Defining Racism in Korea

[jetaime-pyon.livejournal.com]

“We apologize, but due to Ebola virus we are not accepting Africans at the moment.”

This is what a bar in Itaewon, a popular area for expats and tourists in Seoul, publicly posted in front of its property last month.

The statement triggered thousands of angry comments online, both from expats and locals ― especially after the public learned of reports that the bar admitted a white person from South Africa, while banning almost all dark-skinned individuals, regardless of their nationalities.

The incident is likely to get attention from Mutuma Ruteere, the U.N. special rapporteur on racism. Ruteere is scheduled to visit Seoul later this month to monitor the situation of racial discrimination and xenophobia in Korea and will file a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council next year.

The incident is one of the growing number of racism cases in the country ― Asia’s fourth-biggest economy, a key manufacturing powerhouse in the region, as well as the producer of hallyu.

While the nation’s immigrant population continues to rise, Korean racism ― both structural and internalized ― is becoming a growing concern to the international community.


Complex nature of racism in Korea

Korean racism, however, must be understood differently from its Western cousin, experts say.

It is a complex product of the country’s colonial history, postwar American influence and military presence, rapid economic development as well as patriotism that takes a special pride in its “ethnic homogeneity,” according to professor Kim Hyun-mee from Yonsei University.

Unlike racism in the West, Korean racism is mostly targeted against those from other Asian nations, she noted. As of this year, more than 80 percent of immigrants residing in South Korea are from countries in Asia, the largest number coming from China and Vietnam.

“After the country survived the poverty (after the war) and became a member of the OECD, Korea has been celebrating its own success,” Kim said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

“One of the most serious side effects of the country’s rapid economic development is that its people started to hierarchize foreign nations according to their economic status. Collectively, they would perceive specific nations, mostly developed countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., as their superiors whom they should learn from ― just think about how obsessed Korea is with English language education ― while perceive economically developing countries as their inferiors with no specific grounds.”

Prejudices against those from less developed countries often go to the extreme. For instance, in 2011, a woman from Uzbekistan was reportedly denied entry to a public bathhouse in Busan, despite showing her South Korean passport, as the owner of the property was concerned that other patrons may “contract AIDS” from her.

Korean racism also contains internalized white supremacy, Kim added. “After the Korean War, Korea became a country with U.S. military presence. At the same time, it was exposed to American popular culture, including Hollywood films, and was influenced by their representation of visible minorities,” Kim said.

“We need to note that interracial marriage was legally banned in (parts of) the U.S. until 1967. The very first children who were sent overseas for foreign adoption in 1954 from Korea were mixed-race children born to African-American soldiers and Korean women.”

Internalized white supremacy can be seen even in today’s TV shows in Korea, according to a local NGO Women Migrants Human Rights Center of Korea.

When a Korean person is married to a (white) citizen of Western country, his or her family is referred as a “global family” with a positive connotation by hosts on TV programs, while families consisting of a Korean man married to a woman from a Southeast Asian country is called a “multicultural family,” a term that is rather stigmatizing and discriminatory among Koreans, the NGO wrote in a report to be submitted to U.N. Rapporteur Ruteere.

Racially insensitive programming on Korea’s national broadcasting networks have also emerged as a problem. In February, national broadcaster KBS aired three Korean comedians, dressed as “Africans” by wearing a curly wig and painting their faces black, in a segment in its comedy show “Gag Concert.” The program received a criticism from expats here, saying that it was racist and extremely inappropriate.


Discriminatory policy

Korea also has a discriminatory policy against those who wish to immigrate to the country from specific countries, including China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Thailand, the NGO noted. Only citizens from the seven particular countries must complete a special educational program on international marriages in order to obtain the F-6 visa, a visa given to foreign spouses who married Korean nationals.

“The government says it is because citizens from these specific countries move to Korea by marrying Koreans the most,” Han Gook-yum from the NGO said in a racism-related forum in Seoul last month. “But Korea also gets a large number of people from the U.S. and Japan, who move to the country by marrying Korean nationals.”

According to government data, the third-largest number of immigrants who arrived in Korea after marrying Korean nationals in 2011 were from Japan, while the number of American spouses of Koreans exceeded the ones from Uzbekistan in the same year. More than 85 percent of the marriage migrants in Korea are female.

