Biracial people face discrimination in Korea

Kim Rahn:

In Korea, where everybody has black eyes, straight black hair and yellow skin, biracial Koreans face discrimination because of their appearance _ they look different.

Moreover, they are treated differently, with indirect words and in indirect ways, people are reluctant to accept them as members of our society, only because they are biracial.

With an increasing number of Koreans marrying non-Koreans, the number of biracial people is growing. But the inhospitality and discrimination against their children have not changed with the times, and Korea is still a country where biracial people face difficulties.

There are no statistics indicating the exact number of biracial people in Korea. But a figure can be estimated from the number of people registered with the nation's only biracial welfare agency, Pearl S. Buck International (PSBI), a foundation established by the Nobel laureate to assist children suffering racial discrimination.

According to the foundation's registry, there are about 4,800 Amerasians _ people born from Korean women and American men _ mainly U.S. soldiers stationed in Korea, and 12,000 Kosians _ people born from Koreans and other Asians, usually migrant workers.

The PSBI presumes the actual number of biracial people at as much as three to four times the registration figure. According to the Justice Ministry, the number of foreign spouses residing in Korea in February was 60,214.

Biracial people are more numerous now than in the past, and some of them are the object of envy for what is thought of as an exotic appearance.

"Feelings of envy toward biracial people are quite rare. And they are usually children born in nurturing families, with a father and mother where one of the parents is white. Those born from a black parent, or those living in a single parent home face many more problems, even outright hatred," Lee Ji-young, a PSBI staff said.

The main reason for the discrimination they face is that they do not look "Korean." Korea has long been a racially homogeneous nation.

Biracial Koreans