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{{Short description|Form of nationalism centered around the shared cultural identity of Korean people}}
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{{Further|Korean nationalist historiography|Racism in South Korea}}
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[[File:BBC poll, Most important defining criteria of self-identity, 2016.png|thumb|A [[BBC]] poll from 2016 of various countries, asking what the most important factor in [[self identity]] was. South Korea has the highest proportion given for "race or culture" at 23%.<ref name="BBC">{{cite web|url=http://www.globescan.com/images/images/pressreleases/BBC2016-Identity/BBC_GlobeScan_Identity_Season_Press_Release_April%2026.pdf|work=GlobeScan|title=Global Citizenship a growing sentiment among citizens of emerging economies: Global Poll|date=2016-04-27|access-date=2016-10-20|archive-date=2016-10-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021000723/http://www.globescan.com/images/images/pressreleases/BBC2016-Identity/BBC_GlobeScan_Identity_Season_Press_Release_April%2026.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]
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'''Korean ethnic nationalism''' ({{Korean|hangul=한국의 민족주의}}), or '''Korean racial nationalism''',<ref>Gi-Wook Shin, ''Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy'' (Stanford University Press, 2006), [https://books.google.com/books?id=nNc2AzJmwPoC&dq=Korean+%22racial+nationalism%22&pg=PA223 p. 223.]</ref> is a [[political ideology]] and a form of [[ethnic identity|ethnic]] and racial identity that is widely prevalent by the Korean people in [[Korea]], particularly in [[South Korea]].<ref name="REKelly2015" /><ref>{{Cite web|first=Steven|last=Denney|url=https://scdenney.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/steven-denney_political-attitudes-and-national-identity-in-an-era-of-strength-and-prosperity-a-primer-on-a-new-nationalism-in-south-korea.pdf|title=Political Attitudes and National Identity in an Era of Strength and Prosperity|date=February 2014|work=A Primer on a New Nationalism in South Korea|location=Dominion of Canada|publisher=Department of Political Science of the University of Toronto|quote=South Koreans do ascribe a relatively higher value to race than do other nations.}}</ref> It is based on the belief that [[Koreans]] form a [[nation]], a [[race (human classification)|race]], and an ethnic group that shares a unified [[bloodline]] and a distinct [[culture]].
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This conception started to emerge among Korean [[intellectual]]s after the [[Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905|Japanese-imposed protectorate]] of 1905, leading to Korea's colonization by Japan.<ref>{{cite book | first=Andre | last=Schmid | title=Korea Between Empires, 1895-1919 | location=New York | publisher=Columbia University Press | year=2002 | page=174}}</ref> The notion of the Korean ''minjok'' was first made popular by essayist and historian [[Shin Chaeho]] in his ''[[Doksa sillon|New Reading of History]]'' (1908), a [[history of Korea]] from the mythical times of [[Dangun]] to the fall of [[Balhae]] in 926 CE. Shin portrayed the ''minjok'' as a warlike race that had fought bravely to preserve Korean [[Identity (social science)|identity]], had later declined, and now needed to be reinvigorated.<ref>[[Sheila Miyoshi Jager]], ''Narratives of Nation Building in Korea'' (2003), pp. 15–16; Andre Schmid, "Rediscovering Manchuria" (1997), p. 32.</ref> During the [[Korea under Japanese rule|period of Japanese rule]] (1910–1945), this belief in the uniqueness of the Korean ''minjok'' gave an impetus for [[resistance movement|resisting]] Japanese [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] policies and [[history|historical]] scholarship.<ref>Hyung-il Pai, ''Constructing "Korean" Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State-Formation Theories''. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, distributed by Harvard University Press, 2000), p. 1.</ref>
