Racism in South Korea

See also: Korean ethnic nationalism

The Itaewon neighborhood in Seoul, which is commonly visited by expatriates. A bar in Itaewon banned all "Africans" from entering its premises in 2014.

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. 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.

African Americans and South East Asians are highly advised to take enough time to think before choosing to permanently reside in South Korea. Though many Koreans' perspectives have changed, too many Koreans are prone to easily mock people from other nations, especially those immigrants with skin colors other than "white". Even South Koreans from South Korean parents hear surprisingly offensive remarks if they have looks similar to those with different ethnicities.

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, and black American expatriates often are denied employment due to the color of their skin, a form of discrimination that is actually legal under South Korean law. 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. A South Korean soccer player from Japan even renounced his South Korean citizenship after being called a racist slur by a South Korean newspaper. People in South Korea who experience racism are often helpless to do anything about it, due to its being legal under South Korean law. Sometimes, when racist abuse is reported to police, the police themselves even engage in racist vitriol. 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.

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. Despite the ubiquitous nature of South Korean racism, discrimination in South Korea is not just limited to racism and xenophobia. Sexism and ageism are also very prevalent, with preferential treatment being given to people who are male and older in age.

History

Origins and characteristics

According to some scholars, modern racism in South Korea originated from Imperial Japanese colonial rule, where the Imperial Japanese colonizers influenced Koreans to view the world from a racist perspective. 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". As a result, racist vitriol directed by South Koreans towards expatriates and foreigners often consists of calling them "dirty" and "unclean".

Unlike in countries that are rooted in civic nationalism, such as the United States and Brazil, 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.

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. 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.

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 black Americans. As a result, marriages between South Koreans and Japanese persons are one of the most common of international marriages found in the country.

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. 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."

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. 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. Ethnic prejudice is widespread throughout the South Korean education system. Combined with these factors, it is, according to KBS News, rare for biracial children to successfully graduate from South Korean high schools.

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

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. 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. 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.

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."

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.

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. 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?" 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.

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. 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." In addition, younger defectors often face severe bullying and mistreatment in public middle and high schools. 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."

Reactions

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." 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.

See also

• Korean ethnic nationalism
• LGBT rights in South Korea

Further reading

• Schmid, Andre (2002). Korea Between Empires. Columbia University Press. 
• Shin, Gi-Wook (2006). Ethnic Nationalism in Korea. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. Retrieved April 5, 2015. 
• Hazzan, Dave (February 11, 2014). "Korea's Black Racism Epidemic". Groove Korea. Retrieved June 7, 2015.