Ethnic issues in South Korea

Members of Non-Summit, a popular Korean TV talk show where foreigners discuss their lives in Korea and introduce their cultures. Many have become celebrities in the country. The show's aim is to introduce the many foreign views concerning a single topic, while removing misunderstandings and prejudices in the process.

South Korea is in the beginning stages of experiencing multiculturalism and while government policy and the society is rapidly adapting to accommodate a recent surge in foreign immigrants, it is important to note that it has been ethnically isolated for much of its history, having had little experience with ethnic minorities who mostly did not exist until the 21st century. Immigrants surged to nearly 1.8 million in 2014, rising 9.3% annually between 2009 and 2014.^[1] Today, at 3.9% of the population, South Korea is East Asia's most multicultural country, roughly double that of Japan's 1.9%.^[2]

The country is currently preparing for a full-fledged mass immigration plan which will begin from 2018, where the government will pursue aggressive immigration policies to counter the declining working population from 2017. Nearly 5 million immigrants are needed by 2020, 10 million by 2030 and over 17 million by 2060, at which point non-Korean ethnic minorities will represent over 44% of the total working population.^[3]

There is currently no law regarding ethnic issues since everyone is technically considered Korean by the government and as such ethnic discrimination cannot legally exist.^[4] However, a law against insulting others does protect everyone from ethnic discrimination where verbal or physical insults are exchanged, which states that the offender will be imprisoned for up to 1 year or fined a maximum of 2 million won.^[5] People insulting a foreign head of state or envoy face harsher punishment under a separate law.^[6] Faced with a rapidly rising number of immigrants in the 21st century and accompanying ethnic issues, a bill was raised in 2009 to make ethnic discrimination itself illegal and is currently under consideration at the National Assembly.^[7]

Many government bodies, businesses, schools and the mass media heavily promote multiculturalism and condemn ethnic discrimination, providing support for ethnic minorities. In 2012, Jasmine Lee became the first foreign-born, naturalized Korean to be elected as a National Assembly member, speaking out for ethnic minorities in South Korea. LG Group promotes multiculturalism in TV ads^[8] and runs a multicultural school.^[9] Young and liberal South Koreans are highly curious and interested in foreign culture, with a TV talk show called Abnormal Summit consisting of foreigners speaking fluent Korean discussing their lives in South Korea and introducing their countries' culture gaining high popularity and the national television channel KBS frequently showing documentaries of interracial couples called Love in Asia.^[10]

Statistics

Nationalities of legal foreign immigrants in South Korea (2014).^[11] Note that there were also 207,778 illegal immigrants living in the country that were not included in the following statistics.^[12]

Rank	Country	Population	Percentage	Relative size
1	China	898,654	50.0	50
2	United States	136,663	7.6	7.6
3	Vietnam	129,973	7.2	7.2
4	Thailand	94,314	5.2	5.2
5	Philippines	53,538	3.0	3
6	Japan	49,152	2.7	2.7
7	Indonesia	46,945	2.6	2.6
8	Uzbekistan	43,852	2.4	2.4
9	Cambodia	38,395	2.1	2.1
10	Taiwan	31,200	1.7	1.7
11	Nepal	26,790	1.5	1.5
12	Sri Lanka	26,057	1.4	1.4
13	Mongolia	24,561	1.4	1.4
14	Canada	24,353	1.4	1.4
15	Myanmar	15,921	0.9	0.9
16	Bangladesh	14,644	0.8	0.8
17	Russia	14,425	0.8	0.8
18	Australia	12,468	0.7	0.7
19	Pakistan	11,209	0.6	0.6
20	Hong Kong	10,762	0.6	0.6
21	India	10,196	0.6	0.6
22	United Kingdom	7,398	0.4	0.4
-	Others	81,600	17.2	17.2
-	Total	1,797,618	100.0
-	Illegal immigrants	207,778	N/A

Origins

Between 1962 and 1994, the South Korean economy grew at an average of 10% annually, fueled by annual export growth of 20%,^[13] in a period called the Miracle on the Han River.

The Cleanest Race. Japan-Korea. Teamwork and Unity. Champions of the World. – A postcard from the Empire of Japan. The notion of racial unity of Korea and Japan gained widespread following among the literate minority of the middle and upper classes.^[14]

Many foreigners come to South Korea for economic reasons - The country is among the world's richest due to its strong innovation driven economy, being named the world's most innovative country by Bloomberg.^[15] The average single person enjoyed a disposable income of $40,421 in 2014, the world's highest among major economies, richer than the United States and United Kingdom and substantially wealthier than Japan, Sweden, Germany, France or Canada. These countries and many others suffered a major financial crisis since 2008 that triggered high unemployment and widened income inequality, with young people turning their eyes overseas for employment like South Korea, which has remained the most resilient in the developed world.^[16] Koreans also enjoy Asia's highest median income,^[17] average wage^[18] and low taxes. Indeed, immigration to South Korea suddenly rose 9.3% annually between 2009 and 2014, reaching 1.8 million immigrants in 2014, something the country has not anticipated.^[19] Significantly more immigrants appear to arrive year after year, with over 220,000 arriving in 2014 alone - The size of an entire American city like Richmond, Virginia or North Las Vegas. According to most expats, it offers the best paying English teaching jobs with the highest number of jobs available in Asia which are easy and quick to get.^[20] Along with white collar workers, blue collar workers usually from other parts of Asia, exchange students, students attending Korean Language Institutes, interracial marriages and Korean Americans/ethnic Koreans form the majority of foreigners in South Korea.

