Berkley Center

Xenophobia is not a new concept in Korea, once nicknamed "the hermit kingdom," which only truly opened its borders to Westerners in the late 1800s in fear of invasion from Russia. The Chinese philosopher-leader, Gija, who was considered a neo-Confucian cultural hero for bringing Chinese agriculture and sericulture techniques to Korea, is now criticized and being written out of Korean history textbooks because of the rise of ethnic nationalism in Korea and the concept of minjok meaning a race-nation. Unless one is specifically searching for them, foreigners are not easy to find outside of Seoul—so being an obvious foreigner in South Korea is not only a source of fascination for many Koreans, especially of the older generations, but it is also a topic of derision by drunk men on the subway. In general, the youth of Korea are far more open to the idea of foreigners living in Korea and marrying with Korean nationals, but this brand of ethnic nationalism also sets up a strong divide between any “other” and Korean nationals, including North Korean defectors.

As a tall, curly-haired obvious foreigner, sitting on a subway in Seoul is a very different experience than riding the bus in Wonju or even Busan—unless foreigners are rowdy, most people in Seoul only glance at them with vague interest these days, but outside of the capitol, meeting other foreigners is much more unusual, and the older generation might stare or even point. The ethnic homogeneity of Korea was prized by the former president, Park Chung Hee, who during his authoritarian rule emphasized racial purity. I have gone through the experience of older ladies with permed hair pointing and discussing my own naturally curly hair and even asking me if it is real. Moments like this are more amusing than awkward, but late at night, older men ride the subway home from drinking with their colleagues and end up disparaging the amount of foreigners now residing in their country, expecting that any nearby (literally) “white ones” will not understand a bit of the language being spoken. This happens even more often outside of Seoul where different dialects of Korean are spoken.

Korean youths have grown up in a more globalized world, watching American television programs and going to school with European exchange students, but their parents are often much warier of foreigners joining their families. There are even stereotypes of women from the United States being more sexually adventurous than Korean women, which have been the cause of parental anxiety about flighty short-term relationships between their sons and foreigners. The treatment of interracial couples in South Korea and the children from interracial marriages have long been a subject of some consternation by the South Korean government, where the terminology "pure blood" and "mixed blood" are still in use and lead to the perpetuation of racial inequality—though not nearly at the level of that in segregated America or even the fictional wizarding world of Harry Potter.

By South Korean law, any North Korean defector that makes it to South Korea is considered a South Korean citizen, but this is not how many defectors are treated by those born in South Korea. Defectors are consistently overlooked for jobs because employers think of them as unreliable. They are treated as outsiders, making them stay within their own defector population within South Korea. Defectors as a whole are discriminated against for their northern dialects and smaller stature. The younger generation, who were raised in a country that has been divided since before their births, have little connection to the north through familial or emotional ties, making the North Korean people feel more like non-Koreans. As the years of division between the two countries grow, there seems less need to reconcile and reunify. Given that for the past sixty years of division, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has made the same threats and continued to follow through on them, with a few minor provocations, the youth of South Korea do not see a need to reunify for their own safety. This divide between North Korean defectors and Koreans born and raised in South Korea sets up one more reason for South Korean youth to oppose reunification apart from the economic and population burdens that reunification would incur.

As South Korea moves forward, more acceptance of “other” races and backgrounds may be seen from the youth of Korea, who will eventually inherit the governing of South Korea, but there could be even more standing in the way of accepting North Koreans than European foreigners. While turning away from their neighbor to the north, South Korean youth have been influenced more by Western culture. When leadership changes hands to the younger generations, there could be a significant swing in opinion of reunification and internationalization of South Korea.