8/11/2019 Issue 7 Focus Page
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With a two-percent increase in marriage-based immigrants every
year,Korea is steadily transforming into a multicultural country.
According to asurvey conducted by the DongA Times, approximately
74.7 percent of Ko-reans view their country as a multicultural
nation. Despite such progress, im-migrants and their multiracial
children still face various hardships living in Ko-rea due to
problems concerning language, education and nancial stability.
Although I attend an international school, I have not had many
chancesto see multiracial children, Elizabeth Huh (11) said. I have
heard that the for-eign and multiracial population has been
increasing steadily, but since I havenot met them face to face, it
is hard for me to abandon existing stereotypes.
As of 2013, the number of interracial teenagers attending public
schools in Ko-rea increased six times compared to that of 2006.
Despite such an increase, the gen-eral Korean public has been
tentative about accepting these individuals as Korean.According to
a 2013 survey by the National Statistics Office, about 13.8 percent
ofmultiracial children said they had faced discrimination from
their peers, teachers,strangers and neighbors. As a result, many of
these children have been reluctantto pursue their educations beyond
high school in Korea, and some teenagers evenhave opted to move to
other countries where multiculturalism is more accepted.
Te economic instability of many multiracial parents is a
critical fac-tor that hinders their children from concentrating on
their studies, said TinaShin, Community Service Club (CSC)
co-president. When I visited the mul-ticultural library, Modu, on a
CSC volunteer activity, I was surprised to see thatmany half-Korean
children were having difficulty communicating with theirown parents
from countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam or China. Tis lack of
communication makes it hard for the parents to supervise and
guide their chil-dren, so most of these children spend their time
playing rather than studying.
Due to lack of social attention, in 2012 a multicultural
high-school drop-out and victim of severe discrimination committed
serial arson. As a Russian-Korean, he had been ostracized both in
elementary and middle school to thepoint where he needed
psychotherapy to treat his depression. His crime re-ected the
degree of discrimination he had to face as an interracial
student.
On Jan. 15, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family
implemented sev-eral new policies to alleviate such discriminatory
problems. However, dis-putes have arisen concerning the efficacy of
these changes. On Feb. 12, em-ployees of local multicultural
centers nationwide gathered in Yeoido, Seoul toprotest against
these policies. Te protesters claimed that the new reforms
ac-tually hindered immigrants from learning Korean because they
removed Ko-rean language classes from the multicultural centers, in
which many immigrantswere able to easily receive Korean language
lessons as well as counseling ses-sions about private issues such
as domestic violence and unemployment. Fur-thermore, the protestors
criticized the lack of policies that were aimed at trans-forming,
reforming and improving the social perceptions of
multiculturalism.
When I walk down a street with my Korean wife, I get a lot of
stares fromthe older generation, said Sean Syverson, English
teacher. However, an in-creased tolerance for multiracial families
among the younger generation givesme hope, especially because I am
expecting a child, that Korea will stead-ily grow more accepting of
diversity. Based on what I experienced for veyears, I believe that
Koreans attitudes towards foreigners will mature in time.
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