Multiculturalism in Korea

I came across an old article after searching for some statistics on Expat population in Korea (if you know any resources please let me know), and found this article.  I found the article to be very spot on with several insights and the reasoning behind them.  It brought me new information as well, i had no idea that just a Century and a half ago it was a capital offense to be a Foreigner.

 

(excerpt)

Historically, interactions with foreigners have been quite limited and most of them have not been good for Korea. Korea reacted by closing its borders to “unwanted” foreigners and became the “Hermit Kingdom.” (I like to remind my expat friends that just a century and a half ago, being a foreigner was a capital crime.) This isolation and common culture created a unique environment. Everyone is programmed with the same operating system, resulting in a high level of social cohesion.

In many ways, this homogeneity is one of Korea’s greatest strengths. Shared values create harmony. Sacrifice for the nation is a given. Difficult and painful political and economic initiatives are endured without discussion or debate. It is easy to anticipate the needs and behavior of others. It is the cornerstone that has helped Korea survive adversity.

 

But there is a downside, too. Koreans don’t understand their own culture. It is a giant blind side. Marshall McLuhan said, “I don’t know who discovered water, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a fish.” William Sinunu said, “The minority know more about the majority than the majority know about themselves.”

 

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2925120

Views: 145

▶ Reply to This | 이 글에 답하기

Replies to This Discussion | 이 토론에 대한 답글들

Permalink Reply by Lara Tosh on March 4, 2011 at 10:24am

Great article!

The author makes the same I point I frequently make with my clients:  Everyone has had more or less the same cultural operating system installed -there are those who have changed their cultural OS, but they are rarities ^.~

 

This part jumped out at me:

 Korea has long been perceived as unfriendly to foreigners and a difficult place in which to live, but Koreans are hospitable to guests to a fault. I know of no other culture in which guests are treated so well. They want visitors to take away a good impression of Korea, but then they want them to go away.

Foreigners are supposed to visit Korea, enjoy the food, visit the palaces and the folk villages, ski in Gangwon, shop in the department stores, experience the conveniences of a modern city and take great memories away with them.

If you stay too long, Koreans become uncomfortable with you. I first arrived in Korea 55 years ago this month. Many times, I have been told that my longevity and permanence here make Koreans feel uncomfortable. Having a 2 percent foreign population unquestionably causes ripples, but having one million temporary foreign residents does not make Korea a multicultural society.

While I've not been here (nor have I been alive) as long as the author, I have frequently observed the "uncomfortabililty" when I tell people how long I've been here.  I've also noticed that the more of my thought strategies that I share with my Korean clients, the greater their discomfort as well.  Fortunately, this serves me well as powerful tool for helping others change (my job = helping people make changes ^.^) -and my clients are always aware of what they're getting into (well, as aware as they can be without having first experienced what I warn them about ^.~).

Multiculturalism is an attitude which begins on the inside.

 

Permalink Reply by Mike Park on March 4, 2011 at 9:37pm

Brian,

 

My two cents worth…your comment and the article by Mr. Underwood is quite interesting to me because of two main reasons: (1) the Hermit Kingdom was used as a derogatory term by pro-Japanese-Imperialism (the Axis of Evil) Westerner; and (2) because comments made by Mr. Peter Underwood are associated with (and similar to) those who have immigrated to another country whereby they have had not-long-enough ancestry/residency.

 

One the subject of (1) Hermit Kingdom….I attach the original book authored by Griffis – the guy who actually coined (or first used) the term Hermit Kingdom and who bestowed it upon Korea; actually the terms was also used for Japan before they opened-up their ports – hence use of the term Hermit Nations, in his books, with a “s” at the end - plural.

 

As you might tell, Griffis was supposedly an expert-enough-to-write-a-book on Japan during his lifetime. The same guy was, however, could be viewed as a “Jap-Lover” right after Imperial Japan’s  bombing on Pearl Harbor – this was called a day that will live in infamy by a former US President. America was stabbed in the back – big time – if you consider the context/content of the civilized talks that were held between Taft and Katsura.

 

Now on the subject of (2) – i.e, not-long-enough ancestry/residency. Let’s take a look at what Peter’s ancestors said about Korea. For this, I attached 2 books written over 100 years ago by members of the Underwood family – namely, Horace and Lillias. If you read the attached, they’re views about (and experience in) Korea are quite different – understandably.