For some old conservative Koreans, the issues appear to stem from the historical cultural belief that Koreans are a Hanminjok, or a homogeneous ethnic group, which has been now largely diluted and disappeared among many, particularly the young generation.^[21][22][23] This belief was necessary for much of the country's history to protect Korean identity from foreign invaders, although it has become obsolete and increasingly challenged as immigration to South Korea surged in the 21st century on the back of the country's rapid rise in economic wealth and global influence. As such, it is simultaneously undergoing a rapid social transformation to becoming a more open and multicultural country. According to some scholars, the notion of ethnic integrity might have originated during Korea's time as part of the Empire of Japan during 1910-1945, where the Japanese influenced Koreans to view the world from a racist perspective.^[24] According to one professor, one of these perspectives include considering to be morally superior and cleaner than members of the "out-group".^[24]

Linguistic barriers

Sam Hammington, a popular New Zealand-born Australian who speaks fluent Korean and performs as a comedian, television personality and radio presenter in Korea.

While it is rapidly becoming common to see foreigners speaking fluent Korean, some of them still speak only rudimentary words or even outright refuse to learn it, claiming that Korean is "hard" to learn,^[25] despite the Korean alphabet being among the easiest to master, requiring only an hour or two of practice.^[26][27] This is also partly due to Korea's relatively high English proficiency, ranking higher than Japan and Hong Kong in the EF English Proficiency Index, and as a result, foreigners' expectation of Koreans to speak some English.^[28] However, this also resulted in many cultural differences being mistakenly perceived to be as "discrimination" by some ethnic minorities due to the inability to speak Korean or a lack of understanding of Korean culture.^[29][30]

Julian Quintart, a popular Belgian in Korea who speaks fluent Korean and performs as a television personality and record producer.

Like most countries, speaking the nation's language is considered essential and desirable in Korea, but some foreigners instead talk to Koreans in blatant English or other languages, which sometimes provokes a negative response from Koreans, mistaken as "discrimination" by those ethnic minorities.^[31] However, most Koreans on surface do respond in a friendly manner when talked in English or other languages and try their best to respond due to the Korean culture of politeness.^[32]

As a result, there is a strong movement by the Korean government towards accepting only immigrants who speak some degree of Korean, with Korean language tests increasingly becoming compulsory in higher levels for visa issuance. From April 2014, the Ministry of Justice made it mandatory for foreigners to achieve 1st Grade in the Test of Proficiency in Korean for the issuance of a marriage immigration visa.^[33]

However, foreigners who do speak Korean well are treated well in Korean society, to the point that speaking good Korean and good looks is enough to make many normal foreigners become celebrities in South Korea, such as members of the popular TV talk show Non-Summit. Many well-respected and popular foreigners speaking fluent Korean like Sam Hammington report that they have chosen to study it because of the relative scarcity of foreigners speaking fluent Korean, it is a major advantage over speaking Chinese or Japanese since there already too many foreigners learning those languages and speaking them fluently.^[34]

Foreign teachers' inability to speak Korean

Andreas Varsakopoulos, a Greek-American English lecturer who speaks fluent Korean and lives and performs in Korea as a popular television and radio personality.

Foreign teachers unable to speak Korean feel isolated due to the inability to participate in the administration or school debates. Some Korean students avoid English classes run by foreign professors in universities due to the difficulty of understanding English and do not select classes with foreign professors as a result. This has bred a sense of resentment against Koreans by foreign teachers and even complains of "discrimination", since they are already dealing with the stress of adjusting to a new country. However, the situation is substantially better than the United States, where foreign professors are treated as "second class" and looked down upon, even after acquiring US citizenship, where they are still treated as "foreigners". It is covert and highly prevalent in prestigious and liberal American universities, despite ethnic discrimination being explicitly forbidden. One naturalized American professor formerly from Brazil at the University of Michigan said that discrimination from American students were "obvious by just looking at their eyes". The situation in Korea has remarkable similarities with Japan though, where the Japanese government has actively recruited foreign teachers but they are consistently reporting to feel isolated and discriminated simply because they cannot speak or understand Japanese.^[35]

Incident of English teacher's violence in bus

In 2011, an American English teacher riding a bus in Bundang, Seongnam, suddenly attacked a Korean man and woman, yelling at them to "shut up" multiple times, pulling the woman and laughing at her, calling her a "bitch" and calling the old senior man Gaesaeki (a Korean swear word), followed by showing his fist and threatening "you see these rocks?", finally beating him up physically with his fist and grabbing his neck, only to be arrested by the police at the next stop with fellow bus riders unable to prevent the English teachers's attack despite warning him, telling the driver to stop at the next police station.^[36] It was later revealed that the old senior offered him to sit down in a seat in the bus in Korean (Niga jerie anja), with the English teacher telling the media that he "imagined" it to be an ethnic slur since he apparently "did not understand Korean", despite swearing and insulting the old senior well in Korean.^[37] The video of the incident went viral in Korean Internet, causing an online uproar, with most Korean and Western commentators disappointed by the behavior of the English teacher.^[38]

Cultural misunderstandings

Physical attractiveness and beauty in Korean society

Namsan Trail Turtle Walk-A-Thon with foreign tourists guided by Miss Korea beauty winners.

