Historically, Korea has not been known as a country that welcomes immigrants. For the past 50+ years, the majority of foreign nationals who came to Korea came for a few years at most - missionaries, Peace Corps volunteers, businesspeople, English teachers and migrant laborers. That is no longer as much the case. Korea is now seeing a steady growth in people looking to put down roots here. Some of them marry Korean spouses, others come independently and invested here, while still others flee their home country and apply for asylum here.
Like many other countries before it, Korea has woken up to the fact that in order to keep social cohesion strong, there needs to be some process to assist new arrivals with integration. To that end, the Korea Immigration Service Foundation was established to, among other aims, assist citizens of other countries residing in Korea to feel at home here, which includes plans to develop better understanding of immigrant by Koreans and vice-versa.
The Korean Immigration and Integration Program (KIIP) is part of that plan. This program is designed and implemented by the Ministry of Justice, through its Social Integration Division. The program consists of two halves: Korean language training and Understanding Korean Society.