 

Now, let me take you to North America (specifically the United States). I had a friend (who happened to be Korean – someone who just got his greencard, permanent residency) who told me he experienced outright racial discrimination in the United States in the year 2002, which also amazed me. After listening to his story to the end, I told him that what he had experienced is not “racial” discrimination but a very hard fact of life. In other words, he did not have any roots in North America nor did he understand American culture well enough to just go with the flow rather than being so serious.

 

This meant that he needs to work twice as hard as the guy to him, and adjustment will be maybe 5 times harder than someone who is, for example, a 5th generation Irish Catholic – comfortably settled into American culture. I told him that the first generation of Irish (white) people struggled more than he did (in the United States) because of they had to adjust to the new land. What about the pilgrims? They also had to adjust to the new land. This is a fact of life – it is not about race or ethical discrimination I told him. This is why first-second-third generations are true pioneers.

 

Yes – Korea needs to become more global and open to foreigners (I agree 100%) but this will take time. To further my point, I often meet 3rd generation Koreans who have home in Japan (visiting Korea). Some of them tell me that they never feel at home while living in Japan. I believe them. But maybe 4~5 generations later, the descendants of the same Koreans (in Japan) will feel more at home there – this is my guess; and it will be my guess that it will take at least 5 generations in order to become a non-expat. Otherwise, you might as well just feel as a long-term (maybe lifetime) visitor (guest) in a foreign country.

 

Attachments:
Permalink Reply by declan_griffin on March 4, 2011 at 11:23pm

Thanks very much for sharing these writings..

 

I agree with your main points too..

 

It's all too easy to be critical of Korea regarding multiculturalism..

Give it time!!  It's changing quickly enough as it is..

Permalink Reply by Brian on March 5, 2011 at 12:12am

Thanks for the attachments, history is not one of my strong points -- short attention span and all that.  But let met address a couple of things. 

 

First of all the US and Korea are drastically different in make up.  Racial discrimination exists in the US because fundamentally it is an immigrant country made up of a multitude of very different cultures and races.  People are afraid of what or whom they do not understand.  This is human nature.  I have grown up in both cultures American and Korean and personally i feel more comfortable in Korea.  I've experienced racism directed at me and my brother.  I've been called a "chink" to my face by (funny enough) African Americans as well as by Caucasians. I've been stared at like i was an Alien from outer space while touring states like Kentucky, Texas or even in some middle to small towns in Germany or France.  Yet i'm a native English speaker and come from an upper middle income suburban family in Southern California...But despite all this, the US is inherently more multicultural than Korea.  Even though there is widespread racism, the public awareness of racism, the high media attention, and the sheer amount of state and federal programs and laws that combat racism or even gender discrimination are very powerful and present in American society.  I do not think the Korean public, the gov't, or the media can say the same.  So long as Korea struggles with its own internal politics, widespread corruption that even touches the Presidential office, inadequate gov't oversight, corporate scandals, and poor public safety records, things like 'multiculturalism in Korea' will take a remote backseat priority.

 

Korea unlike the US, has not had a massive influx of immigrants that permeate every core of their society.  These are the main points i take away from the OP article.  His comments on homogeneity are accurate and apply to Korea but also to other countries not only in Asia but also in the Middle East.  I have a couple Arab friends and it amazes me whenever we talk comparably about Korean culture and Muslim culture, because despite being so remote from each other both countries embody much of the same characteristics.  I believe this has a lot to do with the underlining isolationism and homogeneity that exists in Korea and many Arab countries.

 

Korean gov't invests heavily in projects promoting Korea as a 'tourist friendly country' to foreign countries.  They talk about Hansik, the Korea "brand", they host G20 and do well at the Olympics, World Cup and the Asian Cup.  They talk about programs to help foreigners survive in Korea.  TV programs feature foreigners who speak Korean well.  But a lot of this seems to me to be superficial.  They're band aids meant to distract us from the root of the problem.  The perception of the general public and Koreans overall about foreigners and the differences between foreigner tourists and foreigner residents in Korea.  The inherent homogeneity of Korean culture cannot be changed by outward looking programs.  Instead it needs to start internally.  Peter, as you say a lot of these issues of 우리나라 may be solved 4-5 generations later.  But considering the pace of development of other countries and cultures that might be too late.  If Korea wants to be seen as a "globally friendly" country, and if it wants to progress it needs to start changing now, not 4-5 generations later.  Time is not on their side.

