Racism in South Korea

The Itaewon neighborhood in Seoul, which is commonly visited by expatriates. A bar in Itaewon banned all "Africans" from entering its premises in 2014.[1]
A South Korean soldier in 2004. Until April 2011, South Korean soldiers swore allegiance to the "Korean race" in their oaths of enlistment.[2][3][4]
The South Korean flag. Until 2007, the South Korean pledge of allegiance was to the "Korean race", rather than to the country of South Korea.[5][4][6]

Racism in South Korea is widespread and overt in nature, stemming from the country's commonly-held belief that Koreans are a "pure blooded race" that have been homogeneous throughout history.[7][8][9] South Korean racism comes in a variety of different forms, such as nationalistic xenophobia, ethnic prejudices, and discrimination against persons on the basis of their skin color and ancestry.[10][11]

Racism permeates many levels of South Korean society, from education to employment. Children born to South Korean mothers and American fathers often are mistreated by students at schools,[12][13][14] and black American expatriates often are denied employment due to the color of their skin, a form of discrimination that is actually allowed under current South Korean law.[15][16] The discrimination even extends to North Koreans living in South Korea, who are often mistreated at schools and denied employment due to their being from North Korea.[17][18][19] A South Korean soccer player from Japan even renounced his South Korean citizenship after being called a racist slur by a South Korean newspaper.[20] People in South Korea who experience racism are often helpless to do anything about it, due to its being legal under South Korean law.[21] Sometimes, when racist abuse is reported to police, the police themselves even engage in racist vitriol.[16][21][22] It took until 2011 for the South Korean government to formally take any official action against racism in the country, the first time it has done so in its history.[22]

The heavily widespread nature of racism in South Korea has even led to the United Nations and the United States expressing concern over the matter.[13][23][24] Despite the ubiquitous nature of South Korean racism, discrimination in South Korea is not just limited to racism and xenophobia against foreigners. Among South Koreans themselves, sexism, nepotism, and ageism are also very prevalent, with preferential treatment being given to people who are male, related, and older in age.[13] This has led to some South Koreans nicknaming the country "Hell Joseon", with a poll indicating eighty percent of young South Koreans indicating a desire to leave the country and move overseas.[25][26]

History

Origins and characteristics

According to some scholars, modern racism in South Korea originated from Imperial Japanese colonial rule during the 20th century, where the Imperial Japanese colonizers influenced Koreans to view the world around them from a racist perspective.[20] According to one professor, South Korean racism differs from the forms of racism found in other countries, such as Germany during Nazi rule, with South Koreans being seen not as physically or intellectually superior such as members of the "Aryan master race" under Nazism, but rather as being morally superior and cleaner than members of the "out-group".[20] Representative of this belief, Professor Brian Reynolds Myers of Dongseo University states that, "Koreans in both the north and the south tend to cherish the myth that of all peoples in the world, they are the least inclined to premeditated evil."[27] As a result, racist vitriol directed by South Koreans towards expatriates and foreigners often consists of calling them "dirty" and "unclean".[16][20][22]

Unlike in countries that are rooted in civic nationalism, such as the United States, the methodology by which a person is considered to be a true South Korean is based in racist nationalism, in which the criterion for being considered a "South Korean" is determined by racism. Therefore, only by having both matrilineal and patrilineal South Korean ancestors is a person considered to be a true South Korean. As a result, naturalized South Koreans are not considered to be true South Koreans by most native-born South Koreans and are routinely discriminated against as being "foreigners", despite their being considered legally South Korean under South Korean law.[20][21] This belief in racist essentialism was represented in the fact that until 2010, South Korean soldiers swore allegiance to the "Korean race" in their oaths of enlistment,[2][3] and until 2007, the South Korean pledge of allegiance pledged allegiance to the "Korean race" and not to the country.[4][5][6]

According to Professor Robert E. Kelly of Pusan National University, racism in South Korea would not be a problem if "South Korea's political identity were democratic and post-racial, but it isn't." He says that racism in the country is "in fact deeply resonant. South Korean education teaches it; the resultant racism is a huge problem. Government media campaigns and commercials stress it; my students write about it in glowing terms." Professor Kelly gives several examples of the deep nature of South Korean racism, such as the fact that until 2007 "the national pledge of allegiance was to the" Korean race and "not to the democratic state." He states that "Nor does South Korea's democracy provide a strong legitimacy competitor to race-nationalism. Corruption, illiberalism, and an elitist political-opportunity structure have generated a robust street protest culture, a strong sign that elections are weak vessels of legitimacy."[4] According to Steven Denney, a Canadian professor, "Racism is as much, if not more, a problem in South Korea as it is in the United States."[28]

