UPDATE: In an accompanying article, the Dong-A further discusses Korea’s rising xenophobia.
“There aren’t yet any groups like skinheads who kill or severely assault foreigners. But Korea, too, is not a safe zone from xenophobia.” Or so said a 30-year-old Chinese who has lived in Korea for four years. He said Koreans, regardless of education, age or sex, use ethnic slurs for Chinese like jjanggae, jjanggolla and junggungnom too freely. He said Koreans don’t consider at all how uncomfortable these words make Chinese feel.
With 1 million foreigners now residing in Korea, there are increasing calls to block xenophobia and create a healthy multicultural society.
Many experts count the rising number of crimes committed by foreigners as one of the major reasons for the spread of xenophobia. This is because it causes the mistaken understanding that it’s OK to discriminate against foreigners because they are the principle offenders causing social problems.
In recent years, the number intellectual crimes like voice fishing and financial fraud committed by foreigners has skyrocketed. In 2004, foreigners committed 1,660 such crimes. Last year, it had reached 4,536.
A professor at a research institute attached to the police academy said intellectual crimes like voice phishing and financial scams are directed not at just a few, but a wide number of Koreans, and these crimes can, in the short term, lead to increased hostility towards foreigners.
Another issue that needs to be quickly rectified is that unlike the case with Koreans, authorities are unable to take even basic measures needed to prevent and solve foreigner crime (something the Dong-A has complained about before). An official with the foreign affairs division of Seoul Metropolitan Police said prior to long-term resident foreigners naturalized Korean citizens, police cannot collect basic data to help prevent or solve crimes like fingerprints. That’s how difficult it is to solve crimes committed by foreigners, he said.
Then there’s the economic crisis.
Mr. Hwang, an ethnic Korean from China, was recently beaten by his Korean coworker at a construction site on the Seoul subway, being told to “go back to China.” He said many of his compatriots have recently been beaten by Koreans at the workplace.
With jobs growing fewer due to the economic downturn, hostility towards foreign workers is on the rise. With the daily wage for Chinese workers in the Sallim-dong area holding at 50,000 won for the last decade, foreign laborers are often made the target of complaints.
The head of the Migrant Workers Center, however, said in a survey of business owners, 70% said they hire foreigners because they cannot hire Koreans. He said foreign laborers do the “3D” jobs avoided by Koreans and are contributing to Korean economic development by supplementing Korea’s labor force.
To stop xenophobia, the most important things are education about multiculturalism and preparing a system to protect the human rights of foreigners. A researcher at the Korea Labor Institute said the considering Korea’s place in the world, the number of foreigners residing in Korea would necessarily increase, and that one needed to actively come up with measures at the early stage when tensions and problems appear.
A typical model is the “foreigner human rights ordinance” to be put on the floor of the city council of Ansan, Gyeonggi-do. This ordinance seeks to make sure that individuals are not discriminated against or disadvantaged in their daily lives or public facilities due to skin color, race, ethnicity or language. It also calls on companies employing foreigners to work to protect the human rights of foreigners and respect their cultures, including religious activity.
ORIGINAL POST: The Dong-A Ilbo reports that xenophobia is on the rise as Korea’s economic difficulties continue.
On Sunday, news of a mass arrest of illegal migrants was greeted with celebration at an online cafe calling for the expulsion of illegal immigrants.
Other websites, like one opposing Korea’s “multicultural policy” and another calling for measures to deal with foreign laborers, are full of material openly hostile to foreigners, including stuff like, “We must show them how scary a country Korea is.”
These groups even plan to hold a rally and march in Daehangno on Nov 30 calling for a strong crackdown on illegal migrants and an exposing of crimes committed by foreigners.
This growing hostility towards foreigners, reports the Dong-A Ilbo, is due to the increasing number of foreigners living in Korea and the belief that foreign laborers are stealing jobs from low-income earning Koreans at a time economic crisis.
In an online survey conducted by the Justice Ministry, 91.8% of 1,990 respondents said authorities should strengthen their crackdown against illegal migrants. The Labor Ministry’s Migrant Workers Center said it has recently gotten a sudden spike in foreigners complaining of racist treatment and discrimination at the workplace or public offices.