As of this year, there are more than 1.57 million people from overseas in Korea, most of them from Asia, including foreign brides and international students. That accounts for more than 3 percent of the entire population in the country.

Among them, the largest group ― 34.3 percent ― are people who moved to Korea for work.

“Many Koreans say migrant workers ‘volunteered’ to come to Korea, and they should move back to their countries if they don’t like it here,” said a human rights activist who wanted to remain anonymous. “But you have to understand that for many of them, marrying a foreign national or working overseas may have been the only option to survive financially.”

While most expats from developed nations, such as language teachers, have the option of going back home, she said, those from developing countries often do not have such an option, largely because they lack financial means and opportunities. “This makes them more vulnerable to all sorts of abuse in Korea, including racial discrimination and exploitation,” she said.


Misguided multiculturalism

In April, a study by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies noted that most of Korea’s “multicultural” policies and programs targeting immigrants, such as educational classes on Korean manners and customs, have been aimed at cultural assimilation, while the term “multiculturalism” originally referred to the act of respecting different cultures and ethnicities.

Local activists also point out that many Korean organizations reward migrant wives who they consider as “dutiful, devoted daughter-in-laws,” as a way to assimilate them into Korea’s traditional and patriarchal culture ― especially in the country’s remote and rural areas.

For example, a young migrant wife from Vietnam living in a Korean farm village was awarded the “devoted daughter-in-law award” from a local NGO in 2009. The 29-year-old received the prize for taking care of her intellectually disabled Korean husband, nursing her ill parents-in-laws, as well as her grandmother-in-law, on top of doing farm work and domestic labor all at the same time.

“(Such awards) show Korean society’s pressure on migrant women, that they should diligently fulfill their duties as daughters-in-law in Korea’s male-oriented families, in spite of them being ‘foreigners,’” the Women Migrants Human Rights Center of Korea wrote in its report.

“But these pressures are only put on women from developing Asian countries. (No Korean) would have the same expectation of white women from Western countries.”


Racism in English education

On top of migrant wives and those who work in factories, farms and fishing industry, cases of racism have been reported frequently in the country’s education sector as well. Nonwhite native English speakers, such as African-Americans and Asian-Australians, have been denied English-language teaching jobs here, in spite of their language skills for simply “not being white.”

In 2009, Bonojit Hussein, an Indian national who was serving as a visiting professor at Korea’s Sungkonghoe University at the time, was called a “dirty, black foreigner” in public by a Korean man while riding a bus in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. The attacker, who told Hussein to “go back to his country,” also attacked his companion, who was a Korean woman, by shouting, “Does it make you feel good to date a black person as a Korean woman?”

Professor Kim from Yonsei University said the problems stemming from racism has to do with the country’s rapid modernization in recent decades. “Korea has accomplished both democratization, economic and cultural development all at the same time in a short period of time.” Kim said.

“At this point, though, we need a serious soul-searching on where do we go from here. For example, because of hallyu, these (problematic) comedy shows are being watched by overseas viewers now.”

The underlying perception behind racism and prejudice against foreigners is linked to the country’s ethnic homogeneity, but Kim said the notion was largely a myth.


Myth of ethnic homogeneity

Marriages between Korean men and Japanese women were common during the Japanese colonial period, while many women during Korea’s Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) were forcefully taken to today’s Mongolia, as the Korean kingdom was often invaded by the Mongolians.

One of the most significant victims of such Korean notion of ethnic homogeneity and “pure blood” nationalism is some 220,000 Korean children sent overseas for foreign adoption throughout the past six decades, Kim added.

“The children of Korean-Japanese couples (during the colonial period) didn’t look very much different from Korean children. But children of American soldiers and Korean women were considered a threat to Korea’s ethnic homogeneity, because they looked distinctively different from the rest of the population. One of the very first legislations that the Syngman Rhee administration introduced in 1954 was the bill that allowed the government to send children away for adoption without the approval of the foster carers.”

The key to combating racism in Korea is to introduce public education that encourages to respect different cultures and ethnicities, activists said.

“Victims (of racism) educate themselves about the concept of discrimination and intolerance, and they often learn by their experiences. But the general public, especially those who belong to the mainstream, often do not get that education,” said Emile Kim, a former pastor and anti-racism activist who spent more than 20 years in the U.S.

