The Korea Local Administration Review

This paper deals with Korean multiculturalism, reflecting on the concept of ‘the struggle for recognition’. According to Axel Honneth’s discussion, the paradigms for self-protection can be divided into two: recognition paradigm and consensus paradigm. The former was originated from Thomas Hobbes, and the latter was from J. Habermas.
This paper points out the problem of J. Habermas’ discussion, which does not give a solution about the social conflict or the struggle from the micro level in Korean society. In order to overcome the weak point in his theory, this paper adopts the alternative, which is Axel Honneth’s discussion. Following Honneth’s discussion, the core concepts in recognition struggle are identity and reciprocity, which have three characteristics: love, recognition of same right, and solidarity. Based on the above-mentioned theory, this paper focuses on the violation of immigrants’ rights in Korean society: the violation of life, the violation of personal freedom and the violation of immigrants’ welfare. It shows them the need for protection from the Korean government.
However, under the so-called neo-liberal stream, the role of government puts emphasis on accumulation, which tends to ignore the socially disadvantaged, especially immigrants in Korean society. In these circumstances, this paper tries to find the support base of Saemaul Undong in the Korean multiculturalism. That is, the protection for them derives from the recognition struggle, which is the new support base of Saemaul Undong.

□ Keywords: recognition struggle, consensus paradigm, solidarity, multicultural immigrants, Saemaul Undong