 

Personally i love living in Korea and i feel comfortable here. (certainly i've never been called racial slurs here :))  But professionally and career-wise it's a nightmare and it's very difficult to work here.  Periodically I get offers from countries in Europe and the US to relocate but i've turned them down because i'm optimistic about Korea.  But as time passes my optimism get's tempered by hard reality and personal experience.  It's no longer so easy to dismiss these offers from abroad.  Still, i have not given up yet and still remain hopeful that things can change...otherwise why would i be here talking about it?  :)

Permalink Reply by Mike Park on March 5, 2011 at 1:42am

Brian –

 

You are right in many ways, please consider the following:

 

(1)   Korea is not a great cultural “melting-pot” like the United States. In other words, you’re right - the two countries are drastically different. Do you wish for (or expect) the two countries to be the same?

(2)   It is not the job of government to be “friendly” toward every foreigner. In fact, government will usually take a one-sided position that strongly favors their tax-payers (citizens). It is the people (citizens in both the private and public sector) of a particular country that are either friendly and/or unfriendly to foreigners – primarily 2 groups (or type) of people to simplify discussion.

(3)   When you get racial slurs in the United States, it stems from those individuals who are unfriendly to foreigners – not the group of people who are friendly. Note that the term foreigner is used loosely to mean someone who is very-different-than-me (or strange) – and not used to mean nationality and/or color of skin.

(4)   I am not saying that we should wait 4~5 generations while doing nothing. My point is that life is different (and at times difficult, every now and then hard to accept/rationalize) if you’re living life as a pioneer exploring new boundaries and cultures outside your home /native country. This is more often true, if you’re seeking new experiences which are different from what you’re accustomed to, in a country where you are not a citizen – a country where you entered with a Visa (or Visa exemption).

(5)   I think Arab is misunderstood by the Western world. Why do you think they are isolated? You know that the numbers we use in virtually every country on earth --- specifically, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 --- are Arabic numbers in origin? They are not Greek, not Roman and certainly not Chinese. How do you explain such proliferation of Arabic culture - on all modern day computer keyboards (for example) and handphones - from what you view as an “isolated” region of the world? Was it because of the Ottoman Empire?

(6)   All in all, I hope you enjoy your stay in Korea – make great friends (stay away from unfriendly/rude group of people) – and don’t (never) give up. Pursue your dreams and keep on shooting for the stars. I also hope you get a chance to skim through some of the old books on Korea written by Peter Underwood’s great grandparents – it may provide you with further insight into Korea (then and now).

Permalink Reply by Brian on March 7, 2011 at 12:46am
  1. I do not expect Korea and the US to be the same, it is for all purposes impossible either way.  The point is Korea does not need to be like the US in order to be perceived as a "Multi-cultural" society.  More can be done but internal issues as i've mentioned severely limit progress.
  2. Why should gov't NOT be friendly toward every foreigner?  Foreigners are in essence Ambassadors and it is in the gov't best National and Political interest to be friendly towards them in any way realistically possible.  Keep in mind that foreigners pay taxes and contribute quite a bit to Korea's GDP.  In fact, if you make under $100K per year it is better for you to be taxed as a Korean citizen rather than the flat 15% tax available to foreigners.
  3. I'm not sure i understand your point.  For many people the most obvious form of "being different" is skin color and nationality.  Racism by definition is discrimination by color (ethnicity) and nationality.  
  4. Again i'm not understanding your point then from your previous comments.  Life is difficult in general no matter what you do.  I think that much is obvious to everyone in KBC.  We have all come to Korea from various backgrounds because we relish the challenge...
  5. The Arab world is misunderstood by the Western world because there is a lack of education about the Arab world.  What people learn is through CNN or BBC or YouTube.  The reason we use Arabic numerical system is because of trade.  The Silk Road for example helped to create trade routes throughout Asia and led to numerous culture exchanges.  This cultural exchange is thus accepted or discarded into various societies throughout the years.  Without getting into a long drawn out debate about history and migration of culture, let me say that just because we use an "Arabic" form of numeric system does not mean Arabic culture has "proliferated" into American society (on a very conscious level anyways).  Just because Koreans eat pizza does not mean that Italian culture has proliferated through Korean society.  The Arab world remains rather "isolated" from the Western world due to intense religious and cultural differences as well as simple Geography.  On the other side, a culture such as America or the UK are founded on Christianity.  As you know the Christians failed to make inroads into the Muslim world during the Crusades.  The stout unwavering and rejection of the two religions led to many wars and bloodshed.  As a note, when i'm talking about "isolationism", i'm referring mainly to Geo-political Isolationism that has an effect on culture.  Countries like China and India also embodied these policies and are only recently starting to change. 
  6. Historical insight is interesting, but what i'd like to see is a more radical and quicker change of policies today.  Unfortunately i doubt this will happen as many cultural aspects of Korea are very deeply rooted in today's society and as we've discussed here in other topics, near impossible to change as long as Native Koreans remain naive or refute their own cultural xenophobia.  As they say, "Acceptance of the problem is the first step towards recovery".  However, these days i find that 우리나라 is as strong as ever.  The movements of the large chaebols to oust foreigner executives and put family members back into lead positions is a strong indication that corporate policy is looking inward as they "tighten their belts".  It would be interesting to note how diverse or how many foreigners would NOT be in Korea if there wasn't a huge demand for English teachers.  If the desire for English learning never existed, how many foreigners would be in Korea other than migrant workers, and the US military.
Permalink Reply by Lara Tosh on March 7, 2011 at 7:38pm