“It is equally important to educate the general Korean public about other cultures and the concept of tolerance (as much as it is to educate immigrants).”

Source: The Korea Herald


A bit lengthy, but definitely worth a read. Lots of interesting points (and outrageous cases!) brought up.

Comments

[x-undercover-x.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered if Koreans would treat me the way they would treat a South East Asian or a French person since I was born in France and identify as a culturally French person?

I mean it's probably a really dumb question but for a country that wants to achieve world domination they have a really hard time opening up to other cultures and lifestyles and it shows with any idol they try to "promote" outside Asia. So much ignorance for such powerful people is so dangerous.

[jetaime-pyon.livejournal.com]

Their initial treatment would probably be based on outward appearance. They still haven't grasped the idea that not everyone from Europe is white, not everyone from South Africa is black, etc. Long way to go. ;/

[chibi-rei.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was weird/interesting that, besides American, people assumed I was Russian (though sometimes that was after looking at my last name.... which is Polish). Some of my students assumed all Americans had blonde hair and blue eyes.

[x-undercover-x.livejournal.com]

And do they consider Korean Americans as "one of them" or American too? Whenever I go back to my country of origin I'm always treated as a foreign kid whether they know me or not which always throws me off lol

[whitefish.livejournal.com]

From my experience, Koreans tend to see Korean Americans somewhere in between depending on how much of the language and culture you know and also how you look/dress. However, it seems that generally they won't see you as just a "Korean." You're different from them but at the same time they will hold you more accountable and probably be more comfortable around you than they would around a non-korean foreigner.

[x-undercover-x.livejournal.com]

That's interesting, I've always been wondering about the dynamics between native Koreans and their immigrants since it seems like Korean Americans in the idol industry always seem to be more American than they are Korean to the eyes of netizens (although they're hardly representative of the majority). Thank you for replying :)

[kairoso.livejournal.com]

if you're white passing then yeah i think they'd treat you better than someone solely south east asian

[honeyfunnybunny.livejournal.com]

Tbh it depends on what kind of people you run into and stuff, I'm thai and never experienced anything bad in korea :l just people wondering where I'm from and asking me(and then not believing me lmao).

[x-undercover-x.livejournal.com]

I reckon it has something to do with generational divides with the younger generations maybe being less judgmental? I've never been to Korea but a friend of my family who's Cambodian got weird comments there while she was a teacher there but it was mostly from elderly people or really young kids.

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

Wasn't that place in Itaewon run by a foreigner?

Sending the kids away for adoption overseas without approval of the foster parents...sounds a lot like they were blocked from adopting too

[lauha.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's owned by a white American guy. He owns another restaurant in Itaewon too, and he claims he was there when the sign was posted and he didn't know anything about it.

[existingisfunny.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw some source/picture of the bar owner and he looked white. I'm not sure where he actually came from but it wasn't a Korean owner. That doesn't make it any better but it still makes the situation different.

[ta-knee-shuh.livejournal.com]

I saw a message posted on FB where he wrote an apology saying his South Korean co-owner wrote it, not realizing why it would be offensive. He apologized, said he took it down and said his co-owner and staff would undertake sensitivity training. He also said the bar would have a fundraiser to raise money for Ebola research.

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

This is a really good article, it's good to know all this stuff.

[blueglassbeads.livejournal.com]

Mother of GOD that goddamn picture made my blood boil.

[onlylexy.livejournal.com]

Yeah I saw it and immediately thought that I need to get out of the K-pop fandom. I honestly can't keep dealing with this anti blackness is absolutely everywhere I look (Globally) and it is taking a toll on my mental health.

[angela-derp-otp.livejournal.com]

Bolding that part in case someone missed it.

This was such an amazing article, I am glad Korea is starting to have this conversation in a deeper level, and this is pretty important because it also intersects with their shadism/colorism issues.

The underlying perception behind racism and prejudice against foreigners is linked to the country’s ethnic homogeneity, but Kim said the notion was largely a myth.
Lets make this a mandatory read tbh.

[jetaime-pyon.livejournal.com]

They really do need to stop playing that homogeneity card.

