Undocumented migrants' citizenship in pandemic times: the South Korean case

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the citizenship of both nationals and non-nationals. We define citizenship as a contested membership among all populations within the territory of a state, encompassing the status, rights, and performativity of the people. We look at changes in the citizenship of n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Citizenship studies 2022-11, Vol.26 (8), p.1063-1075
Main Authors: Kim, Chulhyo, Choi, Hee Jung, Seol, Dong-Hoon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citizenship
Civil rights
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 pandemic
Discrimination
Government
Immigration policy
infectious disease prevention and control
Migrants
Pandemics
Performativity
Quarantine
reterritorialization
Rights
South Korea
Treatment methods
Undocumented immigrants
Undocumented migrants
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the citizenship of both nationals and non-nationals. We define citizenship as a contested membership among all populations within the territory of a state, encompassing the status, rights, and performativity of the people. We look at changes in the citizenship of non-nationals, particularly the most vulnerable: undocumented migrants. Despite long-standing discrimination against undocumented migrants, the COVID-19 pandemic compelled the South Korean government to reconsider its policies on their citizenship rights. The government provided free tests and treatments, and free vaccinations to the undocumented migrants who had long been ignored in South Korea. It also suspended immigration crackdowns and deportations. While these COVID-19 preventive measures were intended to address community safety, they also affected the multifaceted nature of citizenship by making everybody within the territory both the subject and object of quarantine. Do these measures indicate an expansion of South Korean citizenship to include undocumented migrants? We discuss what implications the South Korean government's pandemic-response policies may have for citizenship. With the increasing elasticity of citizenship boundaries in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we claim that territorial aspects have been given greater emphasis in the politics of South Korean citizenship.
ISSN:1362-1025
1469-3593
DOI:10.1080/13621025.2022.2131071