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www.groovekorea.com / October 2014 48 Edited by Jenny Na (jenny@groovekorea.com) COvER STORy b ack when groove Korea was getting off the ground in 2006, Korea was busy launching its space program. A few years later it had its first female astronaut, Yi So-yeon, who was also the first Korean in space. But this sum - mer she resigned, saying she wanted to spend more time with her family and pursue an MBA. Her move was surrounded by speculation that it had more to do with being stifled by the Ko- rean workplace culture in which men occupy more seats in the boardroom and women are encouraged to leave their jobs after marriage. Whether or not this was the case, her resigna- tion caps a period of slow progress for wom- en’s empowerment. Happy and gay Seoul’s LGBTQ population emerges from the underground, assisted by the Internet and the community around the “Gay Hill” neighborhood in Itaewon. Chat rooms and dating sites facilitate connections by day, while the network of bars on what is now known as Homo Hill keep the energy going after hours. Although these things transformed day-to-day life for the city’s sexual minorities, many lived double lives. The scene on Gay Hill, which didn’t exist 10 years prior, is complemented by its racial diversity, helping break down barriers. As one person says, “Anybody comes and anybody goes, everyone is always welcome.” living in tHE sHadows Korea’s undocumented migrant workers live and work in a system where accidents and abuse are part of daily life. Although the government has taken steps to ease life for this population, by allowing their children to attend school, it ignores the place they occupy in society by fulflling an economic need for low-cost labor. Meanwhile, human rights groups like Amnesty International repeatedly urge Korea to stop crackdowns targeting undocumented workers and end human rights violations in current detention procedures, but their calls succeed only in making a dent in correcting the problems. out witH god Pastor Daniel Payne and his Open Doors Community Church create a safe space for the LGBTQ community to explore Christianity without prejudice. But fnding a place to worship was a challenge: One church asked ODCC to leave after realizing that heterosexual conversion wasn’t part of the plan. “The LGBTQ community has been burned many times by the Christian Church,” Payne says. Still, he is optimistic about what the church can do to build understanding. “Christian faith is far less about answers than it is about questions, and we at ODCC are on a journey together and the destination is love and justice.” KorEa is divErsifying, wHEtHEr it’s rEady or not Despite Korea’s rapid economic growth, its social growth lags behind. Women, migrant workers, foreign brides, LGBTQ communi- ty members and other minorities struggle for acceptance, proper treatment and equality. Al- though progress in Korea comes quickly from the top when there is a political or economic goal, social minorities don’t have the critical mass needed to turn the tide. For women in the workplace, the glass ceil - ing is apparent in the numbers, with Korea consistently placing poorly in gender empow- erment rankings and having the largest gender wage gap in the OECD. Working mothers of- ten sacrifice their careers for caretaking, and the government is slow to expand support such as quality day care services, says Daniel Corks, a volunteer at the Korea Human Rights Foundation and primary editor and administra - tor of humanrightskorea.org. There are now 1.57 million foreign nationals in Korea, mostly from China and Southeast Asia. Many of them are foreign women who have come here to marry rural Korean men. Reports of domestic violence and a high di - vorce rate for this group have tarnished the image of Korea’s multicultural experiment, as 11.2007 09.2010 04.2012