Kopino

There are around 30,000 Kopinos nationwide, mostly in Quezon City[1][2]

Kopino (Korean language: 코피노) or Korinoy in Filipino slang is a child of mixed Korean and Filipino descent to an unwed Filipina mother.

Background

The increasing prevalence of South Korean men in sex tourism to the Philippines has resulted in the birth of an estimated 30,000 Kopinos.[1][3] A Philippine delegate to the 2005 international conference of ECPAT (End CHild Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) called for an investigation of the Kopino. According to the delegate, as Korean fathers go back to Korea, most of them stop contacting with his family in the Philippines and not helping them financially. As a result, Korean men give up on their child and their Filipina girlfriend.[4] According to the Cebu-based Kopino Foundation, a charitable organisation started by a local Korean businessman, the largest concentration can be found in Quezon City in Metro Manila.[2] 85 to 90% of the mothers work as bar girls or in brothels with foreign clients. Additionally, this problem occurs by a wrong sex-culture of Korean men. Korean men go to the Philippines for language training or sex tourism and for having fun with Filipina women without taking responsibilities.[4] Due to a strict religious culture of not allowing abortion, Filipinas give birth to these children. Also, the Kopinos are being criticized recently in international society. May 2015 America's Wall street Journal said in an article titled '30,000 Kopinos placed in blind-spot,' "Korea was sexually harassed by Japanese and Americans long ago, but now that Korea is becoming rich, Korean men are doing the same thing to Filipinas". As their fathers are not married to their mothers, they are unable to obtain South Korean citizenship.[5][6] As recently as 2003 they were believed to number fewer than 1,000; another 9,000 were born from 2003 to 2008. As a result, Filipinos' perception of Korean men has taken a turn for the worse.[7] In response, South Korean NGOs such as the Daejeon Migrant Workers Support Center, as well as locally established NGOs like the Kopino Children Center, have begun to establish branch offices in the Philippines to provide social services to the children and their mothers.[3][5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Manila Shelter Is Host to 'Kopinos'". The Wall Street Journal. May 26, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Help on the way for Kopinos in Cebu", Sun-Star Cebu, 2011-03-13, retrieved 2011-03-13
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ha, Michael (14 December 2008), "Outreach Services Planned for Korean-Filipino Children", The Korea Times, retrieved 2009-01-11
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 이, 하나 (2014-07-31), '코피노', 뒤틀린 성문화가 낳은 비극, 여성신문, retrieved 2015-04-06
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hicap, Jonathan M. (2009-11-11), "'Kopinos' Search for Korean Dads", Korean Times, retrieved 2010-05-10
  6. ↑ Kim, Haena (2009-09-09), "Our Children, Korean + Filipino = Kopino", Sookmyung Times, retrieved 2011-05-23
  7. ↑ Song, Tae-heui (2008-12-12), "아빠 없는 코피노 만명… '한국男 나빠요' (10,000 Kopinos without fathers ... 'Korean men are bad')", The Korea Times, retrieved 2008-12-14