Legal reform related to interracial Koreans.

• Published date: 22 March 2017
• Author: Yoo, Sungjin
• Date: 22 March 2017

I. INTRODUCTION

Since the 1997 financial crisis, South Korea has strived to compete on the world economic stage and has now emerged as Asia's fourth-largest economy as well as a major player among the world's top developed nations. (1) Through private companies' cross-border transactions and the South Korean government's signing of free trade agreements with other countries, South Korea continues to globalize economically and grow as an international business hub. (2)

Yet, extensive globalization has not weakened South Korea's nationalistic mindset. According to recent polls by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Asian Institute, nearly eighty-seven percent of South Koreans stress the importance of Korean blood lineage while thirty-two percent of Koreans consider mixed-race families as a "threat to social cohesion." (3) Eighty-three percent of South Koreans also believe Korean descendants living abroad still belong to the Korean ethnicity, even if they have become residents or citizens of a foreign country. (4) Ethnic homogeneity based on blood and ancestry continues to play a key role in South Korean society. (5)

This ethnic nationalism, though crucial to cultural preservation during Japanese colonial rule, has had oppressive, discriminatory effects on those who do not fit the mold. Part II of this note will examine the background on Korea's ethnic nationalism. Part III will discuss Korea's historical and post-Korean War experience with non-Koreans. In Part IV, the treatment of two significant groups of interracial Koreans, the Amerasians and Koasians, will be examined. Part V will consider the current laws and legal reform regarding the better treatment of interracial Koreans.

II. BACKGROUND

Historically, the Korean peninsula has used race (minjok) (6) "as a marker that strengthened ethnic identity, which in turn was instrumental in defining the nation." (7) The source of this ethnic national identity and idea of nation based on race is subject to debate by differing views. (8)

A. Ethnicist

The ethnicists view Korea's national unity as natural, as all Koreans are descendants of Tan'gun, the mythic founder of Korea. (9) The Korean ethnic nation is defined as a by-product of those sharing the same bloodline and fate. (10) Even political leaders and historians of differing ideological views have agreed upon that common origin. (11)

Japanese colonial rule over Korea from 1910 to 1945 strengthened ethnic identity among Koreans, despite the division on the Korean peninsula. (12) As Japan gained control of Korea during colonial rule, it strived to make Japanese, not Korean, the country's dominant language. (13) In turn, because language is a "critical element in the formation of national identity," (14) "Korean ethnic nationalism was an effort to promote Korean particularism against the Japanese version." (15) Korea's experience with Japan and the threat of other foreign powers further established ethno-national solidarity in Korea. (16)

B. Modernist

Rather than focus on the common bloodline, modernists believe the rise of nationalist ideology in Korea occurred at the end of the Choson dynasty, which lasted from 1392 to 1910. (17) Confucianism (18) was adopted during the Choson dynasty and became politically institutionalized in Korea "in a manner that put Korea in a subordinate and obligatory relationship to China." (19) Korea continued to be in an inferior position to China throughout the Choson dynasty, (20) in part because of Korea's isolationist policy. (21)

Influenced by a "group of young reformists" (22) in 1897, Korean national identity was "born only with Korea's integration into the modern world system of nations" and therefore follows "the general pattern of nation building seen elsewhere." (23) In an effort to build a new, modern Korea, the nationalist intellectuals attempted to "create a new national identity, spirituality or Zeitgeist, to enable Koreans to be united." (24)

III. KOREA'S EXPERIENCE WITH OTHER RACES

Regardless of which of the above-mentioned views is more compelling and accurate, the "dominant ideas of nation and nationalism... based upon the ethnic and cultural homogeneity of all Korean people" arc prevalent in Korea. (25) The next section will examine Korea's historical experience and interaction with other races.

A. Pan-Asianism

Historically, "Koreans had identified themselves as part of a China-centered regional order." (26) By the nineteenth century, this regional solidarity included Japan and transformed into a Pan-Asian movement. (27) Characterized by the "yellowness," this movement "was largely restricted to the idea of the East - and specifically Korea, China, and Japan." (28) Social Darwinist framework and its rule of "the stronger wins and the weaker loses" (29) is useful to explain Korean intellectuals' support of Pan-Asianism and regional solidarity.

