Homogeneity in South Korea

816 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Difficulties that immigrants face essay

Today, here in the United States, we live in a multicultural melting pot where ethnicities around the world are welcome to stay and live. Contrast this to Korea, there is a prevailing idea that homogeneity of the Korean population is essential to keep their cultural and national identity on the peninsula. According to official statistics from Korea’s Ministry of Justice, 1.8 percent of Korea’s 50 million people are foreign citizens with resident status in Korea. The idea of Korean racial purity and xenophobia ultimately results in discrimination and prejudice against foreigners living in Korea and children of mixed Korean blood and is rapidly becoming a social problem that must be dealt with. This can be observed in the 2011 Korean movie Punch (완득이) where despite discrimination and prejudice not being the main topic of the movie, it can be observed as part of the background of the plot.

Although the main story of Punch is about a high school student named Wandeuk coming-of-age through the game of kick-boxing, the secondary story of foreigners, including his Filipino mother, shows the general hard time they have in a country that takes pride in its homogenous society. Take for example in the movie (warning, spoiler’s ahead), Wandeuk initially views his Filipino mother as a stranger when he first meets her. Not only that, the high school teacher’s father is a rich factory owner who abuses foreigners for their cheap labor due to them being in Korea illegally and uses the fear of deportation to continue these abuses. The high school teacher, nicknamed, “Dong-zoo” (똥주), therefore confronts his father as a human rights advocate albeit secretly as he is a high school teacher first. Ultimately, the plot leads to Wandeuk finally accepti...

... middle of paper ...

...itants to integrate them into Korean society and to instill a sense of friendliness among the ethnic Koreans already living there towards their new neighbors. The future is heading towards the right path as support centers for foreign nationals are set up to help with the integration into Korean society. These centers, called Multicultural Family Support Centers have grown substantially recently as there were initially 37 centers in 2007 to 200 centers in 2012. This is an indication of the small, but growing population of foreign and multicultural people that continue to reside in Korea. The centers provide Korean language tutoring, interpretation services, cultural awareness programs, counseling services in order ease the transition of living in Korea, especially for immigrant wives or husbands who have trouble adapting to the Korean cultural of their spouses.

Show More
Related

  • The Cultural Rule: Hong Ulsu And Kang Pyongju

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    This shows how complex Japanese and Korean interactions with each other are during this time period, because on one hand many people are experiencing extreme racism such as vulgar racism, while here a Japanese person is treating a Korean person with respect and kindness. This shows how nothing is black and white when interacting with people, however it can also be credited for this period of cultural rule and the government’s effort at assimilation with Koreans and Japanese. Kang Pyongju’s experience differs from Ulsu’s experience in which he did not have a close relationship with his business partner, however, the relationship he had with his work was subtle and affective racism where he observed racism and how it disenfranchise him and his people throughout his work. For example, he noticed that now the Bank of Agriculture now decided to let Koreans apply which benefited him and any other Koreans, however it has its flaw when the bank selected more Japanese than Koreans, regardless of how qualified a Korean is. He also noticed that although it appeared as if the salaries for both Japanese and Korean bank managers appeared to be the same, Japanese people received

    Read More

  • The Story Of Do In Kwon And Hee Kyung Lee

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    Written by Margaret K. Pai, the Dreams of Two Yi-min narrates the story of her Korean American family with the main focus on the life journeys of her father and mother, Do In Kwon and Hee Kyung Lee. Much like the majority of the pre-World War II immigrants, the author’s family is marked and characterized by the common perception of the “typical” Asian immigrant status in the early 20th century: low class, lack of English speaking ability, lack of transferable education and skills, and lack of knowledge on the host society’s mainstream networks and institutions (Zhou and Gatewood 120, Zhou 224). Despite living in a foreign land with countless barriers and lack of capital, Kwon lead his wife and children to assimilate culturally, economically, and structurally through his growing entrepreneurship. Lee, on the other hand, devoted herself not only to her husband’s business but also to the Korean American society. By investing her time in the Korean Methodist Church and the efforts of its associated societies, such as the Methodist Ladies Aid Society and the Youngnam Puin Hoe, Lee made a worthy contribution to the emergence and existence of Hawaii’s Korean American community.

