More or less, it is true that South Korea’s a homogeneous society. However, with globalization on the run, how many decades or centuries will it take for that “fact” to disappear? I don’t know the answer to that, but I hope that more South Koreans will stop being prejudiced against people of African and South Asian origins. Actually, I hope South Koreans will just stop being prejudiced to anyone, but that’s asking far too much for any society to overcome.

This article generalizes how South Koreans have more biases against people from Africa and South Asia (along with Caucasians to an extent). First of all, I’m actually very surprised that this article was even written up in the first place. My shock alone should be an indicator of how prejudiced South Koreans can be towards these people because of their origins and their skin colours. I see, hear, and feel South Korean views on different races here, so the results of the survey aren’t surprising at all.

What is surprising is that at least this is being brought up to attention. It’s a step, and let’s hope it goes somewhere. As someone who spent most of her life on a US military base, I’m not a stranger when it comes to being around different racial groups. However, I rarely see that outside of the base. I mean, yes, I see it in Itaewon, the foreigner’s haven of Seoul, but further away from the base, I see it less. At least now I see Caucasians with Koreans walking around in groups. However, I rarely see Africans or South Asians as part of that group.

The pessimistic side of me doesn’t see this happening in my life-time. The optimistic side of sees that it will and hopes that South Korea will be more of a “heterogeneous” society. And really, it better! It’s really embarrassing to read and hear South Korea, especially Seoul, being multicultural and yadada, but then the real truth is exposed like this. Bah. Well, I just hope more South Koreans will be educated and be told that the person’s ethnic origins and the colour of his or her skins doesn’t matter as long as the person is honest and decent.