The most commonly misunderstood aspect of Korean culture is that physical attractiveness in Korean society play a significant role in how Koreans treat others, including foreigners, to the point that many foreigners, particularly physically unattractive foreigners having the Western ideology that "everyone is equally beautiful", frequently complaining of feeling "ethnically discriminated", despite this form of social hierarchy existing in every country via natural selection, but valued much more highly in Korea where it is talked and handled very openly.^[39] For example, Koreans will openly say that "you should lose weight" or that "you are not pretty by Korean standards, where do you want to get it fixed?", with no negative intention but to motivate one to improve their competitiveness.^[40] As a result, unattractive, undesirable or plain "ugly looking" people not fitting the society's definition of beauty are discriminated, regardless of whether one is Korean or not.^[41]

Koreans' strong desire and valuing of beauty is reflected by having the world's highest rate of plastic surgery per capita^[42] and Korean men spending more on skincare than any other country in the world.^[43][44] Even compared to its neighbors, this appears to be true - According to BeautifulPeople.com, an online dating service, "the Korean people are known for their physical beauty", with Korean men having an acceptance rate to of 18% compared to 15% for Japanese men and Korean women having an acceptance rate of 29% compared to 28% of Japanese women.^[45]

Along with people who are physically unattractive, economic, educational and social status within the Korean hierarchy also play important roles in how one is treated by Koreans. People who are poor, uneducated, lazy, smell or have a poor sense of fashion are more likely to be mistreated. However, all these negative qualities are usually masked relatively easily if one is highly physically attractive, showing how much importance Koreans place on physical attractiveness.^[46]

It is common for employers in Korea to ask for a photograph as part of a job application to assess physical attractiveness, although this has started to fade away recently, especially in large corporations and jobs where physical attractiveness is not important.^[47]

Naturalized Koreans are sometimes mistakenly considered "foreigners" by some native-born Koreans, depending on their Korean language skills and physical attractiveness.^[24][4]

Cultural perception about skin color

A depiction of the moon goddess from a Goguryeo tomb.

A common cultural misunderstanding is that foreigners automatically conclude that Koreans are "racist" due to the preference for lighter skinned people. This is despite the fact that preference for lighter skin is a globally and universally occurring phenomenon present in every human being of every race, with even black and white babies as young as six months with no cultural perception or understanding being biased for lighter skin in many international studies.^[48][49] Modern laws against ethnic discrimination and promotion of multiculturalism appear to have strongly influenced foreigners particularly from multicultural countries like the United States, complaining of Koreans openly talking of preferences for lighter skin, with little attempt or effort at understanding the science, history or culture behind it.^[50] Many foreigners also fail to distinguish ethnic preference from discrimination.

Indeed, the roots of the issue is much more complex than it appears on surface. Long before any exposure to foreigners of European or light skinned descent, Koreans have valued light skinned people as they were associated with youth and beauty, since skin darkens with exposure to sun. It is not exclusive to Korea and can be linked to the phenomenon of neoteny - Even in ancient China, Goguryeo and Japan, drawings depicting women and goddesses with fair skin tones were common.^[51]

A common misunderstanding has formed among some expats who claim that some private Hagwons prefer to hire English teachers that are light-skinned - The main reason for this is not "ethnic discrimination" but mainly because of the fact that native speakers of English usually originate from countries with predominantly white populations such as the United States, Canada, Australia or the United Kingdom and Koreans' comparatively limited awareness of the multicultural situation in those countries, as the notion of a single ethnic group forming a country is more familiar.^[47]

Foreign men's infection with HIV/AIDS and STDs

AIDS and HIV prevalence 2009

  No data

  < 0.1%

  0.1 - 0.5%

  0.5 - 1%

  1 - 5%

  5 - 15%

  15 - 50%

A significant portion of foreigners in Korea, mostly foreign men, have very high infection rates of HIV/AIDS and STDs - 1,042 out of the total 8,830 HIV infected people in 2012 were foreigners, which is nearly 12%, despite foreigners comprising a much smaller population in Korea, which was only 2.9% at the time, meaning that foreigners had a four times higher infection rate than Koreans. 70% of the infected foreigners reported in 2014 were male, with foreign men now perceived as a rising public health threat in the public.^[52] Given that Koreans have a less than 0.1% infection rate, foreign men have a substantially higher chance of being infected with HIV/AIDS, which has shocked many Koreans,^[53] since Korea has consistently had one of the world's lowest HIV/AIDS prevalence. Experts say the real statistics could be 3 to 4 times higher since most foreigners do not voluntarily get tested for HIV.^[54]

Due to Korea receiving many foreigners usually from countries with much higher levels of HIV/AIDS such as Thailand, Russia and the United States, this resulted in the Korean government now requiring any foreigner coming into the country for manual labor, entertaining or teaching English be mandatory to be tested once for HIV.^[55]

Major issues with Americans and people of European descent

While there are some who are genuinely interested in experiencing a new culture, a large majority of Western men come from economically poor backgrounds^[56] with academic degrees rarely getting them a good job back at home and having been largely rejected by their own society and women.^[57][58] Most of them typically teach English or other easy jobs for a couple of years just to save money, pay off their student loans, travel around Southeast Asia, and/or indulge in the college-like drinking culture, with their main interest being to meet Korean girls in clubs due to a covert and prevalent perception that they are "easy" to pick up, manipulate, abuse or exploit purely for sexual intercourse or even theft.^[59][60]

However, much of this is less of a problem with an increasing minority consisting largely of Western women who unlike their male counterparts, typically study Korean hard and actively engage with the Korean people and try to understand its unique culture, with the intention of settling in the country long-term or permanently.