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In contrast to Japan and [[Germany]], where such mainstream race-based conceptions of the nation were discredited after the [[Second World War]] because they were associated with [[Japanese nationalism|ultranationalism]] or [[Nazism]] ([[Blood and soil]], ''[[Herrenvolk]]'' and the [[Völkisch movement]]), with such views leading to [[the Holocaust]],<ref>Comparison with Japanese "ultranationalism": Andre Schmid, ''Korea Between Empires, 1895–1919'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TJoACPFyYtkC&q=minzoku&pg=PA277 277]. Comparison with Germany and Nazism: Shin Gi-wook, ''Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy'' (2006), p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nNc2AzJmwPoC&q=nazism 19].</ref> postwar [[North Korea|North]] and [[South Korea]] continued to proclaim their ethnic homogeneity and pure bloodline.<ref name=stanford /> In the 1960s, South Korean president [[Park Chung-hee]] strengthened this "ideology of racial purity" to legitimize his authoritarian rule.<ref>Nadia Y. Kim, ''Imperial Citizens: Koreans and Race from Seoul to L.A.'' (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008), p. 25.</ref> Contemporary South Korean historians continue to write about the nation's "unique racial and cultural heritage", with some even going further to add that Koreans are generally more "superior" than other ethnic groups and nations.<ref>Hyung-il Pai, ''Constructing "Korean" Origins'' (2000), p. 6.</ref>
This shared conception of a racially defined Korea continues to shape Korean politics and foreign relations,<ref name=stanford /> gives Koreans an impetus to national and racial pride,<ref>Gi-wook Shin, ''Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy'' (2006), pp. 1–3.</ref> and feeds hopes for the [[Korean reunification|reunification of the two Koreas]].<ref>Gi-wook Shin, ''Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy'', chapter 10: "Ethnic Identity and National Unification" (pp. 185–203).</ref> In recent decades, statistics has showed that South Korea is becoming an increasingly multi-ethnic society.<ref name="Park">{{Cite web|last=Park |first=Chung-a |url=http://www.dhseol.org/activity/ein2006_06.html |title=Myth of Pure-Blood Nationalism Blocks Multi-Ethnic Society |work=The Korea Times |date=August 14, 2006 |access-date=July 25, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725232752/http://www.dhseol.org/activity/ein2006_06.html |archive-date=July 25, 2011 }}</ref> Nevertheless, the South Korean population continues to identify itself as "one people" ({{lang-ko|단일민족}}; Hanja: [[wikt:單一|單一]][[wikt:民族#Korean|民族]], ''danil minjok'') joined by a common "bloodline".<ref>{{cite book|title=Constructing "Korean" origins: a critical review of archaeology, historiography, and racial myth in Korean state-formation theories|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QxztLeLoVkQC&q=%22tanil+minjok%22&pg=PA256|first= Hyung Il|last= Pai |publisher= Harvard University Asia Center|year= 2000|page=256|isbn=978-0-674-00244-9 |quote=''The idea of racial unity and continuity is embodied in the concept of ''tanil minjok'' (pure race), which holds that all Koreans have successfully maintained their "Korean-ness" by fighting off foreign invaders since the formation of the nation in prehistoric times.''}}</ref> As a result, renewed emphasis on the purity of the Korean "blood"<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tQcCKxiSEMsC&q=%22tanil+minjok%22&pg=PA24|title= Imperial citizens: Koreans and race from Seoul to LA |first= Nadia Y. |last=Kim |publisher= Stanford University Press|year= 2008 |isbn= 978-0-8047-5887-1|quote=Koreans' beloved trope of tanil minjok—'the single ethnic nation'— would soon come into its own (see Shin 1998). The centrality of "blood" has been revived in more current times as well.|page=24}}</ref> has caused tensions, leading to renewed debates on multi-ethnicity and racism both in South Korea and abroad by Koreans.<ref name="Park"/> Korean racial nationalism has also been described as constituting a [[Civil religion|civic religion]] of sorts.<ref name=BRMyers>{{cite web|url=https://soundcloud.com/war_college/what-north-korea-wants|title=What North Korea Wants|date=2017|first=Brian Reynolds|author-link=Brian Reynolds Myers|last=Myers|publisher=Soundcloud|work=Reuters War College|quote=The South needs to retire the conventional civic religion here, which is anti-Japanese pan-Korean nationalism in favor of a collective identification of civic principles.|access-date=2 November 2018}}</ref>
==History==
{{see also|Korean nationalist historiography}}
===Early usage and origins===
Contemporary Korean ideology of a "pure Korean race" began in the early 20th century when the Japanese annexed Korea and launched a campaign to persuade them that they were of the same pure racial stock as the Japanese themselves.