Experts say that if understanding and consensus about a multicultural society fail to take root, you could see the appearance even in Korea of “skinheads” like those in Europe who target foreigners with violence. Government measures are needed, they say.
Marmot’s Note: Very sensitive issue, and one of which I am of two minds. On one hand, the authorities looked the other way while companies imported large numbers of foreigners from developing nations to do “the work Koreans wouldn’t do,” which seems to be code for “the work for which legal citizens and residents of Korea would ask too much to do.” Anyway, suffice it say that there are a lot of parties at fault for the illegal immigration mess — government, employees and the illegal migrants themselves — and to impute blame only on one side is both unjust and won’t fix the problem.
That said, wanting your nation to enforce its own immigration laws is not “xenophobia”… although I have no doubt that many of the posters at the cited websites are xenophobic.
As for government measures to allow understanding and consensus about multiculturalism to take root, I suggest the government first begin be asking Koreans if they even WANT to become a multicultural society. There really has never been a real debate on this issue, despite tons of ink spilled in the papes about “Korea’s growing multicultural society.” Do Koreans want to import significant numbers of foreigners? If so, how many, and from where? Should the emphasis be on “multiculturalism” or assimilation? Multiculturalism — to the extent that it’s happening in Korea — has been happening ad hoc due to pressing economic and social needs (cheap labor, foreign wives) without, IMHO, sufficient contemplation of its long-term implications. The experts are right — if there’s no consensus or well-conceived government immigration and social policy, you could see skinheads, just as you could see the appearence of “French suburbs.”
{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
Daehak-ro Nov 30, eh? What time? Blunt objects allowed, or just harsh language?
1:00 to 3:00:
http://cafe.naver.com/gohomenow/94
Be there or be square.
Well, when countries where Koreans illegally reside begin their own crackdowns these returnees are going to need jobs.
How does one say Kristallnacht in Korean?
I see it’s only about the 불법체류 외국인 노동자. So I guess if you’re illegal but not working, it’s alright?
“That said, wanting your nation to enforce its own immigration laws is not “xenophobia”… although I have no doubt that many of the posters at the cited websites are xenophobic.”
From what I can gather, parties and groups in any country that campaign on the single issue of immigration (“we just want people to obey the laws,” “we are simply asking the government to restrict numbers of immigrants right now,” “all we want is a controlled flow, so that our society is not destabilized”) almost always have a xenophobic motivation there somewhere, if you scratch the surface. I mean, how many people can you get out to a demo or rally to promote “law abiding”? Not that many. How many people can you get to come out to tell foreigners to “go home now [see name of naver cafe]“? Many more.
As for asking Koreans if they even want their society to be multicultural – what an interesting proposal. I wonder if such a thing has happened once in the history of man. Were the Picts asked if they would like to have the Celts move in from mainland Europe to share the island of Great Britain with them? Or were their descendants asked if they wanted the Romans to come over? Or the Anglo-Saxons after that, or the Norman-French after that, or the Asian immigrants after that? Migration happens usually because of a number of push-pull factors, and rarely is one of them a “please come and join us” placard being held up at the docks by local residents.
Yes, we probably will see an increase in anti-foreigner hatred and violence in Korea. Show me one country where this has NOT happened when faced with an influx of “uninvited” foreigners. However, unlike Shakuhachi, who thinks that Japan should stop importing labor to make up for its low birthrate but rather have robots do all the menial tasks, I think the best thing to do is accept that immigration (including the illegal sort, until the system is reformed to allow unskilled laborers to come and do the available work that Koreans feel is beneath them) to Korea *will* increase, and try to check the nativist tendencies that will show themselves, first in demonstrations, and later in violence.
Any Pollyannas out there want to show me an example of a nation where this has been done better? ‘Cuz I’d sure like to see one.
“Migration happens usually because of a number of push-pull factors, and rarely is one of them a “please come and join us” placard being held up at the docks by local residents.”
Oh really?
I suppose,
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
On the Staue of Liberty is just some graffiti then?