Rape, sexual violence and abuse of Korean girls

A perception among many American and European men have built up that Korean girls are "easy" to pick up and can be easily manipulated and abused for pure sexual intercourse pleasure or exploited for rape, sexual violence or theft. An editor at the Washington Post notes that this could be because it is either in their nature to misbehave or think they can get away with things in Korea that would never be tolerated at home, or both.^[61] They usually deceive Korean girls by being friendly and mannerly at first, only revealing their true intention later. The police warns that there are many foreign male sex predators trying to lure young Korean girls for pure sexual pleasure, exploitation and abuse by claiming to "help with their English" in many smartphone chatting apps.^[62] The murder, theft and rape crimes committed by foreign immigrants rose 59% between 2008's 396 cases to 2012's 630 cases. Sexual violence, in particular, has seen by far the biggest rise at 99.4%.^[63]

Rejection from Western women and comparison with Korean woman

Obesity rates as a percentages of total population in OECD member countries in the years 1996–2003 (According to BMI).^[64]

A major cause of many Western men having a strong sexual interest and "hunting" purely for a quick, one time sexual intercourse affair with Korean girls appears to be that they have been largely rejected by their own women, where they had to pretend that they believed in feminist rhetorical that was strongly emphasized back home.^[65] Life is substantially easier for them in Korea since most Korean women are much less demanding than they were back home. The fact that many working class North American, Australian or European women being unable to afford expensive cosmetics, perfumes, clothes, skincare or plastic surgery along with little effort for make up and diet control appears to play a role as well. Combined with the Western ideology that "everyone is equally beautiful" and comparatively poorer healthcare, slower metabolism, unhealthy diet and living conditions,^[66] it resulted in many Western women in this class ending up physically unattractive, usually much more obese, aging quicker with wrinkles and spots^[67] and significantly unfashionable than their Korean counterparts according to some Western men.^[68] Many Western men from this class fall in a sudden shock upon seeing the comparatively much more slender and sexually attractive Korean girls who are usually even more attractive than their ethnically Korean counterparts in the West, with sexual intercourse becoming a dream and goal of many instantly. As one Western man experienced with Korean girls pointed out, "most American girls don't do make ups, walk around in training suits and rarely make themselves pretty".^[69]

American men's crimes

Young American soldiers have been consistently the largest source of rape, sexual violence and abuse of Korean women among foreigners since the end of the Korean War.^[70][71]

Numerous Korean girls have been historically and still are abused purely for sexual intercourse by American men in Korea, usually followed by betrayals,^[72] and falling victims to outright sexual violence, rape and theft to sexually pervert American men. Despite their small population in Korea, in just 6 years, American men have committed 1,472 crimes in Korea, many related to rape, sexual abuse, violence and theft from Korean women.^[73] Many public protests and demonstrations against sexually raping American men have been held in Korea historically, with protesters in 2011 voicing that American men attacking and exploiting the most vulnerable people in Korea's society are not punished properly, saying that the issue has been kept silent and largely ignored by the US government, demanding a public apology from President Barack Obama and a revision of the SOFA agreement.^[74]

In February 2016, a 36-year old American man sexually assaulted and violently raped his ex-Korean girlfriend living in Gangnam-gu, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him and was arrested by the police.^[75]

In November 2011, a 21-year old American man sexually assaulted a minor age Korean school girl who was 18 in Dongducheon, forcing her to do several pervert things and violently raping her to have sexual intercourse with him multiple times, stealing 5,000 won in cash from her and running away. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail by the Korean court.^[76]

In October 2011, a 31-year old American man sexually assaulted and violently raped a 40-year old Korean women, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him after meeting her at a club in Chilgok County, North Gyeongsang Province. He was arrested by the police.^[77]

In February 2011, an American man suddenly broke into the house of elderly 70-year old Mr Kim, punching him and sexually assaulting and violently raping his 64-year old elderly Korean wife, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him in Dongducheon. He was arrested by the police.^[78]

In January 2011, a 21-year old American man sneaked into a room where an 18-year old Korean high school girl was sleeping alone in Mapo-gu, Seoul. She was sexually assaulted, violently raped and forced to have sexual intercourse with him. Her laptop was stolen by the American man who run away. He was arrested by the police.^[79]

In January 2010, a 28-year old American man named "M" approached a 27-year old Korean girl at 3:50AM sleeping in a 24-hour Jjimjilbang in Busan, a Korean public bathhouse shared by both man and woman. "M" checked that there was nobody around and grabbed a blanket, smothering her with it. Inside the blanket, the American man sexually assaulted and violently raped her, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him. He was arrested by the police.^[80]