Around the 1920s, the term "white-clothed people" ({{Korean|hangul=백의민족|labels=no}}) developed as a ethnonationalist term for Korean people. The term was a reference to how the majority of [[White clothing in Korea|Korean people wore white clothing]] for thousands of years. It also arose in response to unsuccessful Japanese attempts to end the practice.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=Yeseung |date=November 2022 |title=The white-clad people: The white hanbok and Korean nationalism |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09213740221117811 |journal=Cultural Dynamics |language=en |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=271–296 |doi=10.1177/09213740221117811 |s2cid=251363822 |issn=0921-3740}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=박 |first=성수 |title=백의민족 (白衣民族) |trans-title=The White Clothed People |url=https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0022280 |access-date=2023-09-29 |website=[[Encyclopedia of Korean Culture]] |language=ko}}</ref>
In the colonial period, the Imperial Japanese's assimilation policy claimed that Koreans and Japanese were of common origin but the former always subordinate. The pure blood theory was used to justify colonialist policies and to replace Korean cultural traditions with Japanese ones in order to supposedly get rid of all distinctions and achieve equality between Koreans and Japanese.<ref name=stanford>[http://aparc.stanford.edu/news/koreas_ethnic_nationalism_is_a_source_of_both_pride_and_prejudice_according_to_giwook_shin_20060802/ Ethnic pride source of prejudice, discrimination] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720053258/http://aparc.stanford.edu/news/koreas_ethnic_nationalism_is_a_source_of_both_pride_and_prejudice_according_to_giwook_shin_20060802 |date=2011-07-20 }}, Gi-Wook Shin, Asia-Pacific Research Center of Stanford University, 2 August 2006</ref> As was previously done with the [[Ainu people|Ainu]] and [[Ryukyuans]], Japan's extensive policy of [[cultural genocide]] included [[Sōshi-kaimei|changing Korean names into Japanese]], exclusive use of Japanese language, school instruction in the Japanese "ethical system", and [[Shinto]] worship.<ref name=stanford /> [[Brian Reynolds Myers]], a professor at [[Dongseo University]], argues that seeing the failure of the pure [[Cultural assimilation|assimilationist]] policy, Japanese imperial ideologues changed their policy into creating a Korean ethnic-patriotism on par with the Japanese one.
===Independence===
[[File:Baitou Mountain Tianchi.jpg|thumb|right|[[Heaven Lake]] of [[Baekdu Mountain]] where [[Hwanung]], [[Dangun]]'s father, is said to have descended from heaven, constitutes a foundation for the legend of blood purity in Korean]]
[[Shin Chaeho]] (1880–1936), the founder of the nationalistic historiography of modern Korea and a [[Korean independence movement]] activist, published his influential book of reconstructed history ''[[Joseon Sanggosa]]'' (''The Early History of Joseon'') in 1924–25, proclaiming that Koreans are descendants of [[Dangun]], the legendary ancestor of Korean people, who merged with Buyo of [[Manchuria]] to form the [[Goguryeo]] people.<ref name="gries">The Koguryo Controversy,
National Identity, and Sino-Korean Relations Today [http://www.ou.edu/uschina/gries/articles/texts/Gries2005KoguryoEAIQ.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809104119/http://www.ou.edu/uschina/gries/articles/texts/Gries2005KoguryoEAIQ.pdf|date=2017-08-09}}, Peter Hays Gries, Institute for US-China Issues, The University of Oklahoma</ref>
Borrowing from the Japanese theory of nation, Shin Chaeho located the martial roots of the Korean in Goguryeo, which he depicted as [[militarist]] and expansionist which turned out to inspire pride and confidence in the resistance against the Japanese.<ref name=gries /> In order to establish Korean uniqueness, he also replaced the story of [[Gija Joseon]], whose founder ([[Jizi|Gija]]) was the paternal uncle or brother of the Chinese [[Shang]] emperor [[King Zhou of Shang|Zhou]], with the Dangun legend<ref>Andre Schmid, "Rediscovering Manchuria: Som Cj’aeho and the Politics of Territorial History in Korea," in The Journal of Asian Studies, 56, no. 1 February 1997</ref> and asserted that it was an important way to establish Korea's uniqueness.<ref name=gries />
After independence in the late 1940s, despite the split between North and South Korea, neither side disputed the ethnic homogeneity of the Korean nation based on a firm conviction that they are purest descendant of a legendary progenitor and half-god figure called Dangun who founded [[Gojoseon]] in 2333 BCE based on the description of the ''[[Dongguk Tonggam]]'' (1485).<ref name=stanford /><ref>[http://www.dbpia.co.kr/view/ar_view.asp?pid=694&isid=30674&arid=657709&topMenu=&topMenu1= Old Choson and the Culture of the Mandolin-shaped Bronze Dagger], Kim Jung-bae</ref>