re: number 6 ...would you believe that the main driver of that surface level "interest" in learning English = fear?  ...and fear-based anything usually paves the way to you-know-where -anything that is done to "move away from" some undesirable potential consequence (ie: not getting a high-paying job, for example) doesn't always stick (and is often a relatively painful undertaking or forcing & pushing oneself to do something).

 

On a more hopeful note, there are those here whose "interest" actually IS driven by curiousity & a desire to open up & gain (move towards) something valuable -and they are steadily increasing in number ^.^

...AND those who have been trained to "move away" from as their primary strategy, can learn the "moving towards" strategy relatively easily.

Permalink Reply by Brian on March 11, 2011 at 8:43am

Fear can be a strong motivator but i'm not sure if that's the case here.  For one it's difficult to ascertain whether or not a lack of English can directly harm or threaten one's livelihood on a massive scale.  Especially since the majority of Korea based businesses do not require English and most of the Koreans working there do not speak English.  I think in most companies the domestic and global sections are kept quite segregated with the global still being seen as a "specialist" group while the company is largely dominated by the "domestic" group.  I think for the moment it's seen as a competitive edge and one that gives a person a 1up  in the job market.

 

I think however the next two up and coming generations (late 80's and 90's born) will be quite interesting to see.  Certainly the current English craze is fueled largely by them (and their smart moms).  The kids i see now are doing very well in English and are very competitive in their education.  The danger i see is these ambitious, hungry, global minded young kids might leave Korea to work elsewhere in the future as the current corporate system is suffocating, difficult to advance, and uncreative.  I've met a few very promising individuals but as they get thrown into the big corporate machines i see them get swallowed and absorbed...a drop in the proverbial bucket.   They come out the other end conditioned, beat up, tired, and resigned -- a product of a management system that does not further or mentor these bright young kids but instead delegates and restrains.  It's quite sad to see. 

Permalink Reply by Lara Tosh on March 14, 2011 at 8:43am

I'm pretty sure that a lack of English in today's Korea ISN'T a harmful thing to an individual ^.~  ...but the PERCEPTION is what matters (ie:  fear is often based upon unrealistic perceptions).

 

I agree (re: what happens to people in terms of being put through the corporate culture meat grinder).

 

Permalink Reply by Lara Tosh on March 14, 2011 at 8:52am

...he's right, it's VERY institutional here.

It pisses my husband off ROYALLY ...I suspect that the next time we end up in the health office to re-ad me to be covered under his name as his wife (something that occurs automatically for ethnic Korean wives when the cease fulltime employment) -simply because I'm not Korean (those were the exact words of the government official that YoungBae tore a strip off of the last time that we were there).

Permalink Reply by Lara Tosh on March 14, 2011 at 2:35pm
This is true ~at least my name went onto the family registry immediately^.^
Permalink Reply by Mike Park on March 4, 2011 at 9:52pm

Here is the third book I mention authored by Mrs. Underwood. BTW: She does not mention the word "Capital Crime" in her book. If you see a Church, or many many of them in Korea, you now know who had made significant and proud contributions 100 years ago to help bring Christianity to Korea.

Attachments:

RSS

Download the KBC Korea Business Library The Best 47 Free Korean Business Resources to Improve Your Results in Korea

(We hate spam just as much as you and guarantee to never sell or give away your email address.)

Get more information about the KBC Korea Business Library.

Function-Oriented Menu

Members Events
Discussions Groups
Videos Blog
KBC Friends Photos
Topic Central Pages
KBC Overview & Support

Feedback, ideas, suggestions or questions about KBC? Click here to share your thoughts with KBC Creator Steven Bammel.

© 2012   Created by Steven S. Bammel.

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service