Tag: racism

Via One Free Korea comes the latest example of North Korea’s racist attitudes and lack of regard for human rights:

North Korean officials making a rare appearance at a United Nations human rights event on Wednesday laughed among themselves at the testimony of former labor camp detainees and referred to the ambassador of Botswana with derogatory racial language, according to Korean-speaking sources who overheard their conversations and spoke with VICE News.

The special session featured an awkward and testy exchange between Kim Ju Song, advisor for political affairs at the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s mission to the UN, and Michael Kirby, the retired Australian judge who headed a recent UN commission of inquiry into North Korean human rights abuses. The commission released a report in March that cited forced labor, starvation, persecution of religious believers, and a massive network of political prisons holding up to 120,000 people among various violations and crimes against humanity committed by North Korea’s government.

Speaking along with Kirby were the ambassadors of Australia, Panama and Botswana — whose delegations co-sponsored the hearing — as well as two former North Korean detainees whose experiences were featured in the commission’s report.

At one point, members of the North Korean delegation were heard referring to Botswana’s UN Ambassador Charles Ntwaagae in Korean as “that black bastard,” sources who were nearby told VICE News. They also chuckled at the testimony of Kirby and the two prison escapees, Jung Gwang-il and Kim Hye Sook. Those in the room with the North Korean delegation who later spoke with VICE News insisted on anonymity due to fear of reprisal.  [VICE News]

You can read more at the link, but people shouldn’t be surprised by the racist attitudes if they have read B.R. Myers book the Cleanest Race.

If this guy wants to see real racism he should travel to North Korea:

A U.N. special rapporteur on racism and discrimination on Monday recommended that South Korea ratify the international convention on protecting rights of migrant workers, saying that there are “serious problems” of racial discrimination in the country.

Mutuma Ruteere, U.N. special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, is in Seoul to do research on situations involving racial discrimination, marking his first visit to South Korea. He has met with officials from the government and civic groups during his eight-day stay.

Ruteere said that South Korea has made “important progress” in addressing the issue of racism and xenophobia, given its history of ethnic and cultural homogeneity.

The country, however, now confronts “emerging challenges” due to an influx of foreigners and migrant workers who are contributing to social change and a shift from a migrant-sending country to a migration destination.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but there is going to be incidents where migrant workers are going to exploited especially if they are illegal immigrants.  Fortunately conditions are much better for immigrants in Korea compared to a decade ago.  For example the conditions the juicy girls in the villes used to live in were horrible compared to today.  If the UN is so concerned about racism in Korea than the best thing they could do is advocate against illegal immigration which allows unscrupulous employers to exploit workers.

The Korea Herald has an editorial published that attempts to explain racism in Korea:

“We apologize, but due to Ebola virus we are not accepting Africans at the moment.”

This is what a bar in Itaewon, a popular area for expats and tourists in Seoul, publicly posted in front of its property last month.

The statement triggered thousands of angry comments online, both from expats and locals ― especially after the public learned of reports that the bar admitted a white person from South Africa, while banning almost all dark-skinned individuals, regardless of their nationalities.

The incident is likely to get attention from Mutuma Ruteere, the U.N. special rapporteur on racism. Ruteere is scheduled to visit Seoul later this month to monitor the situation of racial discrimination and xenophobia in Korea and will file a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council next year.

The incident is one of the growing number of racism cases in the country ― Asia’s fourth-biggest economy, a key manufacturing powerhouse in the region, as well as the producer of hallyu.

While the nation’s immigrant population continues to rise, Korean racism ― both structural and internalized ― is becoming a growing concern to the international community.

Complex nature of racism in Korea

Korean racism, however, must be understood differently from its Western cousin, experts say.

It is a complex product of the country’s colonial history, postwar American influence and military presence, rapid economic development as well as patriotism that takes a special pride in its “ethnic homogeneity,” according to professor Kim Hyun-mee from Yonsei University.  [Korea Herald]

You can read the rest at the link, but first of all I find it interesting with everything else going on in the world that the UN is going to send someone to investigate racism in Korea and actually issue a human rights report?  Korea definitely has some racism issues, but it has definitely improved over the years as Korea has become more globalized.  If this UN investigator wants to see really bad racism then he should head north of the border to North Korea.