    Read More

  • LA Riots -- The Korean American Perspective vs. the African American Perspective

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    -Many Korean immigrants came to America because they wanted to give their children a better future and because of the American Dream. They worked hard to achieve that dream; working hard everyday, and saving up every penny (Sa-I-Gu: From Korean Women's Perspectives, 1993). As immigrants, they were only able to get very low paying jobs and made very little. The only property they could afford to buy was in South Central Los Angeles. The property there was cheap because many people/companies didn't want to run a business there because it was in such a bad neighborhood (Sa-I-Gu: From Korean Women's Perspectives, 1993). The Korean immigrants knew how to run a successful business. They worked long and hard hours, and had family members work instead of employing people from the neighborhood. This way, they were able to cut labor costs and were able to survive and...

    Read More

  • Being Proud Of Being Korean-American

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    I remember glaring at my mom when she spoke Korean in public, telling her to be quiet. I remember avoiding talking about my culture, because I was ashamed. These simple remarks from children who were not taught to accept others’ differences truly affected my pride and identity. My parents would always tell me, “You should be proud of being Korean!” Despite this, I felt disrespected, downgraded, and discouraged.

    Read More

  • Canada Charter Of Mobility Rights Essay

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    (migrationinformation, 2008). Citizens of North Korea do not attain the freedom to leave and experience other states. North Korea’s lack of freedom not only affects their citizens but also individuals from other countries in a negative sense, cutting off social bonds as a result. Not having mobility rights is an infringement on their negative liberty on account of the option of immigrating or emigrating not being available to them due to the laws placed by the government. In actuality, citizens “caught emigrating or helping others cross the border illegally are detained” (migrationinformation, 2008).

    Read More

  • Racism In The 1920s Essay

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    The tone right away reduces the Japanese student to a coconut-headed Jap, sly and cunning, and must have cheated his way through life, although the boy is obviously intelligent, being head of the class. Stratton-Porter bars no discriminatory remarks by portraying the American girl, "Sweet Linda" spouting against the Japanese boy who heads the class: "Before I would let a Jap, either a boy or girl, lead in my class, I would give up going to school and go out and see if I could beat him growing lettuce and spinach." (Doc 6) It goes on to protest the foreigners' success, fearing that it would bring in "greater numbers, better equipped for battle of life than we are." (Doc 6) Another public source that also feared a sort of a revolution was the anonymous "Because You're a Jew," generalizing the Jew as a cheat and a swindler, always winning contests, sly speaking and greedy. "The Jew is winning everywhere. By fair means or by foul means he wins.

    Read More

  • Asian American Stereotypes in Film

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    Overall, the object of this movie is to entertain the audience sitting at home watching it, laughing at the mishaps and situations that happen along the way. The question is, however, at who’s expense does the laughter come? Perpetuating this stereotype only goes to further damage the way Asian Americans are seen by the American public. Also during the time the movie was being made, the yen and the dollar were in competition over which had more value. This movie in a subtle way suggests that American workers can overcome any adversity, while the Asian cast is lucky to have such determined Americans to help them out of their problems. The movie serves to inspire Americans by relying on a stereotype of Asians to show that Asian are weak and Americans are strong, and that they can overcome any challenge they rally behind.

    Read More

  • The Racial Inequality of Blacks and Asians in America

    1441 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...e loathe and fear in ourselves.” (152) For a long time, all the people of color are struggling for the acceptance by the whites in the U.S. society. Why we can’t make a first step to acceptance and understand other racial group, and then associate together to make a stronger community. There is a complicated connection between Asian and Black. Most of Blacks are as a creator of crime, but they are also as a shopper to support your business—Asian business, without their consumption, how can you run the business. It is true that once you honor them, they would honor back. And we have to believe that everyone is at once a noble and servant and them just a man—an equal man. Therefore, in this majority society, it is very necessary for the minority to draw together, Koreans, blacks, browns, and yellows all together, to create a better acceptance and position in the U.S.

