Tag: Korean-Americans

Korean-American Adoptee Writes About Experience of Returning to South Korea

| April 20, 2020

Here is an article about a Korean-American adoptee who recently had the opportunity to return to South Korea:

At the IKAA gala: my first time wearing Hanbok, tradition Korean dress.

Then, last year, I embarked on a two-week trip to South Korea primarily to attend the International Korean Adoptee Association (IKAA) gathering, held every three years. During this time, more than 550 Korean adoptees from all over the world convened at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul to attend workshops and social events.

For many Korean adoptees (or KADs, as we often refer to ourselves), myself included, it was our first time returning to Korea since we were adopted as infants or children. I was careful not to make the assumption that Korea would immediately feel like home—after all, I had no active memories of the country, and I knew having unrealistic expectations would set myself up for disappointment. I wondered if it was indeed possible to become attached to a place that, for me, held so much history, yet so little familiarity.

What I found, in the end, was the bittersweet grief that comes with being reunited with your birth country. I discovered that it was possible to swell with immeasurable pride at the beautiful, resilient country I was born into, and in the next moment be filled with agony that I was denied the chance to be raised among my culture, my language.

Quartz

You can read more at the link.

Korean-American Convicted for Illegal Voting

| January 20, 2019

Via a reader tip comes news that a Korean national with a US Green Card was recently convicted for illegally voting:

A permanent resident in North Carolina will not face prison time after she was illegally allowed to vote during three separate elections.

Hyo Suk George, 70, was charged with illegal voting by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after she reportedly voted in 2008, 2010 and 2016 in Columbus County. Instead of sentencing George to six months in prison, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle fined George $100.
George arrived in the United States from South Korea in 1989. She got a green card in 1995 and has worked in housekeeping and fast food, her federal public defender Sherri Alspaugh said. She registered to vote “next to the senior center” after taking the advice of a town council member, according to the News & Observer.

In his ruling, Boyle also expressed frustration towards the elections board in Whiteville, North Carolina, because it allowed George to register to vote using her green card, Social Security number and driver’s license, the News & Observer reported.
“So they see a green card and say, ‘That’s OK’ because they don’t know what they’re doing,” the judge said. “They ought to be a little smarter than that.”

Newsweek

You can read more at the link, but this makes me wonder how much of this illegal voter registration is going on?

Also it shows the weakness of voter ID laws at polling stations when green card holders are allowed to register and polling stations usually require a driver’s license to vote which green card holders can get.

Do US-ROK Dual Citizens Have to Complete Their Mandatory Military Service in South Korea?

| March 2, 2018

We had an interesting post in the Open Thread about the mandatory service military obligation for dual US-ROK male citizens.  This posting from Ask A Korean highlights what the issue is about:

The unintended consequence of the 2010 law that, all of a sudden, it created a large number of Korean dual citizenship holders who did not even know that they were dual citizens. If you are a draft-eligible age, and you realized only recently that you were in fact a dual citizen, you cannot even renounce your Korean citizenship because of the 2005 law. The result:  we have a messed up situation in which diaspora Koreans, who may have never visited Korea and not speak a lick of Korean, may be draft eligible for Korean military. He can enter Korea freely, but may get stopped at the airport on his way out of Korea, like all other draft-eligible male Korean citizens.  [Ask A Korean]

Someone who is a dual citizen definitely faces the possibility of getting detained at the airport in South Korea because they have not done their mandatory military service.  I had to go deep into the ROK Drop archives to find this, but there have been examples of dual US-ROK citizens being detained at the airport in Korea despite being enlisted in the US military:

The Defense Ministry and the Military Manpower Administration may have to wait for years before they can get their hands on two Koreans who violated the military service law by enlisting in the U.S. Army.

The two Koreans aged 21 and 22 who have U.S. citizenship and residence respectively but retain their Korean nationality volunteered for the U.S. Army without performing their mandatory military service here, the MMA said Friday. Both were supposed to join the Korean armed forces in 2004 but both enlisted with U.S, forces instead. One instead went with them to Germany and both are now ironically with the U.S. Forces Korea as privates first class.  (…)

The first came to Korea on leave last June, and the travel ban stopped him from returning to his unit in Germany. He was indicted here the same month but the indictment was suspended because he serves in the U.S. military. He then transferred to the USFK. The MMA says it will make both of them serve in the Korean forces as well. Article 71 of the Military Service Law says those with dual nationality who violate the law must perform their military duties in Korea before they turn 35.

