Biography
12 August 2024 to 31 July 2025
Eun Hye Son is a TV reporter for the Korean Broadcasting System, South Korea's only public broadcasting system, and a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Seoul National University in Seoul. She completed her undergraduate studies at Korea University in the Department of Sociology in 2006 and her MA in Sociology from the University of Cambridge in the UK in 2017.
As a journalist and political science student, her main interests are:
- What are the problems with media coverage of refugees and foreign workers?
- How should Asian societies, especially those with a robust mono-ethnic ideology, such as South Korea, move toward a culture that respects diversity?
- How are the far-right parties in each society reacting to these issues, and what differences do they show?
During her 17 years of journalism, she has worked in various political, economic, and international news departments. She has also produced multiple news reports and programmes on refugee and foreign worker issues. As a PhD student, she tries to compare how the far-right parties in the UK have had a strong influence on the immigration policies of the ruling party with the behaviour of the far-right parties in South Korean society.
Selected publications
My Refugee and Your Refugee
Are refugees in Korea 'faking' their difficulties to live in a better-off society? We set out on a long journey to answer this question. From refugee camps in Lebanon to Thailand, we explored the reality of where they came from and how they ended up here. These people facing so much pain ask, "Aren't all human beings entitled to a better life?" Who are the 'real' members of our society? Sharing the same values, not the same blood, is essential for an inclusive society.
A Family Beyond the Era of Isolation
It's time for isolation. Amidst economic growth and material affluence, South Korean society is experiencing the greatest marginalisation and exclusion. This programme shows how this ‘poverty in abundance’ threatens our lives. It also seeks to find solutions to this problem. It shows how people who fall through the cracks of social safety nets are cut off from society and aims to raise awareness that loneliness and isolation are social diseases, not individual problems. We want to find a way to move towards a society where more people can live happier lives.
Conditions for coexistence under the employment permit system
Korea's manufacturing industry and rural areas are no longer viable without migrant labour. Korea's employment permit system, which allows foreign workers to operate, has been criticised. The employment permit system has existed since 2004, allowing businesses that cannot find local labour to hire foreign unskilled workers with government permission. However, the employment permit system has been criticised for violating the human rights of foreign workers. Conflicts between employers and migrant workers have continued. How can they be satisfied together? Let's explore the conditions for coexistence.