I usually avoid The Korea Times but that article was pretty honest and accurate. 

"Government policy has also focused on sending low-skilled immigrants back when their visas expire, as the administration wants to attract highly talented professionals to come here. But most aren't interested in moving to Korea."

Good that they're acknowledging that.  Competing for highly sought after global talent isn't a race Korea can come out ahead in.  They need to be realistic, as this article acknowledges. 

I thought this was kind of a funny way to extoll the benefits of a more diverse society.

"Koreans know a lot of bad stories involving immigrants, but know little about, for example, the migrant workers' contributions to the Korean economy. Look at all the affordable vegetables on your dining table ― these are only possible because they work on farms from sunup to dark for a small amount of money."

Sounds like those workers are living the dream.  Better not use that in their promotion efforts abroad. 

Most countries including my own does bring in foreigners to do labor jobs because they don't pay well.  Of course some don't want to do it.  But some locals will do the work if the wage was better.  In a true supply and demand system, wages would go up to attract workers.  But many companies like to cheat the rules of the market by bringing in foreigners and paying them quite low.   Companies should be required to offer at least 150% above minimum wage before applying to bring in foreign labor for manual labor jobs.  This would give local people with minimal education a chance to earn a living.  Then if they are lazy and wont work for even that, then you can apply to bring in temporary foreign labor.  In Canada, we have the 'temporary foreign labor' program but often are not properly trained and pay is low.  The companies just don't want to pay.  No one wants to work for $hit wages. 

Skilled or specialized work is different for what I wrote above.

   

In a true  supply and demand system, there would be no minimum wage and foreigners would be able to do the job for less thus driving the wages down.

Most countries including my own does bring in foreigners to do labor jobs because they don't pay well.  Of course some don't want to do it.  But some locals will do the work if the wage was better.  In a true supply and demand system, wages would go up to attract workers.  But many companies like to cheat the rules of the market by bringing in foreigners and paying them quite low.   Companies should be required to offer at least 150% above minimum wage before applying to bring in foreign labor for manual labor jobs.  This would give local people with minimal education a chance to earn a living.  Then if they are lazy and wont work for even that, then you can apply to bring in temporary foreign labor.  In Canada, we have the 'temporary foreign labor' program but often are not properly trained and pay is low.  The companies just don't want to pay.  No one wants to work for $hit wages. 

Skilled or specialized work is different for what I wrote above.

   

This is definitely true for countries like America, where there's a solid labor base that would rather take social security than shit wages (not that I blame them, of course). But I feel like the dynamic is a bit different for countries like Korea and Japan where the population is falling. It's not just that the companies want cheap labor, but they need labor in general