[seroquels.livejournal.com]

Yes it should be. I'm tired of hearing that excuse.

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to remember the details of a study I read about in which, unlike every other culture on Earth, there were some folks on an island who didn't think their culture was The Best. All cultures measure everyone else against themselves and find everyone else lacking, said the researchers, except these islanders, who were always talking about how the US was much better than they were. In the end the anthropologists figured out that the islanders were measuring the US by their own culture's standards - the island culture hugely valued material wealth, and everyone in the US seemed to have lots, lots more of it than they did.

This fits right in with the idea that, with their rocketship economy, Koreans would start thinking that even richer (white) folks overseas are to be admired and emulated. (I've read that Korea is starting to see the same kind of rich-poor divide as Western nations. Don't make us your role models, guys, under the glitzy surface we're a mess.)

But of course this is not to deny the impact of the occupation, which can only have added that awful Stockholm Syndrome sort of thing where the colonised envy their colonisers, who are better off and more powerful and somehow (they are led to believe) better. Imagine the impact of both influences - the admiration of wealth and the effect of colonisation - happening at pretty much the same time. Ouch.

(Sorry for the ramble. At the moment I'm trying to make sense of why South Koreans are so crazy about learning English, to the point where there's that ghastly tongue operation. The article had some really valuable points on the whole mishegoss.)


... PS Stupid but serious question: if it's clear from the context I'm talking solely about the United States, can I refer to its inhabitants as "Americans"? Or is that still rude to Americans who aren't from the US?

[yanet09.livejournal.com]

nah you're good. as far as i know if you're from the USA you're American and you know how USA gets so yeah you can say Americans.

and i agree with everything. i think they are taking us at that AMERICA IS THE BEST angle we're always trying to shove down people's throats. but if they actually came over here and had to live here they'd see real quick how messed up we really are. it's all about perception and tbh they haven't done enough research if they're still caught up on our (I'm American) hype

[cette-amour.livejournal.com]

thanks for sharing this article. It pointed out some things I didn't know about racism in Korea- esp the policies. Despite all the economic success and "glamour" of Hallyu- they still have a long way to go in rethinking and changing how they view foreigners.

[jetaime-pyon.livejournal.com]

Sure thing! I learned a few tidbits as well. It's ironic with Syngman Rhee's policies, since his wife was foreign and he was educated in the US. You would think he would promote more forward-thinking ideas. But yes, it's really a great effort they will have to put up...It will be interesting to see how things may be different in a decade or so.

[kaninasan.livejournal.com]

Good read

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

this is a very interesting article, thanks for posting.

[existingisfunny.livejournal.com]

I don't know if this has made the rounds here yet, but it'd be cool if more people signed it.

https://www.change.org/p/south-korean-broadcasting-companies-to-end-the-use-of-blackface-on-korean-television

Re: Screening Humanity | 인간극장 - My Mom, Phuong, part 1 (2014.03.24)

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

I LOVE SH. I gives a much more realistic (aka unhallyu glamorized) picture of Korea (and Humanity in general) while still emphasizing the good. I really like episodes that follow elderly couples who live peacefully in remote areas.

Re: Screening Humanity | 인간극장 - My Mom, Phuong, part 1 (2014.03.24)

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

The only city episode I watch was with the guy with the blind wife and their experiences as new parents. I always end up marathon-ing this and after 4 episodes I have to back away before I decide to become an organic mushroom farm on some random mountain. The PD's really know how to make everyday life into meaningful tearjerkers.

Re: Screening Humanity | 인간극장 - My Mom, Phuong, part 1 (2014.03.24)

[ohcrepe.livejournal.com]

I love Screening Humanity! I remember the episodes of this single father with his three kids, theirs was called 'My Three Black Pearls' or something because the late mother was African (can't remember which country). The family relied on charity (something like food stamp kinda fund?) since the father had health issues and couldn't work for a while. The father got a job and the kids were by themselves after school until he gets back from work. The eldest daughter, Dodam had to grow up so fast at 10 years old. Despite all these, it warms my heart how much the father dotes on them. I still wonder to this day what happened to them.

