구:안산지역에 거주하는 네팔인 근로자 중심으로

수베디*・정영태**

본 연구는 안산지역에서 거주하는 네팔인 근로자들이 종교적 의식을 지내는데 근무

환경과 종교적 시설이 어떤 영향을 미치는가를 분석한다. 본 연구는 근로자들의 종교적

의식과 관련 있는 음식, 숙소, 동료(근로자), 사장, 이주민 센터와 같은 다양한 근무환경

에 미치는 영향에 대해 분석을 실시하였다. 이를 알아보기 위해, 우리는 안산 지역에

사는 네팔인 근로자들 20명과 심층면담(In‐depth Interview)를 했다. 연구 결과, 한두

사회에서 온 네팔인 근로자들이 해외에서 거주하는데 종교적인 문제에 비교적 유연한

태도를 취했으며 새로운 환경에 쉽게 적응하는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 마지막에

우리는 연구 결과 바탕으로 외국인 근로자들의 종교적 환경에 개선 도움을 줄 수 있는

몇 가지 정책을 제시한다.

주제어: 네팔 근로자들, 힌두교, 종교적 시설, 종교적 의식, 근무환경, 이주 센터

religious sustainability among nepalese migrant workers in korea

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