In October 2007, a 25-year old American man forced a 19-year old Korean schoolgirl returning home to go to a nearby mountain, violently raping and sexually assaulting her there. The Korean court sentenced him to 3 years in jail, saying that the "offender is not regretting his wrongdoings and is ignoring the psychological and physical pain of the victim."^[81]

In April 2007, a 23-year old American man punched a 29-year old Korean female police officer and tried to violently rape her in a toilet in Gangnam-gu. His American friend locked the toilet and kept a watch. However, a building security guard heard her scream during the sexual intercourse and opened the toilet, reporting them to the police. The 23-year old gave up sexually assaulting the female police officer and ran away 100m in front of an apartment construction site where he was arrested by the police. In the same day, he also touched the ass of a 37-year old Korean woman in the street, and was being detained in the police station but the victim gave him mercy and did not want him to be punished and he was let go, only to commit a more serious sexual violence later in the same day.^[82]

In January 2007, an American man suddenly sexually assaulted and violently raped a 67-year old elderly Korean women, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him in the streets of Sinchon, Mapo-gu, Seoul. He was sentenced to prison by the Korean court.^[83]

In October 2006, a 19-year old American man was arrested for sexually assaulting and violently raping multiple Korean girls, forcing all of them to have sexual intercourse with him in Dongducheon. In the same month, another American man tried to violently rape a Korean female hair stylist at a barber's and force her to have sexual intercourse with him.^[84]

Military police

Due to the covert and widespread rape, sexual violence and abuse of Korean girls by American soldiers becoming a serious problem amidst strong public criticism against American men's presence in Korea, a joint military police was introduced in January 2012 consisting of 3 U.S. soldiers, 1 KATUSA soldier and one Yongsan police officer, which was strengthened from December 2013 to patrols of once every single night around major crime hotspots where American soldiers like to hang out, such as Itaewon. Bars and clubs are individually visited and searched thoroughly for any crime, rape, sexual violence scene and drunken American soldiers. The US military has set a ban of moving out of the barracks between 1~5am and any American soldier caught still drinking in bars until this time is immediately deported back to the base. The military police has reduced American soldiers stirring up trouble in Yongsan - According to the Yongsan police, the 112 crimes committed by American soldiers in 2011 steeply fell to 50 in 2012 and 53 in 2013. However, criticism from bar and club owners have risen, with unpaying soldiers being suddenly deported out and ruining the local atmosphere because of the searches being very primitive.^[85] The crime is expected to further decline once the Yongsan Garrison completely moves out to Camp Humphreys in 2017 to Pyeongtaek, which was built in the "middle of nowhere", located over 65km from Seoul and cut off from any major city. The existing Yongsan Garrison will be transformed into a large landmark public park for all Seoul citizens to enjoy.^[86]

European men's crimes

Lee Cham, a German-born naturalized Korean, stepped down as head of Korea Tourism Organization amidst a massive public criticism that revealed he had sex with a prostitute in Japan while on a business trip.^[87]

In September 2014, a 29-year old French man drugged a Korean girl in her 20s, making her sleepy and close to unconscious. He brought her to a motel, sexually assaulting and violently raping her while recording the sexual intercourse with his phone. He also took pictures of her body's private parts naked and saved it in his phone. The court sentenced him to 5 years in jail originally but because the Korean girl wanted mercy and did not want him to be punished, it was cut to 3 years. He is expected to be expelled back to France after his jail term is finished.^[88]

In September 2013, a 38-year old Russian man and 28-year old Turkish man met a Korean girl in Itaewon, getting her drunk and raping her at their house, forcing her to have sexual intercourse. They recorded a video footage of the sexual assault. They claimed that they had sexual intercourse with the Korean girl under her permission and showed the video footage to the court as proof, where the court commented that "the sexual assault was indeed somewhat weak". However, the court still sentenced the two men to 4 years in jail because the victim's view comes first and they have not received a clear permission of the sexual intercourse from the victim, which violates Korean law against raping. The court said that the victim may behave favorable to the raping men to avoid further violence which can be mistaken as approval.^[89]

Enes Kaya public scandal

Enes Kaya in the original cast for Non-Summit in 2014.

Popular TV star Enes Kaya, who was a member of the talk show Non-Summit, known for being extremely conservative and claiming to "know no female other than his mother",^[90] became the center of a public outcry when it was revealed that he was an unfaithful sex predator, cheating on his Korean wife, flirting and dating "romantically" with over 10 young Korean girls^[91] by using the fake name "Nick" and pretending to be ethnically Italian, having sexual intercourse with multiple Korean girls^[92][93] even while his wife was fully pregnant,^[94] with the victims reporting him to the media when Kaya told them that news of him having a wife and child were merely a showbiz ruse and faked marriage for visa purposes in order to play a role in the film Haunters.^[95] He gave fake hope to the victims that he would marry them by saying that "we are going to marry earlier than you guys" at a meeting with his friends. He showed a picture of him and his daughter, claiming his daughter to be a "cousin" or a "friend's kid". Many victims who suffered deep pain because of the shock from his betrayal, came up to the media day after day, with many presenting KakaoTalk messages as proof of his lies, where he said “come over and spank me,” while in other chats, he said that there are still so many things they need to do with one another, including “kisses” and “massages.”^[96] Some of the victims quit their jobs and could not sleep without medication because of depression, "haunted by his sweet words".^[97] He ultimately stepped down from all shows in Korea and remained silent and isolated from the public without a sincere apology and leaving Korea back to his home country, claiming that he is innocent since none of the Korean girls he abused and had sexual intercourse multiple times asked whether he was married or not, although victims strongly dispute this saying that they asked him directly (if he was married), but he kept avoiding the subject.^[98][99]

Death of Korean girls from US military vehicle

An American M60A1 Armored Vehicle-Launched Bridge (AVLB) in February 2003.