Re: Screening Humanity | 인간극장 - My Mom, Phuong, part 1 (2014.03.24)

[hillando.livejournal.com]

ohhhh I remember this program! My host mom in Korea would always watch it in the mornings while everyone was getting ready to go to class/work. I didn't know it was on youtube

[coeur-racorni.livejournal.com]

This makes me wonder how Koreans would react to Latinos. It's a very good article thanks for sharing.

[angela-derp-otp.livejournal.com]

Honestly I found that they don't really have a good or bad opinion of Latinx people. Like they don't have a fixed mindset when you say you are latinx. There are some latinx countries that are badly represented thanks to International media, but I mean doesn't that happen everywhere tbh? Like a lot of guys in Korea think Latinas are super hot and really good in bed and kind of sexually available 24/7 but that's basically the stereotype US media sold to the world.

I'm Mexican Irish but I look pretty Mexican/latinx. From personal experience I found that people don't really have a general perception of Latinxs or people from Mexico, Central and South America. Some do have pretty heavy stereotypes of some countries though. Like Brazil and Mexico, especially the older generations.I even got people telling me straight up they thought Mexico was a desert and that most people wore hats and zarapes,

When I lived in Korea (this was 6 years ago though) people would assume I was middle eastern or Filipinx (I am brown light skinned), when I told them I was Mexican American many people was like 'oh I didn't knew Mexican people look like this!'. I got that a lot in Japan too, and when they saw my older sister like they couldn't believe we were related because she is the total opposite of me (white, blonde hair and light eyes).

But I think now thanks to the success of the Korean wave in Latin America and the increase of Latinxs in Korea people do have a more realistic view of latinxs and I think in general its positive. Also every year I go back to Korea I find people is gaining more interest in the Spanish language (Latin American Spanish) as opposed to years ago when people would look to Spain to learn Spanish like they still do in Japan.

There is a youtuber from Mexico called Javi and he talks about Korea from a Latin perspective, its really cool but I don't remember the name of his channel.

I should make a disclaimer and mention this is of course, my own experience lol.

[pon-pon-pink.livejournal.com]

as a mexican/german i agree with everything you said and I'm living in Korea now :D
Good to know i'm not the only one who gets put in the middle eastern category, it really surprised me at first but now i'm used to it.
most people though always just tell me how much they like tequila lol

[hisjulliet.livejournal.com]

late reply but hey hey fellow mexican/irish latino/latina! i also look mostly mexican but our likeness stops there cause i'm also japanese lol

[la-geni.livejournal.com]

I'm Mexican both sides of my family and had zero problems. It's based on your outward appearance not on like where you come from unless you're specifically some kind of Asian like the article mentioned. It sounds fickle as fuck, but if you are considered pretty back in the motherland, (Light-skinned/white, light-eyes, slim, small face, sharp nose etc) Koreans will probably think you're hot too because the beauty standards are very similar.

[mundanetuna.livejournal.com]

That was an interesting read. This article is a lot better than the previous two.

Anyhow, thanks for sharing!

[evilvalenstrife.livejournal.com]

That picture pisses me off to no end... Gross...

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

I didn't intend to read the whole thing at this moment, but once I started, I couldn't stop. Good article, it's great to know that these discussions are being had.

[e-bone (from livejournal.com)]

This is a great piece (although I do hope the bit about the bar is updated). I learned quite a bit, esp regarding the struggles that immigrants face vs short term residents (such as English teachers).

[justkyhdding.livejournal.com]

Collectively, they would perceive specific nations, mostly developed countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., as their superiors whom they should learn from ― just think about how obsessed Korea is with English language education ― while perceive economically developing countries as their inferiors with no specific grounds.

And let's not forget that even rich non-white countries are portrayed as unsophisticated about their wealth

[bauci.livejournal.com]

Thank you OP for posting! This was definitely a fascinating read. I'm glad there are more articles like this coming out.

[asth77.livejournal.com]

Interesting article.

The 29-year-old received the prize for taking care of her intellectually disabled Korean husband, nursing her ill parents-in-laws, as well as her grandmother-in-law, on top of doing farm work and domestic labor all at the same time.

She's a slave then?

Lol the hypocrisy of this prize.

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

I hope the *&^*)^ prize was funding for a troupe of assistants!

[lovealwaysliana.livejournal.com]

I like the part about Korean/Japanese babies