 

This dual citizenship issue should definitely be a concern for anyone with male children that may be considered dual citizens.  However, there is a way to renounce ROK citizenship at age 18 to ensure that the male child is not detained at the airport to do their mandatory military service in South Korea.  Here is the information posted on the US Embassy website for the Republic of Korea on this issue:

All malecitizens of the Republic of Korea (ROK), including dual nationals, have military service responsibilities in accordance with the Korean Constitution and the Military Service Law.

Korea’s Military Manpower Administration is responsible for implementation and enforcement of regulations related to military service responsibilities.  The following details related to military service have been provided by Korean officials:

  • Males with multiple citizenships must choose their nationality by March 31 of the year they turn 18.  Those who fail to do so are subject to military service obligations.

  • Male ROK nationals who were born in the ROK but later acquire a foreign citizenship automatically lose their ROK citizenship and are no longer subject to Korean military service, whether or not they notify their loss of nationality to the relevant Korean authorities.  However, if these individuals did not abide by military service procedures prior to naturalizing, such as obtaining the necessary overseas travel permits, they may be subject to fines, penalties, and/or incarceration upon return to the ROK.

  • All male ROK nationals between the ages 25-37, including dual nationals, must obtain overseas travel permits from the MMA if they have not completed their military service and wish to travel overseas.  These permits allow applicants to postpone their military service duty up until the age of 37.  Those who lived overseas before age 25, must apply for these permits by January 15 of the year they turn 25.  Applications may be made through a Korean embassy or consulate.

  • There are different categories under which dual nationals qualify for an overseas travel permit, with classification determined by factors including parents’ citizenship or residency status, time spent abroad, and time spent in Korea.

  • In cases where an applicant obtained a travel permit based on their parents’ overseas residency status and the parents have now returned to the ROK, the permit can be cancelled and the applicant subject to military service.

  • An overseas travel permit can be cancelled and an applicant subject to military service if an applicant lives in the ROK for at least six months in a period of one year, or has engaged in for-profit activities in the ROK for a total of 60 days or more during a one year period.

This English language Military Manpower Administration website is packed with even more information for those interested in this issue.

It seems the me the ROK government is trying to walk a very careful line of stopping draft dodgers while still being able to give people who are legitimately foreign citizens the opportunity to renounce their Korean citizenship to avoid the mandatory military service obligation.

Philadelphia Council Woman Pushes Bill Targeting Korean-American Business Owners

| December 6, 2017

Here is the latest social justice cause that is targeting Korean-American business owners:

Earlier this month, Councilwoman Cindy Bass introduced a bill to better regulate the hundreds of “stop and go” convenience stores that operate predominantly in Philadelphia’s low-income neighborhoods. Among its stipulations, the controversial measure would prohibit any physical barrier that separates cashiers from customers at these so-called “nuisance” establishments – including protective bulletproof glass.

According to Bass, these storefronts take advantage of the city’s lax restaurant liquor license provision while contributing to a variety of quality-of-life issues in low-income communities. Content to rely solely on the sale of cigarettes and alcohol, along with a bag of Doritos or two, many of these business owners don’t even sell the food that they advertise.  [PhillyMag.com]

The councilwoman claims that these stores help promote crime because they sell alcohol and cigarettes.   I find it interesting how she puts the onus on the business owners to stop crime instead of the police or the public.  What else is interesting is that many of these business owners are Korean-American:

Rich Kim’s family has run the deli, which sells soda, snacks, meals and beer by the can for 20 years.  He says the glass went up after a shooting and claims it saved his mother-in-law from a knife attack. Now, he may be forced to take some of the barrier down.

“If the glass comes down, the crime rate will rise and there will be lots of dead bodies,” he said.

A bill moving through city council reads: “No establishment shall erect or maintain a physical barrier.”

It’s called the ‘Stop and Go’ bill and is being offered by City Councilwoman Cindy Bass.

“Right now, the plexiglass has to come down,” she said.