===Reception===
In both Koreas, pure blood theory is a common belief,<ref name=soksoo>Kim Sok-soo, professor at Kyungpook National University, cited in Park Chung-a, "[http://www.dhseol.org/activity/ein2006_06.html Myth of Pure-Blood Nationalism Blocks Multi-Ethnic Society] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725232752/http://www.dhseol.org/activity/ein2006_06.html |date=2011-07-25 }}," ''The Korea Times'', August 14, 2006.</ref> with even some South Korean presidents subscribing to it.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://theconversation.com/what-the-west-gets-wrong-about-north-koreas-motives-and-why-some-south-koreans-admire-the-north-83639|title=What the West gets wrong about North Korea's motives, and why some South Koreans admire the North|first=B.R.|last=Myers|work=The Conversation|date=September 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916082701/http://theconversation.com/what-the-west-gets-wrong-about-north-koreas-motives-and-why-some-south-koreans-admire-the-north-83639|archive-date=2017-09-16}}</ref> The debates on this topic can be found sporadic in the South, whereas the public opinion in the North is hard to access. In a nationalistic view, to impugn or challenge the theory would have been tantamount to betraying Koreanness in the face of the challenge of an alien ethnic nation.<ref name=stanford />
Some Korean scholars observed that the pure blood theory served as a useful tool for the South Korean government to make its people obedient and easy to govern when the country was embroiled in ideological turmoil.<ref name=soksoo /> It was especially true in the dictatorial leaderships by former presidents [[Syngman Rhee]] and [[Park Chung-hee]] when nationalism was incorporated into anti-Communism.<ref name=soksoo />
===Role in contemporary South Korean society===
In South Korea, the notion of "pure blood" results in discrimination toward people of both "foreign-blood" and "mixed blood".<ref name="Park"/> Those with this "mixed blood" or "foreign blood" are sometimes referred to as ''Honhyeol'' ({{Korean|혼혈|{{lang|ko|[[wikt:混#Korean|混]][[wikt:血#Korean|血]]}}}}) in South Korea.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lim|first=Timothy|title=Rethinking Belongingness in Korea: Transnational Migration, 'Migrant Marriages,' and the Politics of Multiculturalism|journal=Pacific Affairs|volume=83|issue=1|pages=51–71|url=https://www.academia.edu/3605631|doi=10.5509/201083151|year=2010}}</ref>
The South Korean nationality law is based on [[jus sanguinis]]<ref name=stanford /><ref name=gv /> instead of [[jus solis]], which is a territorial principle that takes into account the place of birth when bestowing nationality. In this context, most South Koreans have stronger attachment to South Koreans residing in foreign countries and foreigners of South Korean descent, than to naturalized South Korean citizens and expatriates residing in South Korea.<ref name=stanford /><ref name=gv /> In 2005, the opposition [[Grand National Party]] suggested a revision of the current South Korean nationality law to allow South Korean nationality to be bestowed to people who are born in South Korea regardless of the nationalities of their parents but it was discarded due to unfavorable public opinion against such a measure.<ref name="Park" />
According to Jon Huer, a columnist for the ''Korea Times'': {{blockquote|In trying to understand [South] Korea and [South] Koreans, we must recognize how important blood is to [South] Korea. [South] Koreans love blood, both in the real sense and metaphorically. They like to shed blood, sometimes their own in cut fingers and sometimes animal blood, in protest. They hold "blood relations" as supreme, above other links and connections. They often add "flesh" and "bone" to their rhetorical statements and preferences. In short, [South] Korea is quite fond of thinking of itself and its people in terms of blood...<ref name="koreatimes.co.kr">{{cite web|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/06/272_47907.html|title=Korean Blood, Real and Imagined|date=3 July 2009}}</ref>}}
====Changing attitudes====
