https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4516-8766
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ABSTRACT
While South Korean racism and discrimination against migrant workers and foreign brides are not new phenomenon, some early policies adopted by the central and local governments to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 have once again revealed the country’s deep-seated xenophobia. This paper focuses on three government policies – mask rationing, universal disaster relief funds, and local government subsidies – that were adopted during the first wave of coronavirus in South Korea from February until June 2020, when supplies were insufficient and the economy was most severely affected. This paper highlights the fact that government policies were based on nationality, which led to the exclusion of foreign nationals, even long-time taxpaying residents. Such institutional discrimination was blatant, considering the country’s decades-long discussion of multiculturalism. This paper points out that, as a country with a very low number of naturalized citizens, discrimination against foreign nationals not only reflects South Korea’s perceived boundaries of in-groups and out-groups, but also demonstrates the lack of a legal basis that prohibits discriminatory practices.
Acknowledgements
We thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor Dr. Robert Shepherd whose comments helped improve and clarify this manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Park Citation2018; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Citation2018.
2 This was the highest number of citizens to sign a petition since the South Korean government opened an online petition system in 2017. See Park Citation2018; Jeong Citation2018.
3 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Citation1951.
4 Ministry of Justice, Republic of Korea Citation2018.
5 See, for example, Martin and Yoon Citation2020; Oh et al. Citation2020.
6 Seol and Skrentny Citation2009b; Jeon and Jung Citation2019; According to the Ministry of Justice, South Korea has approximately 200,000 naturalized citizens (https://www.index.go.kr/potal/main/EachDtlPageDetail.do?idx_cd=1760).
7 According to the data published by Worldometer (www.worldometers.info), the first wave of coronavirus in South Korea peaked in March, the second wave peaked in August, and the third wave peaked in December 2020.
8 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Citation2014.
9 United Nations Citation2001.
10 Falomir-Pichastor et al. Citation2004, 135–153; MacDonald, Hipp, and Gill Citation2013, 191–215; Basten and Siegenthaler Citation2019, 994–1019.
11 Semyonov et al. Citation2004, 681–701; Pereira, Vala, and Costa-Lopes Citation2010.
12 Havinga Citation2002, 75–90.
13 Le and Kleiner Citation2000; Falomir-Pichastor et al. Citation2004, 135–153.
14 Pettigrew and Meertens Citation1995, 57–75.
15 Seol and Skrentny Citation2009b, 578–620; Jeon and Jung Citation2019; Kim and Oh Citation2012.
16 Lee and Park Citation2005; Jeon and Jung Citation2019.
17 Lee and Park Citation2005, 143–165.
18 Kim Citation2009a.
19 Lee and Park Citation2005; Monthly immigration data are available at https://www.korea.kr/archive/expDocMainList.do.
20 Data are available at https://www.index.go.kr/potal/main/EachDtlPageDetail.do?idx_cd=1760.
21 Lee, Seol, and Cho Citation2006, 165–182; Kim Citation2009a.
22 Lee and Park Citation2005.
23 Lee and Park Citation2005.
24 Kim Citation2013; Kim Citation2011b.
25 Kim Citation2009b.
26 Kim Citation2009b.
27 Kim Citation2011b, 1590.
28 Kim Citation2011a; Kim Citation2011b.
29 Kim Citation2009b.
30 Watson Citation2012; Kim Citation2015.
31 Kim Citation2009b; Kim Citation2015; Lee Citation2009.
32 Kim Citation2015.
33 Watson Citation2010.
34 Watson Citation2012; Yi and Jung Citation2015.
35 Watson Citation2012.
36 Watson Citation2012.
37 Kim Citation2011b, 1597; Watson Citation2012.
38 Watson Citation2012; for cultural objectification of the state, see Lee Citation2020b.
39 Seol and Skrentny Citation2009a.
40 Watson Citation2012.
41 See Lee, Jon, and Byun Citation2017.
42 Yi and Jung Citation2015.
43 Hancock and Seo Citation2020b.
44 Hancock and Seo Citation2020a.
45 Kim Citation2020b.
46 Kim Citation2020b.
47 Kim Citation2020b; Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Citation2020.
48 Kim Citation2020b.
49 Shin Citation2020.
50 Shin Citation2020; Ko Citation2020a.
51 See the Ministry of Justice website: http://www.immigration.go.kr/bbs/immigration/440/523386/artclView.do.
52 Ko Citation2020a.
53 Ko Citation2020b.
54 Kim Citation2020a.
55 Ko Citation2020a.
56 Kim Citation2020a. The government initially proposed relief funding for the bottom seventy percent of South Korean households, based on income, but this as expanded to include all households.
57 Ock Citation2020.
58 Data available in government websites: https://www.index.go.kr/potal/main/EachDtlPageDetail.do?idx_cd=2819; http://www.mogef.go.kr/mp/pcd/mp_pcd_s001d.do?mid=plc503&bbtSn=704820.
59 Kang Citation2020; Ko Citation2020c.
60 Information is available at https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares/assistance-for-american-workers-and-families.
61 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Citation2020.
62 Cotovio Citation2020.
63 Tamaki Citation2020.
64 Chen and Mazzetta Citation2020.
65 South Korea’s median income for a one-person household is 1,757,194 won (approximately US$1,600), for a two-person household 2,991,980 won (US$2,700), for a three-person household 3,870,577 won (US$3,500), for a four-person household 4,749,174 won (US$4,300), for a five-person household 5,627,771 won (US$5,100), and for a six-person household 6,506,368 won (US$6,000). See Seoul Metropolitan Government Citation2020. Seoul has a population of ten million.
66 Gyeonggi is the largest province in the country and encompasses thirty-one cities and counties, with a total population of 1.3 million people (twenty-seven percent of South Korea’s population).
67 Cho Citation2020.
68 Cho Citation2020.
69 Ock Citation2020.
70 Lee Citation2020c.
71 Pincus Citation1996, 186–194.
72 Pincus Citation1996, 186–194.
73 Pincus Citation1996, 186–194.
74 Henkel, Dovidio, and Gaertner Citation2006, 99–124; Bernhard and Bernhard Citation2016, 57–72; Yang and Ham Citation2017, 216–226; Constant, Kahanec, and Zimmermann Citation2009.
75 Bernhard and Bernhard Citation2016, 57–72.
76 Amnesty International Citation2020.
77 The Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act passed in 1987. In 2008, the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination of Persons with Disabilities came into force. Finally, the Act on Prohibition of Age Discrimination in Employment and Elderly Employment Promotion was enacted in 2011.
78 Park and Kwon Citation2020. This law was intended to prohibit discrimination based on sex, gender, age, disability, medical history, appearance, race, language, nationality, ethnicity, marriage status, family or birth type, religion, political belief, criminal record, sexual orientation, and employment status.
79 Park and Kwon Citation2020; see Cho and Lee Citation2020.
80 Park and Kwon Citation2020.
81 Park Citation2020.
82 Lee Citation2020a.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Juheon Lee
Juheon Lee is an assistant professor of political science at Midwestern State University, in Texas. He studies disaster resilience, social networks, and environmental politics in East Asia.
Sarah Cho
Sarah Cho an assistant professor of communication at the University of Texas, Permian Basin. She specializes in language use and social interaction in underrepresented groups.
Gowoon Jung
Gowoon Jung is an assistant professor of sociology at Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea. Her research interests include gender, sexuality, family dynamics, migration, and religion.