She wants to put some controls on these small stores that she says sell booze, very little food and are the source of trouble in her district.

Rich Kim resents the charge stores like his attract loiters and argues calls to police are often met with a slow response.

Mike Choe runs a non-profit supporting Korean-owned businesses. He plans on raising $100,000 to fight the measure.

“I do think it’s a bad bill that will endanger Korean Americans,’ he said.

Bass says she’s battling for her constituents.

Kim argues as a Korean-American he’s being targeted.

“This bill targets Korean Americans,” Cole asked. Bass responded, “Absolutely not. I find that offensive.” [Fox 29]

The tensions between Korean-American business owners and African-American communities has been simmering since the 1992 LA Riots when Koreantown was a major target of the rioters.  It has continued in recent years when riots in Baltimore and Missouri targeted Korean-American businesses.  There was also the protests to shutdown a Korean-American gas station in Dallas:

Muhammad, 44, who was appointed to his post in 1994 by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, says Pak must go. So should other Asian-American merchants in black neighborhoods, he says.

Could you imagine the uproar if legislation was passed that targeted African-Americans to make them more easy victims of crime and to put them out of business?  That is clearly what some of the social justice warriors are trying to do with violence, legislation, and protests to push the Korean-American business owners out of black communities.  Yet racism directed towards Korean-Americans draws little national media attention.

California Woman Fined $5,000 for Denying Korean-American Lodging Based on Race

| July 16, 2017

This just makes you wonder what is wrong with some people?:

An Airbnb host who canceled a woman’s reservation because of her race has agreed to pay $5,000 in damages and take a course in Asian American studies, a state regulatory agency announced Thursday.

The host, Tami Barker, told the woman who reserved her Big Bear cabin for a ski vacation in February that she would not rent to an Asian, justifying the action by adding in a text message, “It’s why we have Trump,” referring to President Trump.

The woman, Dyne Suh, a UCLA law student, said she was driving in a snowstorm to the Big Bear cabin when she received the text messages via the Airbnb mobile app. A tearful Suh, standing in the snow, shot a video posted on YouTube, describing her exchange with Barker.

“I’ve been here since I was 3 years old,” she said in the video. “America is my home. I consider myself an American. But this woman discriminates against me because I’m Asian.”  [LA Times]

You can read more at the link.

Bill Maher Criticized for Stereotyping Korean-Americans

| July 11, 2017

Bill Maher got away with using the N-word with little consequences which means he can definitely get away with stereotyping Korean-Americans:

Just weeks after he drew widespread criticism for using a racial slur on his HBO program Real Time, Bill Maher once again finds himself on the receiving end of backlash following a recent tweet.

“This N Korean thing is getting tense! I mean, I think it is, I’m on vaca. The ladies at my nail salon are freaking out, that’s what I know!” the comedian wrote on Twitter on Friday afternoon, referencing a recent missile launch by the country.

Following his use of the N-word in June, Maher apologized on-air the following week on Real Time. “I did a bad thing,” Maher said on his show, addressing the backlash he’d received to guest Michael Eric Dyson. “For black folks, that word — I don’t care who you are — it’s caused pain. It doesn’t matter that it was not said in malice, it caused pain, and that’s why I apologized. I’m not that big of an asshole.”

Maher went on to say that he is “just a product of the country, but I don’t want to pretend that this is more of a race thing than a comedian thing. We are trained to get a laugh. This is not the first time I’ve gotten in trouble because that’s what comedians are somehow wired to do. Sometimes we transgress a sensitivity point.”  [Hollywood Reporter]

Attacks on Korean Shop Owners Featured Heavily In Smithsonian Documentary About the 1992 LA Riots

| May 10, 2017

I was watching on the Smithsonian app “The Lost Tapes: LA Riots” which had a lot of never before seen footage of the riots that happened 25 years ago in response to the Rodney King verdict.  You can watch the entire episode at the above link.  What I found of interest was the amount of footage featuring the attacks on Koreans in Los Angeles.  This fact is often glossed over by the media when discussing the riots.  Rioters were specifically targeting Korean businesses in retaliation for the shooting death of Latasha Harlins by a Korean shop owner during a confrontation.

