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.
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
She clearly and logically illustrates her point of view. She writes, “cultural differences are assumed and expected. But when the cultures of individuals are under scrutiny, it becomes clear that cultural borders do not hold their dividing power.” (98) Combined with her ability to logically expound on her view of cultural borders, she uses several anecdotes to further her point. She identifies four individuals who exemplify multiculturalism. Each of these examples share a Korean heritage but have adopted many other cultural markers from additional sources including non-Korean parents, U.S. society, immigration, and through adoption. Chang poses the question, “Would it be possible for one to become culturally more Korean in the morning, German for lunch, ‘American’ in the afternoon, and back to Korean in the evening? In her conclusion and in answer to that question she states, “Once different standards are embraced by individuals, the differences are incorporated into their individual cultures…the cultural differences are reframed into multiculturalism.”
The Republic of Korea emerged from Japanese colonialism as a Third World Country. Per capita income was under one hundred dollars, the little infrastructure the Japanese built was located in the North, and income inequality was staggeringly high. The future of the Republic of Korea (hereafter simply “Korea”) looked very bleak, even with United States foreign aid. Yet several decades later Korea had become one of the world’s largest, most modern economies run by a democratic government. The “Miracle on the Han,” the term for Korea’s stunning economic growth in such a short period of time, coincided with the lifting of millions of Koreans out of poverty and the
...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.
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.
Jung, Russell. Contemporary Asian American Communities: Intersections and Divergences. Ed. Linda Trinh Vo and Rick Bonus. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002.
While on the job, we may encounter patients who adopt many different cultures, they have different beliefs, needs, and concerns. Therefore, as a nurse we need to build our awareness about preferences of care of the multicultural patient population. Patients with Korean background may have many different insights while receiving western treatments. There are those from North or the South Korea, and they both have significant difference in the way they perceive illness or react to discomfort. Most patients we see are usually those who emigrate from South Korea. Patients with Korean culture may define health and illness in different ways. Therefore, practicing a culturally congruent care and adopting a concept to ensure that it will be achieved
Fukuoka, Yasunori “Koreans in Japan: Past and Present,” Saitama University Review, vol. 31, no.1, 1996.
The Korean experience in America during the years 1903 to 1924 is very unique. When compared to other East Asian immigrants, Korean immigrants were relatively small. Most of them were students and agricultural laborers who emigrated to Hawaii as plantation laborers. Many of them decided to come to America due to constant invasion by Japan and also to earn lot of money. Those immigrants happen to be an important factor on Korean history.
The United States of America is a nation of immigrants. The American culture has been enriched and strengthens through the influxes of immigrant; although immigration itself has created some controversy in the political cycles. According to the U.S Bureau of Census (2002), there are 1,228,427 Korean Americans residing in the United States, representing 0.4% of the total U.S (Giger & Davidhizar, 2008). Mr. John Kim is a 25 year old Korean- American male with a college graduate degree in English Literature. He lives with his parents that are both Lawyers and now a student and also works in a physician office as a medical assistant. John is a friend and a close neighbor and sometimes we hang out for dinner with the parents. The immigration Act of 1965, led to a substantial increase of Korean immigration to the United States. Most Koreans are educated professionals who wanted more freedom to live in a truly democratic society with no intentions of going back (Giger & Davidhizar, 2008).
Kapitan Ri is saw as trying to show how a certain group of Koreans acted through the history of Korea. The author uses almost a humorous story to prove their point. We have to know the story behind all of the occupations of Korea to understand the point the author is trying to make. Korea at one point was a small country on the rise. Everything seemed to be looking good for the Koreans, but then the Chinese took over. This is where all the mixing of cultures starts. Then Japan eventually just says that it is their land now. All during this time there is much war over the border, and it is almost continuously changing. Then Russia had occupied them, and they had a giant influence on the Koreans. Now the United States has a huge influence over there. The United States has much influence in the South, but in the North
Soh, C. S. (2001). South Korea. In C. R. Ember & M. Ember (Eds.), Countries and Their Cultures (
Communist North Korea continues to be an underdeveloped country while South Korea continues to prosper in all areas such as technology, and agriculture. These two countries have vast differences with their political and government views. North Korea at one point was influenced by the Soviet Union but no longer. However, North Korea continues to be influenced by and receive aid from China. South Korea continues to be influenced by the United States of America. North Korea is governed and controlled by a dictatorship, which has complete control over media and social
A nation’s innovation system is shaped by how the nation leverages its endowments—natural resources, culture, history, geography, and demographics—through policies that create a thriving market-oriented economy and accelerate the transition of new technologies, processes, and services to the market (Branscomb and Auerswald 2002). The aim of this assignment is to evaluate South Korea’s innovation policies, in light of its latest ranking as the second most innovative country in the world.
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.