The USA still holds its arms open to immigrants. Caveat that — we do so to those who choose to legally immigrate. The USA has always been a country of immigrants from other lands and it’s our differences that made us strong.
Even if it is a manority of Koreans that have/voice their xenophobic tendencies, most disturbing is the lack of opposition to that voice, or worse yet I suppose the subtly complicity and the rationalization that this should be expected.
hamel…”…the best thing to do is…try to check the nativist tendencies…”???
And how do you propose we do this ?
And now it’s the illegal immigrants that are keeping my lawn strong.
As for our differences……look at the election 2 weeks ago for all you need to know about America’s multiculturalism. We freakin’ Rock!!!!
Lazy: I thought that someone would point me to those words on that Statue. They really do express a lovely sentiment, but if you would only talk to people from groups who were not white and western European, you would see that the welcome was not always so cordial. Nativism was a stream of feeling in the US too. Gosh, just look at Gangs of New York for a fictionalized example.
Hitest: how do we discourage nativist tendencies? That is not something that can be answered in 30 seconds, but a question that keeps policy-makers in many countries awake at night. I think Korea is well-placed to learn some serious lessons from the good and bad experiences of other countries that have had to deal with immigration (legal and illegal) for much longer.
umm…..then what about all those illegal korean immigrants here in LA koreatown?
Until recently, what that meant is the mainstream political establishment in much of the West trying very hard to keep a lid on public discussion of the immigration issue (perhaps they were hoping the voters might go the same way as the afore-mentioned Picts, Britons and Anglo-Saxons?) until the extreme right started taking up the issue, forcing policymakers to admit that perhaps mass immigration might have economic, social, cultural and political consequences we should address.
Short reply (all I have time for these days):
Korea may need more workers (although I think Korea would be better off with some upward pressure on wages combined with more efficiency) but it does not need to become multicultural and multi-ethnic. I don’t think that relatively mono-ethnic nations like Korea, Japan and Noway are miserable places.
As for the USA, we aren’t strong because of immigration. We are strong be because we have developed a culture that folks from around the world can join and a political system crafted over 200 years ago that still works well. Without that culture and that system, no ammount of immigration would have helped (or hurt).
“want to join”
“Until recently, what that meant is the mainstream political establishment in much of the West trying very hard to keep a lid on public discussion of the immigration issue”
Are you suggesting government censorship or suppression of discussion? If so, I am sceptical, and would like to see proof.
“forcing policymakers to admit that perhaps mass immigration might have economic, social, cultural and political consequences we should address.”
Sure it does. It always has, that’s the thing. The history of the world is largely a history of the movement of its peoples: legal & illegal, mass & minor, armed & unarmed, welcome & unwelcome.
What I hope all nations (including Korea, a newcomer – in this era at least – to this game)would work out good strategies and share their experiences with each other, so that “best practices” as it were could be found and propagated.
I like the suggestion about asking the Korean people if they want non-Koreans in Korea — as a hypothetical activity. If only this could be done, what would the results be? I also would love a “tit-for-tat” measure in the countries where Koreans work and/or reside illegally (particularly in light of the new visa waiver program with the US going into effect soon).
As a rough estimate, there are about 5 million ethnic (South)Koreans living outside of Korea; does any similar situation exist with other countries — where a significant number of its (former) inhabitants live elsewhere? Funny how this little pot is calling the non-Koreans in Korea kettle black.
Such silliness.
Considering that South Korea has one of the lowest birthrate in most any country in the world, and how even with the Lee Administration’s plan of turning that environmental debacle called Saemangeum into a new Dubai, comes the realization that there will not be enough Koreans to run it *and* other projects in the future, perhaps this is another reason for reunification with North Korea, just to gain the additional workforce.
The North vs. South vibe, however, would be testy but at least they would speak the same language (roughly).
No.Way.
I’ve got a serious question: Are Koreans ever not angry and protesting something? I’ve been here for about 3 years, and every week, Koreans are angry about something. Dokdo, Olympic games, Americans, the government, etc. Every week there’s some kind of angry/violent protest. Is anyone here ever happy?
exit86: Try Ireland.