Korean store owners defend their business during the 1992 LA riots. [CNN]
The incompetent police response also featured heavily in the program because the first day of the riot they initially responded to rioters and then were ordered to pull out.  Once they pulled out the gangbangers went on a rampage robbing stores and eventually other people joined in.  By the second day the rioters had advanced on Koreatown and still the police would not respond.  They left the Koreans to fend for themselves while they defended more affluent white neighborhoods.  Due to the police not responding the firefighters stopped responding as well because they kept getting shot at when they tried to put out the fires.  There was plenty of footage of shot up firetrucks.

The Korean shop owners had to take up arms to defend Koreatown from the rioters which is what saved that section of the city from being burned down.  While this was going on Jesse Jackson was on the radio saying that he believed many of the fires were caused by people trying to get insurance payouts and not from rioters.

CNN recently published an article that discusses how little attention the attacks on Koreans during the riot received from the media:

Store owner Richard Rhee stands vigil, armed with a handgun and a cellular phone on the roof of his grocery store in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles on May 2, 1992.

The nearly weeklong, widespread rioting killed more than 50 people, injured more than 1,000 people and caused approximately $1 billion in damage, about half of which was sustained by Korean-owned businesses. Long-simmering cultural clashes between immigrant Korean business owners and predominately African-American customers spilled over with the acquittals.
The Rodney King verdict and the ensuing riots are often framed as a turning point for law enforcement and the African-American community. But it’s also the single most significant modern event for Korean-Americans, says Edward Taehan Chang, professor of ethnic studies and founding director of the Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies at the University of California, Riverside.
“Despite the fact that Korean-American merchants were victimized, no one in the mainstream cared because of our lack of visibility and political power,” Chang said. “Korean immigrants, many who arrived in the late 1970s and early 80s, learned economic success alone will not guarantee their place in America. What was an immigrant Korean identity began to shift. The Korean-American identity was born.”  [CNN]
This is the experience many Korean-Americans learned from the LA Riots:
“I watched a gas station on fire, and I thought, boy, that place looks familiar,” he said. “Soon, the realization hit me. As I was protecting my parents’ shopping mall, I was watching my own gas station burn down on TV.”
That he ended up on a rooftop with a borrowed gun was never in Lee’s life plan. He had quit his job as an engineer at an aerospace company to pursue what he hoped would be life as an independent businessman, opening up three businesses in Koreatown.
“I truly thought I was a part of mainstream society,” said Lee, who immigrated with his family to the United States as a child. “Nothing in my life indicated I was a secondary citizen until the LA riots. The LAPD powers that be decided to protect the ‘haves’ and the Korean community did not have any political voice or power. They left us to burn.”  [CNN]
The rest of the article goes on of course to talk about how bad President Trump is and how African-Americans and Korean-Americans need to unite against him.  I don’t think CNN is capable of writing an article any more without an anti-Trump bias.  Anyway I do recommend watching “The Lost Tapes: LA Riots” to get a better understanding of the LA Riots that happened 25 years ago.

Korean-American Criticized for Posting Racist Help Wanted Sign

| February 4, 2017

Via a reader tip comes this news about a Korean-American man in South Carolina who accidentally posted a racist help wanted sign at his wife’s restaurant and is now under attack by critics:

A South Carolina restaurant owner which caused outrage after it placed a ‘Help Wanted’ sign in its window along with the message ‘minorities need not apply’ has apologized for her mistake.

Kenny’s Home Cooking in Spartanburg placed the sign in the window seeking more staff, although when diners noticed the message at the bottom they posted photographs on the internet.

The sign had the racist message written in both English and Spanish.

However, the restaurant’s owner, who is Japanese, claimed any offense was unintentional as they purchased the sign on eBay and did not understand the messages at the bottom.

Owner Sook ‘Sue’ Shin told WYFF News: ‘I never ever meant that, so I’m really sorry.’

A friend claimed they mistook the word ‘minorities’ for ‘minors’.

Shin’s husband, who is Korean, purchased the sign on eBay.  [The Daily Mail]

You can read more at the link, but I can easily understand how someone who uses English as a second language can make this mistake.  However, it hasn’t stopped people from expressing their outrage at the owners.  It seems to me the real racists are the ones criticizing this couple for not understanding English better.