On June 13, 2002, in Yangju, Gyeonggi-do, a United States Army armored vehicle-launched bridge, returning to base in Uijeongbu on a public road after training maneuvers in the countryside, struck and killed two 14-year-old South Korean schoolgirls, Shin Hyo-sun (Korean: 신효순) and Shim Mi-seon (Korean: 심미선) who were heading to a birthday party.^[100]

The American soldiers involved were found not guilty of negligent homicide in the court martial, further inflaming the public's criticism against American soldiers' presence in Korea. The memory of the two schoolgirls is commemorated annually in Korea.^[101]

Itaewon murder case

The multicultural Itaewon neighborhood in Seoul, which is commonly visited by expatriates.

The Itaewon Burger King murder case took place on April 3, 1997 when 22-year-old Hongik University student Jo Jong-pil (Hangul: 조중필; born 1976) was suddenly and innocently stabbed to death at Burger King in Itaewon. Arthur Patterson, 18 at the time of the incident (born to an American father in the US military and a Korean mother) is the main suspect. Patterson and his friend Edward Lee were arrested but they were released by the Supreme Court in 1998 due to lack of evidence and Patterson was banned from travelling to Korea, fleeing to the United States in 1999. However, the large nationwide success of the 2009 film “The Case of Itaewon Homicide,” along with complaints from Cho’s family, forced the Ministry of Justice to reopen the case and request Patterson’s extradition in 2010. In October 2012, it was announced Patterson will face extradition by Korean police after a DNA test indicated he was the killer.^[102][103] In January 2016, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Arthur John Patterson to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of the 1997 murder.^[104]

Sexually harassing Western teachers

According to a Korea Times editor who was a manager in charge of recruiting English teachers from America, Canada and Australia, many of them were doing their "travel around the world thing" and trying to make enough money to go on to the next exotic Asian destination. Many white men had the intention of having sexual intercourse with as many Korean girls as possible, boasting loudly of having sex with countless Korean women in vulgar terms.^[105] Conversation classes are social gatherings disguised as education; in this social gathering, the instructor is the BMOC by default, or the alpha male.^[106]

In May 2015, a 44-year old American man from Kentucky who sexually assaulted, violently raped and forced 4 children to have sexual intercourse with him in 2003 in his home state, came to Korea in 2004 on an E-2 visa. His criminal records were not revealed because it was still under investigation. He worked for 8 years in North Jeolla Province at a primary school and language schools. When visa renewal was needed, he traveled to China and the Philippines. However, the FBI's criminal records arrived by mail to his Korean address, revealing his location to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI originally thought the suspect was hiding in Thailand but after figuring out his location, they asked for assistance with local police via Interpol and the American man was immediately expelled back to the United States after arrest.^[107]

In October 2007, Christopher Paul Neil, a Canadian child sex predator, was arrested, who was working as an English teacher in the city of Gwangju at the time but fled (with a one-way ticket) to Thailand once he was publicly identified.^[108] He was the subject of a well-publicized Interpol investigation of the sexual abuse of at least 12 young boys in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, primarily owing to the worldwide broadcast of pornographic images depicting the abuse.

According to a black list of English teachers published by the Native Speaker Recruiting Association, many have been listed due to a sexual or pervert approach to the children. A Canadian teacher named Jack told the children to cut hair in class and was doing pervert things that "were difficult to even say", receiving complains from the parents. Another Canadian teacher named Robin was sexually attached to female children and touching them. He later admitted that he touched them sexually and that he would never teach again, but he was lurking around the school and even penetrating without permission into the school that he left.^[109]

Major issues with other ethnic groups

South Asian men's crimes

Sujan Shakya, a Nepali speaking fluent Korean, lives and performs in Korea as a television personality, having improved Koreans' view of South Asian nations.

In November 2015, a 52-year old Nepalese man was sentenced to 6 years in jail for sexual assault and forcibly inseminating and impregnating a 18-year old Korean high school girl suffering from intellectual disability who had to undergo abortion as a result.^[110] The man entered Korea in 1991 under a tourist visa and worked as an illegal immigrant at a cloth factory, where he met and dated a Korean woman for 2 years. He got to know her 18-year old daughter this way. In October 2014, he met the girl at a street in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, luring her into his house to eat rice. He violently raped and forced the Korean girl to have sexual intercourse with him in his house in Jongno-gu.^[111] Her mother noticed that she was not menstruating and went to a women's clinic. The result was full pregnancy.^[112] The Nepalese man claimed that they have been "dating" and he "did not forced sex on her". However, the victim said that "I have never thought of him as a boyfriend or had any romantic feelings for him. We were alone in the house and he used too much force trying to get me to have sex with me even though I said I don't want to and I could not resist it because of fear of violence".^[113] The court added a mandatory 40-hour rape treatment program to the Nepalese and concluded that the Nepalese man "is denying his crime by unacceptably claiming that they have been romantically in love with each other despite evidence from phone call histories proving that he forced sexual intercourse with her multiple times and is not showing any sign of regret or attempt at trying to restore the victim's suffering, and as such, a severe punishment is inevitable".^[114]

