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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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 Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:18 am Post subject: Racism on Prime Time in South Korea |
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As far as I know, this is the first report in the Western press on the recent kerfluffle over the MBC report, �The Shocking Truth About Relationships with Foreigners� (in case you've been hiding under a rock for the past week, you can watch it with English subs here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsNHYYrvMrk)
The original was printed in French here by Le Point: http://www.lepoint.fr/monde/le-racisme-en-prime-time-en-coree-du-sud-07-06-2012-1470469_24.php
I've translated this article as a public service to the expat community.
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Racism on Prime Time in South Korea
Le Point.fr � Published June 7, 2012 at 1:03 p.m. � Modified June 8, 2012 at 7:02 a.m.
A South Korean anti-White TV news broadcast has unleashed indignation in the expatriate community.
From our correspondent in Seoul, Sebastien Falletti.
The beautiful women of South Korea have been warned. Western sexual predators are scouring the streets of Seoul, mad with carnal desire, ready to befoul their purity and give them the AIDS virus. That is the un-nuanced warning launched by MBC, a major South Korean TV network, in a report reeking of racism that has unleashed the fury of the expat community. With witnesses prepped and hand-held cameras, this eye-catching documentary shows white males systematically abusing the poor local women, painted as innocent victims.
�The Shocking Truth About Relationships with Foreigners� dispenses with all niceties, stringing together eye witness reports from women who have fallen into the snares of godless, lawless Westerners. One such �victim�, face blurred out, tells how she was impregnated and abandoned by a cowardly Westerner; another was scammed out of her money. Later, a mysterious �witness� affirms that one of his friends wound up HIV positive after an encounter with a �White�. Here, a series of anecdotes is presented as regular occurrences on one of the biggest networks in the country.
Indignation
The report went largely un-noticed by South Korean viewers when it first aired on May 28th. However, it later unleashed the indignation of the Western expatriate community, which has just petitioned for an apology from the president of the MBC network, a close associate of President Lee Myung-bak. This is a first in a country where �immigrants�, mostly Chinese, only represent 1% of the 50 million residents of the Land of the Morning Calm, and where Westerners are but a drop in the ocean.
An English-subtitled version of the report uploaded to YouTube lit the fuse for a powder keg and led to a counterattack on Facebook. A few days later, more than 8,500 fans subscribed to a page dedicated to the cause, to the indifference of the local media. On line, mixed couples of Korean women and Western men, and vice-versa, declared their marital bliss and posted photos of their mixed-race children. It was like a kick in the nose for partisans of a �pure Korea.�
The authorities are embarrassed, and prefer to remain silent on the matter. They have declined to answer Point.fr�s questions. The government �has no control over the programming or content of the network, which is independent and therefore solely responsible for what it broadcasts,� explains Yoseph Moon from the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS).
�Korea Under Siege�
Just weeks after the torrent of racist insults on line that greeted the election of Jasmine Lee, the first foreign-born representative ever elected to the National Assembly, this new polemic illustrates lingering xenophobia that persists in one of the most ethnically homogenous societies in the world. A recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare shows that only 36.2% of South Koreans approve of the coexistence of multiple cultures in their country, as opposed to more than 70% in most EU countries.
This is a burning challenge for this country, now developed, which must turn to immigration in order to deal with its rapidly graying population. South Korea boasts one of the lowest birth rates in the world, and a growing number of men in rural regions go to Southeast Asia to find wives in order to compensate for the exodus of young South Korean women to cities. The Western community has also grown with the recent arrival of students, English teachers, and businessmen which augments the 28,500 American G.I.s that have long embodied the �Western presence�, further feeding the negative stereotypes held by the frightened local populace.
However, the younger generation is open to foreign influences, notably flocking overseas to study in the U.S. or Europe. The number of mixed marriages is also rising quickly, giving the lie to the myth of a nation founded on the purity of its blood. Little by little, Korea is opening up to the world, and the government has instituted voluntary measures to better welcome �foreigners�. Nevertheless, the old gut reaction of a �Korea under siege� remains alive and well on TV. |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:10 am Post subject: |
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| Great article. I'm glad this is getting press outside of Korea. |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:23 am Post subject: |
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Looks like this story has also been picked up by the Wall Street Journal.
http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2012/06/07/mbc-producer-whats-the-fuss-about/?KEYWORDS=mbc
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MBC Producer: What�s the Fuss About?