Emma Campbell from the [[Australian National University]] argues that the conceptions of South Korean nationalism are evolving among young people and that a new form is emerging that has globalised cultural characteristics.<ref name="Campbell-2015">{{cite journal |last=Campbell |first=Emma |date=22 June 2015 |title=The end of ethnic nationalism? Changing conceptions of national identity and belonging among young South Koreans |journal=[[Nations and Nationalism (journal)|Nations and Nationalism]] |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=483–502 |doi=10.1111/nana.12120 }}</ref> These characteristics challenge the role of ethnicity in South Korean nationalism.<ref name="Campbell-2015"/> According to Campbell's study, for which she interviewed 150 South Koreans in their twenties, the desire for reunification is declining. However, these who are in favor of a [[Korean unification]] state reasons different from [[ethnic nationalism]]. The respondents stated that they only wanted unification if it would not disrupt life in the South or if North Korea achieves economic parity with the South. A small number of respondents further mentioned that they support a "unification on the condition that it did not take place in their lifetime."<ref name="Campbell-2015"/> Another reason stated for the wish for unification was the access to North Korea's natural resources and cheap labor.<ref name="Campbell-2015"/> This notion of evolving nationalism has been further elaborated by the meaning of ''uri nara'' ({{lang-ko|우리나라}} ''our country'' [sic!]) for young South Koreans, which only refers to South Korea for them instead to the whole Korean peninsula.<ref name="Campbell-2015"/><!-- p. 488-489 --> Campbell's interviews further showed that many young South Koreans have no problems to accepting foreigners as part of ''uri nara''.<ref name="Campbell-2015"/><!-- p. 492 -->
A poll by the [[Asan Institute for Policy Studies]] in 2015 found that only 5.4% of South Koreans in their twenties saw North Koreans as people sharing the same bloodline with them. The poll also found that only 11% of South Koreans associated North Korea with Koreans, with most people associating them with words like military, war or nuclear weapons. It also found that most South Koreans expressed deeper feelings of "closeness" with [[Americans]] and [[Chinese people|Chinese]] than with North Koreans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2015/01/26/in-south-korea-reunification-call-misses-the-jackpot/|title=In South Korea, Reunification Call Misses the Jackpot|last=Cheng|first=Jonathan|date=2015-01-26|website=WSJ|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-31}}</ref>
According to a December 2017 survey released by the [[Korea Institute for National Unification]], 72.1% of South Koreans in their 20s believe reunification is unnecessary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/pyeongchang-olympics-korea-unification-1.4520151|title=As Olympics open door to reunification, young Koreans are tuning out}}</ref> Moreover, about 50% of men in their 20s see North Korea as an outright enemy that they want nothing to do with.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/01/28/reunification-with-north-korea-unappealing-for-young-south-koreans.html|title=Reunification with North Korea unappealing for young South Koreans {{!}} The Star|newspaper=The Toronto Star|date=28 January 2018|language=en|access-date=2019-07-29}}</ref>
Steven Denney from the [[University of Toronto]] said, "Younger South Koreans feel closer to North Korean migrants than, say, foreign workers, but they will feel closer to a native born child of non-Korean ethnicity than a former resident of North Korea."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/what-do-younger-south-koreans-think-of-north-korea/|title=What Do Younger South Koreans Think of North Korea?|last=Diplomat|first=Clint Work, The|website=The Diplomat|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-29}}</ref>
====Criticism====
B. R. Myers noted in a 2010 ''New York Times'' editorial that there was relatively little public outrage in South Korea over the [[ROKS Cheonan sinking|sinking of the ROKS ''Cheonan'']] earlier that year, which he attributed partly to a feeling of sympathy towards North Korea among South Koreans, resulting from a closer identification with the Korean race than with the South Korean state.<ref name=KoreaShrug>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/opinion/28myers.html |title=South Korea's Collective Shrug |date=27 May 2010 |work=The New York Times |location=New York |first=Brian Reynolds |last=Myers |author-link=Brian Reynolds Myers |access-date=April 19, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419024409/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/opinion/28myers.html |archive-date=April 19, 2015 }}</ref> Myers also stated that race nationalism in South Korea undermines the South Korean citizenry's patriotism towards South Korea by increasing sympathy towards North Korea, thus threatening the country's national security in the face of North Korean aggression, a sentiment shared by ''Korea Times'' columnist Jon Huer.