In March 2014, a 34-year old Sri Lankan man lured a 37-year old Cambodian woman into a motel in Cheonan, sexually assaulting her face and legs and violently raping her multiple times, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him. It was later revealed that the Sri Lankan man was having a marriage with the sister of the Cambodian woman and took pictures of her face and body with his cellphone so that she won't be able to report to the police.^[115]

In January 2012, a 37-year old Sri Lankan man approached a 28-year old Korean woman returning home in Busan and realized that she had severe mental disability and told her to "come to his house to eat ramen". She was sexually assaulted at his house, violently raped and forced to have sexual intercourse with him. The Sri Lankan was arrested by the police.^[116]

In February 2007, a 20-year old Bangladeshi man met a 16 year-old Korean girl on the Internet, who showed interest in him. He lured her into his house in Jungnang-gu, Seoul, getting her drunk and sexually assaulting and violently raping her, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him. He was arrested by the police.^[117]

Jeong Eun-hee rape and murder case

In October 1998, 18-year-old girl Jeong Eun-hee (Hangul: 정은희) was found dead in a highway near Daegu hit by a 25-ton truck. However, a man's sperm DNA was found in her underwear but because there was nobody matching the DNA, the incident went silent for 15 years until June 2013, when the DNA matched 99.99% that of a 47-year old Sri Lankan man who was working at a nearby factory, which ironically happened because he was arrested for a separate prostitution related case.^[118] The Sri Lankan was suspected of taking the girl, who was intoxicated and on her way home from university, to an expressway overpass in Daegu to rape and rob her there with two other Sri Lankans. However, he could not be arrested due to the expiration of the 10-year statute of limitations. The victim’s family expressed outrage over the verdict and the direction of the probe that ruled out the possibility of a third suspect. The family has claimed the prosecution had unreasonably pushed for the investigation to “justify” its accusations against the Sri Lankan despite uncertainty over who committed the crime. A family member told local news media that "We don’t even have the energy anymore to protest the way the investigation was conducted." The case was covered heavily in the mass media and was the center of a significant conspiracy theory, with the family setting up a website to find justice, which unfortunately failed.^[119]

Scamming and rape of Koreans by Pakistani men

In April 2015, a 51-year old Pakistani man and two other Pakistani men were arrested for abusing fake marriages for the purpose of obtaining Korean citizenship. The 51-year old entered on a tourist visa in 1999, working at a package factory in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province and deceived a Korean woman by claiming that "he will give monthly rent and financial support" to her upon marriage. He used this fake marriage to gain Korean citizenship and divorced in just 7 months. He also used the used the fake marriage trick with his 38-year old Pakistani friend. In 2014, he intended to get his son and cousin to get Korean citizenship and approached the Korean woman's two 21-year old twin daughters, luring them by claiming to pay for their "cellphone and gas bills". In the process of getting his son married to the Korean girl, the 24-year old Pakistani sexually harassed her. The Korean girl phoned the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's hotline and was counselled, finally deciding to report the Pakistani's crimes.^[120]

In January 2011, a 29-year old Pakistani man approached a 17-year old Korean boy sleeping at his friend's house in Gunsan, sexually assaulting and violently raping him and touching "specific private parts" of him. He got to know the boy by getting into a fake marriage with his mother. He was immediately arrested at the scene by the police.^[121]

In October 2010, a 35-year old Pakistani man advertised himself as a "24 year old British businessman who speaks Korean well" on a penpal website, meeting a 17-year old Korean high school girl in Incheon this way. He lured her into his friend's house and sexually assaulted and violently raped her, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him. Between October and November, he violently raped 5 minor age Korean school girls this way. He was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison, with 3 years of mandatory GPS tracker being installed in his feet. His personal identity will be available for the public to view for 10 years.^[122]

African men's crimes

Sam Okyere, a Ghanaian TV star speaking fluent Korean and member of Non-Summit who has helped improve the image of Africans in Korea.^[123]

Nigerian refugees

In August 2015, a 28-year old Nigerian refugee man who was unemployed, used a smartphone app commonly used among foreign immigrants to meet a 24-year old Ethiopian girl who was studying in Korea, getting her drink and luring her into his house in Yongsan. He sexually assaulted and violently raped her multiple times, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him. The victim went to a toilet and called a Korean relative who told her to leave the phone in her bag and keep recording the call. The Nigerian man told at the police station that he had sexual intercourse with the woman under her permission but the recorded call was used as evidence to arrest him by the police.^[124]

In February 2013, a 30-year old Nigerian refugee man who applied for refugee status because he was facing death threats in his country for changing his religion from Islam to Christianity, sexually assaulted and violently raped a 23-year old British English teacher, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him, after meeting her at a club in Hongdae and taking her to his house after she was drunk. He was arrested by the police.^[125]