    Read More

  • Humor In Alexander Weinstein's Saying Goodbye To Yang

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today’s society, racial profiling is a widespread problem that negatively impacts most non-white people. Weinstein criticizes this in the story using an invasion of North Korea. When “the nation changed the color of its ribbons from yellow to blue” people changed their view on Asians and “Chinese, Japanese, South Korean didn’t matter anymore; they’d all become threats in the eyes of Americans” (Weinstein 11). Russ had racist propaganda that stated “THERE AIN’T NO YELLOW IN THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE” and the narrator described being treated differently when in public with Mika and Yang (Weinstein 11). They were even individually searched at airports solely because Mika and Yang where Asian, similar to how Muslims are treated differently and are constantly being profiled as

    Read More

  • Korean Immigrants to America

    1032 Words  | 3 Pages

    On January 13, 1903, the first Korean Immigrants set foot in Hawaii. There were eighty six people on that first voyage, and since then there have been over 550,000 Koreans who have made the journey to the United States over the past 100 years. The original immigrants and their descendants now total over 1.6 million. Korean Americans make up one of the most prominent Asian communities in the United States. Many elements of Korean Culture, ranging from Kim Chee to Tae Kwon Do, have made their way into the American Lifestyle. There have been many events that have shaped the Korean American community and there are many current issues that affect Korean Americans.

    Read More

  • An Asian Growing Up in America

    1896 Words  | 4 Pages

    Knowing that it would be four years of relentless pestering, I knew that someday I would surpass my tormentors; I would keep under cover of my books and study hard to make my brother proud one day. It would be worth the pain to someday walk into a restaurant and see my former bully come to my table wearing an apron and a nametag and wait on me, complete with a lousy tip. To walk the halls of the hospital I work in, sporting a stethoscope and white coat while walking across the floor that was just cleaned not to long ago by the janitor, who was the same boy that tried to pick a fight with me back in middle school. To me, an Asian in an American school is picking up where my brother left off. It’s a promise to my family that I wouldn’t disappoint nor dishonor our name. It’s a battle that’s gains victory without being fought.

    Read More

  • Barefoot Gen And The History Of Korea Under Japanese Occupation

    1973 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fukuoka, Yasunori “Koreans in Japan: Past and Present,” Saitama University Review, vol. 31, no.1, 1996.

    Read More

  • Book Review: Korea Old and New: A History by Carter J. Eckert

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    This book is pieced together in two different efforts, one which is to understand the latter history of the post-1945 era with its political liberalization and rapid industrialization period, while at the same time centering its entire text on the question of Korean nationalism and the struggle against the countless foreign invasions Korea had to face. The purpose of this book was composed to provide detailed treatment of how modern Korea has developed with the converged efforts of top eastern and western scholars who wanted to construct a fair overview of Korea's complicated history. Also, the writers wanted to create an updated version of Korea's history by covering the contemporary arena up to the 1990's. The ...

    Read More

  • Two Ways To Belong To The Native Culture Analysis

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    cannie Kang shows that missing in the cultural insight make a drama in the inner-city. The misunderstanding comes from lack of bilingual and bicultural leadership. Cannie describes his situation that the black people attacks the Koreans who run stores in their neighborhood because they are rude and brusque to them, they have never smiled. Here the misunderstanding takes place, smile for a Korean is a very special thing reserved for people they know and for special occasions. Unlike African Americans who are naturally friendly and gregarious. In other hand, the Asian immigrants are ill-equipped to open business in the inner city so they pool resources and open business where they can afford and work 14 to 15 hours, 7 days a week to raise their children and educate them in a good schools . So, they think to invest money into the community which was the source of their profit. At the end the grocery gain lessons from the experience. So, little learning about other cultures and by reaching out make people tolerant of each

    Read More

  • Geography Of South Korea

    2163 Words  | 5 Pages

    South Korea is officially called the republic of Korea. It accompanies the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its location is between the Yellow Sea and the East Sea. An artificial boundary called the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separates South Korea from its neighboring country, North Korea. South Korea has a total area of 38,502 square miles. A little known fact is that South Korea is slightly larger than the state of Indiana.

    Read More

More about Homogeneity in South Korea

Open Document