<ref name="koreatimes.co.kr"/> He stated that South Koreans' race nationalism "is no problem when you have a nation state like Japan or Denmark, but is a problem when you have a state divided."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2011/08/01/51/0302000000AEN20110801002700315F.HTML|title=(Yonhap Feature) Brian Myers: Korea's most dangerous writer? – YONHAP NEWS|website=english.yonhapnews.co.kr|quote=This is no problem when you have a nation state like Japan or Denmark, but is a problem when you have a state divided.|date=2011-08-10}}</ref> Myers has also stated that conversely, North Korea does not suffer from this dilemma as by and large the North Korean people tend to equate the "Korean race" and the country of North Korea as being one and the same, unlike in South Korea where the "Korean race" and South Korea are largely seen as different entities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freekorea.us/2017/08/01/propaganda-in-the-age-of-kim-jong-un-a-discussion-with-professor-b-r-myers/#sthash.eScL76im.dpbs|title=Propaganda in the age of Kim Jong-Un: A discussion with Professor B.R. Myers|website=freekorea.us|date=August 2017}}</ref>
== Social issues ==
{{Further|Racism in North Korea|Racism in South Korea}}[[File:Hines Ward vs. Chiefs.jpg|thumb|upright|American football player [[Hines Ward]]'s visit to South Korea in 2006 has stirred debate if the country's society should be more accepting of "mixed blood" people.]]
As part of the deterioration of relations between North Korea and the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, North Korea forced its male citizens who had married Soviet and Eastern European women to divorce, whereupon the women, a few hundred, were expelled from the country.<ref>[[Andrei Lankov]], ''[[The Real North Korea: Life and politics in the failed Stalinist utopia]]'' (Oxford 2015) page 20.</ref> North Korea is alleged to have abducted foreign women in the 1970s to marry to foreign men that immigrated to North Korea in order to keep these men from having children with North Korean women.<ref name="United Nations Human Rights Council 2014"/> North Korea is accused of killing babies born to North Korean mothers and Chinese fathers.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3204509.stm|title=BBC NEWS – Asia-Pacific – N Korea 'kills detainees' babies'|access-date=7 October 2014|date=2003-10-22}}</ref>
In 2006, American football player [[Hines Ward]], who was born in Seoul to a South Korean mother and a [[African American|black American]] father, became the first South Korean-born American to win the NFL Super Bowl's MVP award. This achievement threw him into the media spotlight in South Korea.<ref name=finder>{{cite news| url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06099/680735-195.stm| title=Hines Ward scores big for social change| author=Chuck Finder| work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]| date=2006-04-09}}</ref> When he traveled to South Korea for the first time, he raised unprecedented attention to the acceptance of "mixed-blood" children. He also donated US$1 million to establish the "Hines Ward Helping Hands Foundation", which the media called "a foundation to help mixed-race children like himself in South Korea, where they have suffered discrimination."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06150/694237-66.stm| title=Ward kicks off his new charity| agency=Associated Press| work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]| date=2006-05-30}}</ref> Hines Ward was granted "honorary" South Korean citizenship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=283952&rel_no=1|title=MVP Ward Visit Exposes Korean Racism – OhmyNews International|website=english.ohmynews.com}}</ref>
However, while some South Koreans are fascinated by the biracial sportsman, the majority of ordinary mixed-race people and migrant workers face various forms of discrimination and prejudice.<ref name="Park"/> In 2007, the "Korean pure blood theory" became an international issue when the U.N. Committee on the International Convention Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination urged better education on the pure blood theory is needed, especially for judicial workers such as police officers, lawyers, prosecutors and judges.