Jasmine Lee is the first non-Korean member of the National Assembly in South Korea and the Korea Herald has an interview with her published that discusses some of her views:
When the governing Saenuri Party picked Jasmine Lee to serve as a lawmaker in April 2012, hate groups attacked her as a “dark-skinned” foreigner posing as a Korean.
Saenuri officials hoped Lee would encourage “diversity” in a dominantly homogenous, and sometimes xenophobic South Korea, to better represent naturalized citizens, foreign laborers, and other minorities in the National Assembly.
She has done her best to meet the expectations, Lee said in an interview with The Korea Herald earlier this month, but the country has a long way to go.
“There has never been a multicultural society in South Korea,” she said. “So officials here don’t know exactly how to support such families here.” [Korea Herald]
Here is what she had to say about mixed race males serving in the ROK military:
South Korea’s Constitution obligates physically and psychologically fit men to serve 21 months in the armed forces. But the military did not accept “multicultural” men until 2011, as officials thought they would lack the social skills to mingle with others in their unit.
Lee has a son with her late Korean husband, who is likely to enter the military sometime next year. She said incorporating men from multicultural families was a step in the right direction.
“A Justice Ministry official once suggested that ‘multicultural’ servicemen serve in segregated units,” Lee said.
“I asked the official if those multicultural men would fight separately from other units if a war broke out. He said no.”
“So I asked him, then why segregate them?”
You can read more of the interview at the link.
