Friday, January 11, 2008

Ask A Korean! News: Korean-Chinese in Korea

New York Times has the perfect article that shows if people can't hate on skin color, they will hate on something else. Here is the link.

Here is the relevant part: "Much of South Korea’s economy, Asia’s fourth largest, would falter without these workers and 200,000 migrants from poorer countries, like Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan.

Because they understand the language and culture, ethnic Koreans from China are particularly favored. They find jobs as live-in housemaids and toil at farms and factories. But their distinctive accent, similar to that of North Koreans, betrays their origin.

South Koreans often call them “dongpo,” which means compatriots, or literally “people from the same womb.” But they do not always welcome them. Labor unions complain that they take jobs from Koreans and drive down wages. The government tightly controls how many are admitted each year on temporary work visas."

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

1 comment:

  1. didn't the korean supreme court rule the F4 visa unconstitutional because it discriminated against the korean-chinese? i think originally they were ineligible for the F4, but then they changed and passed a new version that makes the F4 slightly possible for the korean chinese to get.

    is it just me or does the korean-chinese situation seem like the irish in u.s. history, before they became "white"?

    ReplyDelete

Comments are not available on posts older than 60 days.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...