Scamming and rape of Korean women by Nigerian men

In November 2013, two 34-year old and 43-year old Nigerian English teachers lured a Korean girl in her 20s into their house by speaking fluent Korean and faking to work at a major multinational firm and as an accountant, claiming that they are having a birthday party. They sexually assaulted and violently raped her, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with them. They arrived in Korea in 2009 and 2006 respectively and were working as English teachers until recently. Both were arrested by the police, with the 34-year old Nigerian having a history of violently raping another Korean girl before and thus was detained in the police station.^[126]

In December 2012, a 40-year old Nigerian man claiming to be "British" met a 33-year old Korean woman at a smartphone chatting app. He told her that he would teach English to her saying that he will give her an "easy English book". He lured her into his house in Sindang-dong and sexually assaulted her by punching her arms and legs multiple times and violently raping her several times, forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him. As she screamed for help, a bypassing Korean man reported him to the 112 but he immediately ran away, leading to a chase with the police for 12 days. The man entered Korea on a 30-day tourist visa and was an illegal immigrant without a job or home. He was hiding his real identity and teaching English at a Hagwon in Yangju. The police warns that there are many foreign sex predators trying to lure young Korean girls for pure exploitation and abuse by claiming to "help with their English" in many smartphone chatting apps.^[127][128]

Uzbek men's crimes

In August 2015, a 27-year old Uzbek man suddenly broke into the house of a 25-year old Korean girl in Ansan that he met previously at a nightclub. He raped and forced her to have sexual intercourse with him, violently assaulting her in the process. As the police tried to arrest him after being reported, he ran away and tried to kill the three chasing police officers by stabbing them with a sharp weapon, saying that "I don't care whether you die or not" to the police officers as he was stabbing them. The Korean court sentenced him to 8 years in prison along with taking a mandatory 80-hour rape prevention program and 7 years of exposure of his personal identity to the public.^[129]

In March 2014, a 32-year old Uzbek man saw an advertisement online saying that a 19-year old Moldavian girl was willing to be a "tour guide for Russians" and called her, asking her for a tour. After meeting her in Yangju, he lured her to a motel, where he raped and forced her to have sexual intercourse with him, violently assaulting her in the process. He got drunk after the sex and was sleeping in the motel, only to be arrested when the police stormed in after receiving a report from the victim.^[130]

Government's role

Jasmine Lee, a Philippines-born naturalized Korean National Assembly member speaking out for multicultural families and ethnic minorities in Korea.

The South Korean government's vision is to attract highly talented immigrants with capital and technology to contribute to the South Korean economy, while at the same time, taking in ethnic Koreans and interracial marriages as Korean nationals and controlling illegal immigrants and simple labor workers.

However, the government has been criticized for promoting multiculturalism and offering lucrative packages to attract foreigners with little discussion at the National Assembly, basing their evidence purely on self-evaluated policies, not being sufficiently prepared for ethnic tensions, especially as the line between ethnic groups is becoming clearer. The Human Rights Foundation demands that more actions be taken to promote mutual understandings and peaceful co-existence between different ethnic groups in the country.^[131]

In 2015, when Lee Jasmine, a naturalized Korean member of the National Assembly speaking out for foreigners' rights in Korea, enacted a new law enabling illegal immigrants' children born in South Korea to be eligible to stay with his/her illegal parents without deportation under a special permission by the President's order, over 14,000 people from conservative groups voiced strong concerns. They claimed that the welfare budget will go bankrupt when illegal immigrants give birth to a baby in Korea or the baby stays in Korea for longer than 5 years, since their parents could live in Korea illegally as well, with all educational, childcare and healthcare welfare provided for free until they graduate high school, 100% from Korean taxpayers. The public education sector expressed concern that it is wrong to pay illegal immigrants billions of won every year.

When Seoul City's liberal mayor Park Won-soon announced that the city has decided to financially support illegal immigrants for human rights reasons, it was criticized for its voting procedure, where originally the policy was defeated by 7 to 5, but due to protests from some Seoul City governors, a second vote was done where the policy was passed with 8 yes and 4 nays. Critics called this a waste of tax money.^[132]

Critics argue that over 700,000 jobs have been lost and taken over by foreigners, and they are sending 6000 billion won every year back to their home country, and therefore the government's multicultural policy is already failing to meet its claim that multiculturalism is good for the country. Instead of wasting time with attracting foreigners, they argue to focus on reunification with North Korea or make North Korea a stable, developed country instead, which is going to bring in 25 million people that speak the same language and will be a "jackpot" according to the President, since it would solve the nation's demographic problems in one shot and allow the government to be picky about accepting immigrants like Japan.^[133]

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."^[134] The U.S. Department of Education released a report on the matter in 2009.^[135]

Support for multicultural families in Korea

Danuri, the multicultural family support portal, is available in 13 languages, managed and operated by the Korean Institute for Healthy Family, which is supported by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.^[136]

Ethnic enclaves

Some ethnic minorities refuse to assimilate with Korean society and live in ethnic enclaves such as Itaewon, with heavy concentration of Chinese around Daerim Station and Namguro Station, Southeast Asians in Ansan, Japanese in Ichon, Russians and Central Asians in Dongdaemun and French people in Seorae Village.

See also

• Non-Summit
• Immigration to South Korea
• LGBT rights in South Korea

References

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. 

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Racism in South Korea