And as for that hypothetical activity, I dare say the citizens of MOST nations would say no to “would you like to have large numbers of people who are not part of your race/religin/language/other group coming here to live, have children, commit the occasional crimes (or not), and possibly interbreed with your kind?”
That is only natural, right?
2002 World Cup – this place was pure magic; every Korean a good-will emissary, every door open and welcoming, every street a block party.
Other than that, all I can say is you shoulda seen the 90′s.
The existence of nativist sentiment – which was as often albeit not as long practiced against other white groups as well as non-whites), and even organized nativist political movements, does not negate the fact that the US, rather singularly, I believe, deliberately adopted as a matter of national policy and more or less successfully implemented a program of mass immigration. It long-predated the erection of the Statue of Liberty; in fact, it was effectively “written into” the Constitution and was further developed in one of the first statutes enacted by Congress.
The chances that Korea will are, IMHO, effectively nil, given that Korea has no principled raison d”etre for its existence as a state, unless you regard blood-based ethnic nationalism as a “principle”.
Sperwer: you are right. It is a fantastic example of the institution (the government) being ahead of the body politic. (Of course, the problems experience by blacks and Amerindians well after the writing of the constitution didn’t necessarily negate that. As MLK basically said in his famous speech, the promissary note came up empty for America’s citizens of color, but it was still a valid promise waiting to be filled.)
Funnily, thus far in Korea, on a daily basis, most people I know experience a lot of “instutional race-based discrimination” (sometimes in our favor, sometimes against it) but not so much “individual race-based hatred.”
Great post Robert. There is nothing at all wrong with any country exercising its right to put limitations or expectations on who goes to live there. Even in my home country Australia, which needs more people for its long term development, there is currently a debate on whether to limit immigrant numbers in light of the coming global recession. You raised a good point about whether or not Korea actually wants to become multicultural. I would like to see some serious debate on that. Preferably from the more enlightened, educated classes. That said, any debate should be prefaced with the reminder that Koreans have long enjoyed the generosity of other countries when they’ve sought to spread their culture abroad.
Hamel:
I don’t think the Founders and Framers were so far ahead of the body politic, it at all. If they had been, they never would have pulled off the revolution, which was a close thing that clearly would have failed without sufficient popular support (although, it could also have failed for any number of other contingencies, notwithstanding popular support). Similarly, if they were, they never would have written in the (in)famous 3/5ths Clause; instead, with respect to the issue of slavery, they accommodated the interests of the South – despite the patent inconsistency of doing so with the principles of the “promissory note” (as you put it). They generally were exceedingly “realistic”, and one measure of their realism was the recognition that even the prodigious fecundity of the colonial settlers in North America wouldn’t suffice to create the manpower necessary to develop the continent and fend off further European depredations.
#23 – “Funnily, thus far in Korea, on a daily basis, most people I know experience a lot of “instutional race-based discrimination” (sometimes in our favor, sometimes against it) but not so much “individual race-based hatred.””
I think you’re right.
“Try Ireland.”
Ireland is, like Korea, a geographically small country feeling overwhelmed by burgeoning foreign populations that sees no connection between their diaspora and how protective they feel about their homeland. To both of them those people are simply “gone away.”
Both countries are examples of places that desperately would like to shut their doors after centuries of having doors left open for them.
Both of them having their countries ruined and made unlivable by larger, aggresive, island neighbours makes for a bit of an uneasy comparison.
The Ireland of Asia, though? At least the Irish try to keep Ireland clean.
What did I tell you all a week or so ago? Something about timing of the crackdown being worrisome, right?
Fortunately, you can’t judge a country by its ‘netizens’.
I would love it if we were allowed to have the ability to discuss multiculturalism as the Koreans are doing. Unfortunately in Australia (at least in the state of NSW) presuming to take a line other than the official one gets you first smeared, then thrown into jail by the Orwellian sounding HREOC, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, that runs its own Kangaroo courts where the verdict is guilty every time.
Anti-foreigner sentiment is exacerbated by foreigners doing the wrong thing, like overstaying or working illegally. For the sake of inter-ethnic goodwill, the laws on the books have to be enforced so that Koreans will not think that the foreigners they see on the streets might be illegal.