By Evan Ramstad
MBC�s �Sesangbogi Sisigakgak� (Seeing the World, Minute by Minute) newsmagazine show is standing behind the controversial story it aired on May 28 about what it dubbed the �shocking reality� South Korean women face by dating men from other countries.
The show�s chief producer said Thursday he couldn�t understand why foreign residents in South Korea were upset by the five-minute report.
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Courtesy
A screen grab from the controversial report by MBC on Korean women dating men from other countries. |
The report created anger and resentment in the expat community around the country. It became fodder for some of South Korea�s most-read expat bloggers.
A Facebook group started, called �Action Against MBC Korea And Their Racist, Biased �Reporting,�� and has drawn 8,000 members in the past week. Outside the MBC headquarters in Seoul, where reporters from MBC News have been on strike since January, a rotating group of Korean women and their foreign boyfriends and husbands, have run a silent protest of their own.
South Korean media, as happens in other countries, tend to scapegoat, deride and criticize foreigners for a variety of reasons, some real but many exaggerated. English teachers, in particular, get an outsized heap of criticism from the South Korean media, owing in part to the fact that, as elsewhere, scary stories about children get lots of attention. Many long-time expats have observed that foreigners are criticized less frequently by the domestic media in recent years.
So the MBC report, actually researched and filmed by an external company, may be something of an anachronism prompted in part by the fact that its reporters are on strike. It was egregious in its use of stereotypes, undeveloped assertions and presentation tricks (only one identified source and lots of hidden cameras and disguised voices) to convey its message.
The first three images and quotes set up the premise and tone of the piece:
�Being American, I have no trouble to meet women in Korea,� said a man, apparently white and young, in disguised voice and with only a torso visible.
�I became pregnant,� said a woman, apparently Korean, hidden in shadow.
�She tested positive for HIV,� said a man, apparently Korean, with only a chest and arms visible beside a very large coffee mug.
A Canadian English teacher, Zackary Downey, last week posted a full script and subtitled version of the report.
Officially, MBC had nothing to say about the brouhaha. �We can�t comment anything at this point,� spokesman Kang Jung-kook said. �I don�t know when or if MBC would make a statement or not.�
The producer responsible for the newsmagazine, who asked not to be named, said the story was pitched by an outside production firm, called All That Media, that�s one of seven MBC has been relying on for content since its journalists went on strike.
�When they presented the item, we thought it�s a kind of issue that had been talked about for a long time, Korean women dating American English teacher to learn English, and especially in Itaewon area,� he said, referring to a neighborhood that�s long been frequented by foreigners due in large part to its proximity to the U.S. army post.
�I don�t understand why foreigners get angry about the issue while they are living with their spouses and having no problem,� he said. �Foreigner-Korean women couples are living happily, but why are they angry over an issue that has nothing to do with them?�
He said the piece intended to portray �Korean women who are out of their sense and get involved in these kinds of affairs.�
�We need to be awakened and try to change this culture,� he said. �We had no intention to disparage foreigners. We wouldn�t do a report about foreigner-Korean women couples who are living without any problem.�
The producer said one of MBC�s senior managers conveyed a complaint about the piece from a couple he knew in which the husband is American and wife is Korean. �His American friend got angry about the report,� the producer said. �I don�t understand why he would get angry if it�s not something he was involved in.�
The producer said the report adequately pointed out that problems occur in �only a few cases.� �It�s not like we should put a subtitle at the end of the video saying, �However, other foreigner-Korean women couples are living well off just like other couples,�� he said.
A transcript shows no such qualifiers. But it also shows no data to indicate how prevalent the problems that it asserts as �shocking reality� are.
The producer who oversaw the reporting of the piece at All That Media declined to be interviewed. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:43 am Post subject: |
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| Currently being back home, I'll admit that this has contributed to the feelings of trepidation hat I already had about going back. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2012 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Good to see it being reported. |
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