B. Historical Experience with Non-East Asian "Others"

Choson intellectuals, "influenced both by the contemporary Chinese and the Japanese attitudes and sources," viewed whites with both appreciation and denigration, (30) By the late nineteenth century, there was deep-rooted prejudice against the West, particularly against Russians. (31) Yet, with the rise of Social Darwinism, race was considered subsidiary as relating to civilization and progress. (32) "However obnoxious 'Whites' and their predations might be, 'civilization' had to be learned from them." (33) The failure to modernize was synonymous with the failure of race. (34) With whites and blacks (35) on opposite sides of the spectrum of civilization, Koreans justified their status in the world. (36) Thus, racial hierarchy in terms of development of civilization was "pivotal in establishing Korean nationalism." (37)

C. Post-Korean War Experience (38)

After the Korean War, President Park used ethnic nationalistic rhetoric to implement his policies in South Korea (hereinafter "Korea"). (39) At the same time, there had been an influx of foreign-born citizens. Migrant workers, U.S. military servicemen, and immigrant spouses have had a strong presence in Korea and serve as an impetus for reconsidering Korea's ethnic nationalism.

1. Park Administration

After staging a coup in 1961, President Park (40) vigorously pursued export-oriented industrialization with the United States and Japan as key trading partners." (41) President Park continued the nationalistic rhetoric of President Rhee (42) and "accepted the basic premise of ethnic homogeneity and the eternity of the Korean nation stemming from Tan'gun," the mythic founder of Korea. (43) He also focused on the promotion of economic development to establish the legitimacy of his rule. (44) Inherent in President Park's economic development policy was the "modernization of the fatherland project" with nationalistic undertones. (45) Korean modernization was a form of "national survival in the sense that it was the only way to prevent [Korea] from falling into another colonial or Communist rule." (46)

2. Non-Koreans in the Post-Korean War Era

a. Unskilled Migrant Workers

In accordance with President Park's belief in "digest[ing] superior aspects of foreign civilization," (47) Korea became a "labor-sending country from the early 1960s to the late 1980s." (48) Then, beginning in the late 1980s, Korea transitioned into a "labor-importing nation," (49) as "the shortage of manual workers was estimated at 100,000" by 1987. (50) The number of migrant workers primarily from other Asian countries "entering Korea increased from 33,861 in 1994 to 49,345 in 2000, 106,688 in 2004, 99,232 in 2005, and 72,000 in 2008." (51)

b. U.S. Military

With the end of the Korean War, the looming anti-Communist political climate and hostility of North Korea helped to establish a strong alliance between the United States and Korea. (52) By the end of the war in 1953, there were over 392,000 American troops in Korea and the number of troops decreased to 39,000 by 1980. (53) Currently, there are around 28,500 American troops stationed in Korea. (54)

c. Immigrant Brides

Recently there has been an influx of immigrant brides. A shortage of marriageable Korean women for certain groups of Korean men--specifically never-married men in rural areas, and divorced, widowed, or disabled men of low socio-economic status in urban areas--has contributed to the popularity of interracial marriages. (55) Societal preference for male children has resulted in a population with fewer native-born women to marry. (56) In fact, in 2005, nearly three-fourths of the international marriages in Korea were marriages between Korean males and foreign-born females [primarily from other Asian countries], while in rural areas, more than a third of marriages were international marriages. (57)

IV. INTERRACIAL KOREANS

As a result of the influx of non-Koreans into Korea, children have been born to Korean and non-Korean parents. These children are pejoratively called honhyol, which literally means "mixed-blood," a term which carries a negative connotation. (58) Although there are interracial children from parents of various backgrounds, this section will focus on Amerasians, the "generations of people born to U.S. soldiers and Korean women (prostitutes and non-prostitutes) since the 1940s" (59) and Koasians, whose mothers are migrant brides from Southeast Asia and fathers are Korean. (60) Naturally, with the increase in interracial marriages, the number of interracial children has also significantly increased. According to the Ministry of Public Security, the total number of children from "multicultural families" in Korea rose from 58,007 to 107,689 from December of 2008 to May of 2009. (61) The number of elementary, middle and high school students from interracial families reached 67,806 at the end of 2014, a 21.6 percent increase from 2013. (62)

A. Amerasians (63)

The massive U.S. military presence in Korea has allowed for relationships to develop between American servicemen and locals...