After the North Korean military sank a South Korean naval ship in 2010, there was relatively little outrage over the incident in South Korea.[27] According to Brian Reynolds Myers, a professor at Dongseo University, this was due to the racist nature of Korean nationalism, which prevented any major uproar over the incident in South Korea due to the concept of race solidarity with the North Koreans that many South Koreans feel.[27] In a New York Times article over the incident, Myers contrasted the racist nature of South Korean nationalism with the civic nature of American nationalism, stating that South Korea's antipathy over attacks by North Korea was potentially dangerous to the national security of South Korea.[27] He stated that:

South Korean nationalism is something quite different from the patriotism toward the state that Americans feel. Identification with the Korean race is strong, while that with the Republic of Korea is weak.
— Brian Reynolds Myers, "South Korea's Collective Shrug" (27 May 2010), The New York Times.[27]

As a result, Jasmine B. Lee, a naturalized South Korean politician from the Philippines, was berated by South Koreans, not regarding professional qualifications, as would be expected in other countries, but for not being a true South Korean.[29][30][31][32] One South Korean political commentator, disapproving of the racist vitriol directed against Lee, noted the differences between South Korea and other countries, such as the United States, stating that in politics, Americans were more concerned over a person's professional qualifications and that South Koreans were more concerned about which country a person hailed from.[33]

Although anti-Japanese prejudices and sentiments are very common in South Korea, due to historical issues such as colonization, war crimes, and current territorial disputes, the Japanese are actually one of the least discriminated-against groups in South Korea, compared to Africans, South Asians, and southeast Asians. As a result, marriages between South Koreans and Japanese persons are one of the most common of international marriages found in the country.[20]

Marriages and relationships

Most South Koreans disapprove of other South Korean engaging in relationships with expatriates and marrying foreigners. South Korean women seen with expatriate men are often mistreated in public.[16][22][34] International couples have often been forced to leave South Korea due to most South Koreans harshly disapproving of relationships between South Koreans and foreigners. In a Los Angeles Times article, one South Korean woman reported that "people spat at her because she had been married to an African American."[34]

Educational bullying

In ethnically homogeneous South Korea, mixed-race offspring are generally viewed with harsh contempt. Biracial men were banned from serving in the South Korean military until January 2011, being biracial classified as a disability.[3][34] A 2009 poll revealed that 47% of South Korean children were uncertain or negative on the subject of whether they could make friends with a biracial child.[12] Ethnic prejudice is widespread throughout the South Korean education system.[13][14] Combined with these factors, it is, according to KBS News, rare for biracial children to successfully graduate from South Korean high schools.[35]

Hwang Min-woo, a South Korean dancer, was bullied by his fellow students at his school due to his having a Vietnamese mother.[36][37]

Employment discrimination

Expatriates in South Korea have often reported that many South Korean schools will only hire English teachers if they are white or light-skinned.[38] Black Americans are rarely hired due to the color of their skin, with even Irish expatriates suffering some discrimination, with South Koreans viewing them stereotypically as drunkards.[20] Many employers in South Korea often ask for a photograph as part of a job application, to ease the process of employers engaging in racist discrimination.[38][39]

In November 2014, Sean Jones, a black Oklahoman man, was on his way for a job interview in Seoul and received a text message that reads "Hey Sean. Sorry they just told me they actually want a white teacher." Just two days later, the 30-year-old American from Oklahoma experienced racial discrimination again. This time he received a Facebook message that reads, "I am sorry. I just found out today that my school is one of ones that won’t hire black people."[1][15]

Business discrimination

In August 2014, the JR Pub, a bar in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood, put up a sign that read "We apologize But, Due to Ebola Virus we are not accepting Africans at the moment. –JR Pub." The owner said he was ignorant about Ebola but wanted to address concerns of customers, who were worried about coming to Itaewon over fears of the Ebola virus.[1][15]

On October 2011, a naturalized South Korean citizen formerly from Uzbekistan was denied entry to a public bath house in Busan, South Korea for being a "foreigner" despite showing her South Korean passport and resident registration card. According to the bath house, the denial was based on "Regular patrons' fear of contracting AIDS". After being denied entry, she sought help from local police. However, she was told to seek other bath-houses since there are no legal basis for prosecuting ethnic discrimination in South Korean law, which considers it to be legal.[21] After this story caught the national attention in South Korea, many other cases of ethnic discrimination were reported.