Ireland and Korea have a few things in common but immigration policies should not be included in that.
Ireland was one of the few countries (3 I think) that allowed full working rights to new EU accession countries a few years ago and Dublin is now one of the most multicultural cities in Europe.
What is happening in Korea happens in most countries during an economic downturn. Immigrants are always easy scapegoats when unemployment is rising.
I think what Korea needs to do is regulate education more. The number of people with 4 year degrees in unnecessary for the jobs available. Korea has effectively eliminated its working class by over educating them and raising their job expectations.
Korea probably has more degree educated supermarket workers than any country in the world and I am not sure they should be proud of that.
Huh? What’s this guy taling about? Anyone who came here on any visa except a short-stay tourist or commercial visit visa was subject to fingerprinting – at least when I first arrived. Has something changed? And various agencies have all my data in many multiple copies, as they require it all everytime I want/need to cut a kimchi fart. The real problem is that we’re as opaque to them as NYC’s Chinatown used to be to NYPD – a problem it solved by enrolling Chinese cops. Wanna give any odds on when that’s going to happen here?
They stopped fingerprinting folk a couple of years ago.
As far as enrolling barbarian cops, I’d be willing to bet the police would love to get some naturalized barbarians in uniform. The longer odds are on when a naturalized Korean actually considers enrolling at the Korean police academy.
“Well, when countries where Koreans illegally reside begin their own crackdowns these returnees are going to need jobs.”
Every country has the right to exercise their immigration laws. If they fail to do so, then it’s their own problem. I for one, would welcome crack downs on illegal migrants in the West, whether they be ethnic Koreans or not. It’s the few minority who gives the majority a bad name. And I’m sure the majority of Koreans also agree with me.
As for Korea’s debate on going multiculturalism, there has been no debate because the vast majority of Koreans have been in agreement with going multicultural — perhaps the vast majority of Koreans not knowing the full repercussions of a true multiculturalism society (good and bad). Now, with the downturn on the economy and as more foreign laborers enter Korea, the sympathetic view toward multiculturalism may change gradually.
It’s probably too late for Korea to pursue the option of non-multicultural society at this point. One third of all marriages in rural Korea is an international one; imagine how many children they would produce. Although certainly not at the scale of countries such as the U.S., Korea is already a multicultural society. There is no turning back. Koreans can only either anticipate the possible issues (kudos to Dong-A for that,) or realize too late that they live in a multicultural society (e.g. France).
voice fishing?
It’s amusing to see a Chinese fella talking about another country not clean.
Voice phishing has become a great annoyance. I get two types of calls on a daily basis, one being from the ‘post office’ telling me that they have a package waiting for me (I hear it’s a scam to collect credit card numbers… Since when does the post office call, right?) and the other is garbled words covered in static (probably a scam to add charges to one’s phone bill).
I don’t care where they come from, I just wish the phone company did a better job of blocking them.
#32,
Only after Korean residents of Japan complained that they were being fingerprinted.
Hard to say if this is connected, but a group of friends were beaten on Saturday night out in Ilsan, apparently for for crime of speaking English in public. And all this in an area where foreigners are a huge presence and their existence is not only tolerated but widely embraced. I remember such incidents being more common when I first arrived some five years ago, but they have long tailed off; being told to be quiet on the subway and that this was “our place” happened to me a couple of times, but never in the last few years. All I can say is that people should be careful, and the organization of people on the issue could be what will spark a rise in violence as attackers will no doubt feel emboldened by knowing their resentment is not something they carry alone.
#38,
Saturday night?…
I’d be worried if it had happened Monday at noon.
It’s interesting that in all these posts, no one has even raised the idea that there should be justice carried out on the offending Koreans for randomly beating up on foreigners.
We all just kind of know better, don’t we?
Welcome to the ghetto.
Redneck,
Have you ever tried obtaining justice here from the popo when in dispute with one of the minjok? As the Village People sang, “tell the trees don’t grow, tell the wind don’t blow, ‘coz it’s easier…”
Sounds like 1997 all over again…
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