Earticle

세계화와 경제성장을 거치면서 우리 사회는 이미 많은 외국인을 포용하며 살고 있다. 이제는 저출산에 따른 인구감소와 고령화의 문제까지 봉착하면서 적극적인 이민정책으로써 대응하려 는 모색도 진행되는 상황이다. 국내 체류 외국인과 더불어 살아가는 사회통합의 길은 법제도의 개선과 정비가 뒷받침되지 않고는 어렵다. 체류 외국인 중 특히 영주자는 사회구성원으로 영속 적으로 함께 살아갈 의지와 객관적 기초를 갖춘 사람으로서, 그들에게 국민에 준하는 법적 지위 를 부여하는 것은 포용과 통합을 통한 사회발전에 중요한 요소이다. 같은 맥락에서 국민의 인접 개념인 시민 개념을 법적 개념으로 끌어올려 시민사회적 활동에 참여할 수 있는 외국인을 일정 한 법적 주체로 수용하는 것도 검토해볼 만하다. 외국인을 차별의 대상이 아닌 보편적 인권의 대상으로 인식을 전환하는 것은 국민의 인권의식을 확대하고 사회통합을 진전시킴으로써 민주 시민으로의 성장에도 기여할 수 있을 것이다. 최근 법무부의 주도로, 영주자격을 전제로 일반귀 화가 가능하도록 하면서 영주자의 일반적 지위를 법률 수준에서 보장하는 법률개정이 이루어졌다. 헌법상 국민의 개념을 재고함과 더불어 외국인의 권리보장을 강화하는 법제도가 필요하다. 개정된 ｢국적법｣과 ｢출입국관리법｣의 규정은 아직 시행을 기다리고 있으나, 이 개정과정은 영주 제도 및 귀화제도의 과거와 현재, 그리고 전망을 돌아볼 계기가 될 것으로 보인다.

Through globalization and economic growth, our society is already embracing many foreigners. Now, as the country is facing a population decrease due to low birth rate and aging population, it is seeking to cope with the situation with the situation with an aggressive immigration policy. The way to integrate society with foreigners who are staying in Korea is difficult unless the legal system is supported by improvement and adjustment. Among foreign residents, particularly permanent residents are persons with an objective basis and will to live together permanently as a member of society, and giving them legal status equivalent to the nation is an important element of acceptance and integration. In the same vein, it should consider taking foreigners who can participate in civic and social activities as legal entities by bringing up the concept of citizen, which is the concept of their neighbors, to the legal concept. Transitioning foreigners into the subject of universal human rights, not discrimination, would contribute to the growth of democratic citizens by expanding the people's human rights awareness and advancing social integration. Recently, under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice, a law revision was made to ensure the general status of the permanent resident at the statutory level while allowing them to naturalize under the condition of permanent residency. Under the Constitution, a legal system that strengthens the rights of foreigners while reconsidering the concept of the nation is needed. The revised Nationality Act and the revised Immigration Act are still waiting to be implemented, but this revision process is likely to provide a glimpse into the past, present and future of the permanent residency and naturalization systems.

This article is about the fieldwork research findings on the ways place-making can be political in discussions of peoples lived experiences, identities, and powers surrounding the neighborhood Itaewon, located in Seoul. Itaewon became a deterritorialized space due to the geopolitical exigencies of the Cold War period and came to be acknowledged as a foreign space within Korea. It was a consumer space that met the desires and needs of American soldiers, transient subjects who consumed women and imitation goods. At the same time there were Koreans who were recreational business owners and merchants keeping their identity referent to Itaewon. And to some Koreans, it also signified a new window through which they could access exotic, American culture. So two subjects of Itaewon, both foreigner and Korean, were in a co-dependant relationship with shared interests during the Cold War, when Itaewon was the only alien space within Korea. But in the transnational globalization era, in which various exotic frontier zones have been created, residents standing in their localities and foreigners heading toward diverse alien spaces have been practicing different politics of place.