Bonojit Hussein case

In July 2009, Bonojit Hussein, an Indian citizen who was working as a research professor at Sungkonghoe University, was called "dirty" and "pitch-black foreigner" by a person named Park while riding on a bus. Park also questioned Hussein's companion, a South Korean woman, whether "she was a real Korean woman" and "how it felt going out with pitch-black foreigner?" Hussein then reported Park to local police. A police officer who arrived on the scene told Hussein that "there's no racial discrimination in Korea". The policeman also said to Park, "Why did you, a good-looking man dressed in a suit, treat a man who's having a hard life here poorly?" in Hussein's presence. At the police station, while policemen talked to Park in a respectful and formal manner, Hussein was spoken to in a disrespectful and informal tone. Policemen questioned Hussein, "How can a man born in 1982 become a research professor? Really, what is it that you do?"[16] After this story was reported on national media, National Human Rights Association gave a warning to the policeman then recommended that the policemen be educated in human rights. The case of Hussein was a landmark case as it was the first time the National Human Rights Association ordered a 'Recommendation Measure' for a racist discrimination case and led to prosecution for a racist comment for the first time as well.[22]

Discrimination against North Korean defectors

Since the 1990s, over 23,500 refugees have defected from North to South Korea, fleeing severe famine and a repressive government. The South Korean government grants automatic citizenship to all defectors and provides resettlement assistance at Hanawon center; however, they often face extensive discrimination in South Korean society. According to Yonhap news, over 9% of defectors are unemployed, compared to 3.7% of other South Koreans, and only 20 are employed in the civil service.[17] In an interview with the Korea Times, defector Lee Min Young said: "When I wrote that I’m from the North in my resume, no companies showed interest in interviewing me at all."[18] In addition, younger defectors often face severe bullying and mistreatment in public middle and high schools.[40] Sonia Ryang, an anthropologist at the University of Iowa, "Some sixty-two percent of North Korean students try to hide their origins for fear of being bullied by their classmates. When asked why they did not like South Korean schools, North Korean children responded that they got teased for being shorter and smaller than South Korean children, for speaking with a northern accent, for not keeping up with recent fads, and for being unsophisticated."[19]

Reactions

In 2005, the HRC aired T.V. advertisements bringing to attention the nature of South Korean racism.[41]