Secondly in my opinion much of the remaining racism in Korea has to do with ignorance and perpetuating stereotypes than true hatred of someone of another race.  Really true hatred of someone of another race is mostly limited to the Japanese, if they can even be considered another race.  But maybe I am wrong and I look forward to other opinions on racism in Korea.

Why Do Non-White Immigrants Face So Much Racism in South Korea? | VICE http://t.co/H72WAgYb3F via @VICEAU

— KimcheeGI (@KimcheeGI) May 30, 2014

This editorial in the Korea Times claims that the Hollywood Bar in Itaewon is racists towards black people:

It was my girlfriend’s birthday, and I was throwing her a surprise party. I had invited all of our close friends, including her cousin. Among our friends, there were three guys from Nigeria. Shortly after we arrived, an argument erupted between our Nigerian friends and the bartender. I asked why, and they explained to me that the bar security was asking for their IDs and that the bartender wouldn’t sell them any drinks because they are from Nigeria and they are black.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so I asked to speak to the manager. I met up with him and I told him that the three Nigerian gentlemen were my friends, and we _ a group of about 25 people _ were celebrating my girlfriend’s birthday. “I invited them to the party, so please do not mess up our party,’’ I pleaded.

He said that they would have to leave the bar, because Hollywood bar does not serve Nigerians or black people in general. I told him not to be such a racist. He said, “We do not serve black people in this bar.” I honestly couldn’t believe this was happening, and so I said that if they had to leave, we would all leave.

I have never been to the Hollywood Bar before and after reading this I probably won’t ever go there, but I did a little checking on Google about the Hollywood Bar and found this from the Korea Herald:

Upstairs, separate owner of Hollywood Bar and Grill, American Barry Dorscher banned GIs three years ago. “If you let GIs in, every week you’re fixing you’re bathroom, because they bust it up,” he said, suggesting the bans were less driven by racism than by the old adage about oil and water.

So I guess GI’s aren’t welcome there as well. This same article had a few other interesting quotes in it as well:

“So many GIs have drugs. Now that’s gone,” said another club owner, preferring not to be named. “SOFA is a big problem. Whenever a fight broke out the military police would come but they couldn’t touch the GIs because of the law.” He also mentioned that the ban wasn’t entirely a Korean initiative. USFK personnel came and met the two heads of the Hongdae club conglomerate before the ban was implemented.

This whole SOFA thing is so frustrating because the Korean police have the right to arrest any GI that gets in a fight off duty at the club. Why people keep saying in the media GIs cannot be arrested due to the SOFA is complete disinformation. Here is some more interesting stuff:

In Geckos, a group of U.S. soldiers are drinking beer. One of them says he loves Hodge Podge (in Hongdae), but he can’t go there.

“We were told to watch out for a group of Koreans who would pick a fight with a GI while his friend’s in the background with a camcorder, for propaganda,” he said, on condition of anonymity.

His friend K.P. said everything got worse after two Korean girls were killed by a U.S. military vehicle last June. He lifted his shirt to show a scar on his chest where a 17-year-old girl cut him with a razor blade at an established hotel nightclub, “yelling something about killing babies.” Seven months ago, a young Korean pulled a knife on him in a subway saying Americans were tearing North and South Korea apart.

This article was before the Shinchon stabbing incident. It is too bad the soldiers involved in that incident didn’t listen to the command message being put out to avoid Hongdae because of the groups looking to provoke fights with US soldiers for propaganda purposes. Pvt. Humphrey wouldn’t be sitting in jail right now if he would have obeyed the off limits order.

The altercation that the soldier talks about is interesting because during the 2003 time period there were other attempted stabbings of soldiers. The stabbings of course got very little if any press, but it just makes me wonder if the same people were committing the stabbings?

Anyway if you have any insights or stories about the Hollywood Bar please feel free to leave a comment.