The United Nations's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was "concerned that the emphasis placed on the ethnic homogeneity of Korea might represent an obstacle to the promotion of understanding, tolerance and friendship among the different ethnic and national groups living on its territory."[24] Even the United States, an ally of South Korea, has expressed concern over the harsh and ubiquitous nature of South Korean racism, with the U.S. Department of Education releasing a report on the matter in 2009.[13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lee, Tae-hoon (22 August 2014). "JR Pub says apology not enough over racist ban on 'Africans'". The Korea Observer. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 "New Pledge of Allegiance to Reflect Growing Multiculturalism". The Chosun Ilbo. South Korea. 18 April 2011. Archived from the original on April 20, 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2011. The military has decided to omit the word 'minjok,' which refers to the Korean race, from the oath of enlistment for officers and soldiers, and replace it with 'the citizen.' The measure reflects the growing number of foreigners who gain Korean citizenship and of children from mixed marriages entering military service.
  3. 1 2 3 Doolan, Yuri W. (June 2012). "Being Amerasian in South Korea: Purebloodness, Multiculturalism, and Living Alongside the U.S. Military Empire" (PDF). The Ohio State University. p. 63. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Kelly, Robert E. (4 June 2015). "Why South Korea is So Obsessed with Japan". Real Clear Defense.
  5. 1 2 Myers, Brian Reynolds (14 September 2010). "South Korea: The Unloved Republic?". Archived from the original on May 19, 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013. South Korea's political right for decades neglected to instill any sense of pride in the Republic, because there was little to be proud of. Even the pledge of allegiance from 1972 is a pledge made to the homeland and the race, not to the Republic.
  6. 1 2 Jeong, Jeong-hun (2006). "A pledge to a nation, or a gang oath?". The Hankyoreh. South Korea: The Hankyoreh Media Company. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "Gender, Ethnicity, Market Forces, and College Choices, reviewed by Choi". Koreaweb.ws. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
  8. ↑ "The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - Why Korean Men Marry Foreign Women".
  9. ↑ "Discrimination flows freely at bars across Seoul".
  10. ↑ Fisher, Max (15 May 2013). "A fascinating map of the world’s most and least racially tolerant countries". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 April 2016. South Korea, not very tolerant, is an outlier. Although the country is rich, well-educated, peaceful and ethnically homogenous – all trends that appear to coincide with racial tolerance – more than one in three South Koreans said they do not want a neighbor of a different race. This may have to do with Korea's particular view of its own racial-national identity as unique – studied by scholars such as B.R. Myers – and with the influx of Southeast Asian neighbors and the nation's long-held tensions with Japan
  11. ↑ Moore, A. (8 January 2014). "8 of the Worst Countries For Black People to Travel". Atlanta Black Star. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  12. 1 2 Biracial Children Accepted, Shunned by Classmates. Asian Correspondent (2009-01-26). Retrieved on 2011-09-30.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Paul Z. Jambor (2009) 'Sexism, Ageism and Racism Prevalent Throughout the South Korean System of Education', United States of America – Department of Education – Educational Resources Information Center: ED506242. Eric.ed.gov. Retrieved on 2011-09-30.
  14. 1 2 Shin, Gi-Wook (2 August 2006). "Ethnic pride source of prejudice, discrimination, Blood-based ethnic national identity has hindered cultural and social diversity in Korea, experts say; Appeared in The Korea Herald". Stanford University.
  15. 1 2 3 Lee, Tae-hoon (18 November 2014). "American rejected for job in Korea because of being black". The Korea Observer. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 '"Dirty", "Pitch-Black Foreigner" Blunt Talking Leads to Contempt. Seoul Broadcasting System. Retrieved on 2011-10-22.
  17. 1 2 "Only 20 N. Korean defectors work as public servants in S. Korea". Yonhap News Agency. October 19, 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  18. 1 2 Korea Times (2011)
  19. 1 2 "North Koreans in South Korea: In Search of Their Humanity". The Asia-Pacific Journal. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kay, Bryan (8 August 2011). "South Korea’s Racism Debate". East Asia. The Diplomat. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  21. 1 2 3 4 'Denying Entry for Different Skin Color'... Bath House Racial Discrimination. YTN. Retrieved on 2011-10-22.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 '"National Human Rights Commission, Recommendation Measure for a Racial Discrimination Case for the First Time. imaeil.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-22.
  23. ↑ "UN expert on racism urges the Republic of Korea to adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination law". Office of the High Commissioner. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  24. 1 2 "UN panel faults Korean emphasis on homogeneity". Joongang Daily.
  25. ↑ Koo, Se-woong (22 September 2015). "Korea, Thy Name Is Hell Joseon". Korea Exposé.
  26. ↑ Steven Denney, The Diplomat. "Is South Korea Now ‘Hell Chosun’? - The Diplomat". The Diplomat.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 Myers, Brian Reynolds (27 May 2010). "South Korea's Collective Shrug". The New York Times. New York: The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  28. ↑ Denney, Steven (1 April 2015). Workers, Immigration, and Racialized Hierarchy. SinoNK https://web.archive.org/web/20160103011031/http://sinonk.com/2015/04/01/south-korea-as-subempire-workers-immigration-and-racialized-hierarchy/. Archived from the original on January 3, 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  29. ↑ "Jasmine Lee Faces Racial Abuse After Election Win". The Chosun Ilbo. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  30. ↑ "Filipina Candidate in Korea Criticized". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  31. ↑ Hicap, Jonathan (18 April 2012). "Xenophobic netizens attack Jasmine Lee". Manila Bulletin.
  32. ↑ Garcia, Cathy Rose A. (17 April 2012). "Jasmine Lee faces 'racist' attacks from Korean netizens". ABS-CBN News.
  33. ↑ Lee, Ha-won (17 April 2012). "Korean Xenophobia Betrays Double Standards". The Chosun Ilbo. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  34. 1 2 3 S. Koreans Reclaim Biracial Football Champion as One of Them. Latimes.com (2006-02-13). Retrieved on 2011-09-30.
  35. ↑ "페이지를 찾을 수 없습니다.".
  36. ↑ Kang, Tae-jun (August 20, 2013). "Korea’s Multicultural Growing Pains". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  37. ↑ Powell, Alicia. "Little Psy sets his sights high". Reuters. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  38. 1 2 "Ethnic Bias Seen in South Korea Teacher Hiring". NPR.org. 9 July 2007.
  39. ↑ Barnes, Alexis K. (5 June 2014). "South Korea’s Not-So-Subtle Racist Hiring Practices". Vice.
  40. ↑ "The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - Young N.Korean Defectors Face Bullying at School".
  41. ↑ "One Hand Clapping". Korea Liberator. Archived from the original on June 30, 2006. Retrieved June 30, 2006.

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