<ref name=kbs>{{cite web | url=http://english.kbs.co.kr/news/newsview_sub.php?menu=4&key=2007081906 | title=U.N. Committee Hits Korea's Discrimination | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20041027045826/http://english.kbs.co.kr/news/newsview_sub.php?menu=4 |archivedate=2004-10-27 | publisher=KBS | date=19 August 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/09/117_9419.html|title= Koreans Reassess Concept of Blood Purity|newspaper=The Korea Times|date= 2007-09-02}}</ref> The suggestion received mixed reception in South Korea in which some raised a concern that foreigners will invade the South Korean culture and challenge national sovereignty.<ref name=gv>[http://globalvoicesonline.org/2007/08/21/korea-how-much-should-one-ethnicity-be-emphasized/ Korea: How Much Should One Ethnicity be Emphasized?] Global Voices, 2007</ref> Others say that the embrace of multiethnicism will diminish chances of reunifying the Korean Peninsula.<ref name=gv />
In 2007, the South Korean government passed the ''Act on Treatment of Foreigners''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moleg.go.kr/english/korLawEng?pstSeq=47580|title=Korean Laws in English – Act on the Treatment of Foreigners in Korea|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.minorityrights.org/5575/south-korea/south-korea-overview.html|title=Minority Rights Group International : South Korea : South Korea Overview|access-date=10 May 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613001710/http://www.minorityrights.org/5575/south-korea/south-korea-overview.html|archive-date=13 June 2015}}</ref><ref name=hurights>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/newsinbrief-en/section1/2008/10/south-korea-support-for-multicultural-families-act-enacted.html|title=South Korea; Support for Multicultural Families Act Enacted – ヒューライツ大阪|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> Later in 2007, the [[International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination|U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination]] praised the Act on Treatment of Foreigners, but also expressed a number of concerns. The committee was concerned "about the persistence of widespread societal discrimination against foreigners, including migrant workers and children born from inter-ethnic unions, in all areas of life, including employment, marriage, housing, education and interpersonal relationships." It also noted that the terminology such as "pure blood" and "mixed blood" used in South Korea, including by the government, is widespread, and may reinforce concepts of [[Racial superiority|racist superiority]]. The committee recommended improvement in the areas of treatment of migrant workers, abuse of and violence against foreign women married to South Korean citizens, and trafficking of foreign women for the purpose of sexual exploitation or domestic servitude.<ref name=uncom>{{cite web|url=http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/473424062.pdf|title=Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination |website=refworld.org|year=2007|access-date=27 June 2023}}</ref> It also noted that contrary to popular domestic perception, South Korea was no longer "ethnically homogenous".<ref name=nytimes2009>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/world/asia/02race.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|work=The New York Times|date=2 November 2009|location=New York|title=Race}}</ref>
Another legislation aimed at improving the integration of ethnic minorities into South Korean society, the ''Support for Multicultural Families Act'' was passed in 2008<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moleg.go.kr/english/korLawEng?pstSeq=58481|title=Korean Laws in English – SUPPORT FOR MULTICULTURAL FAMILIES ACT|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> but revised in 2011.<ref name=hurights/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Policies/view?articleId=89160|title=Gov't extends definition of multicultural families|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> According to 2009, statistics published by South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, there were 144,385 couples of international marriage in South Korea as of May 2008. 88.4% of immigrants were female, and 61.9% were from China.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://academic.naver.com/view.nhn?doc_id=39555627&dir_id=0&page=0&query=%EB%8B%A4%EB%AC%B8%ED%99%94%20%ED%86%B5%EA%B3%84|title=2009년 다문화가족 통계현황 (09년 4월현재):네이버 전문정보|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> Recently{{When|date=January 2016}} it has been argued that South Korean society had already become a multicultural society, although foreigners make up for 3.4% of the South Korean population.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sung-won|first1=Eum|title=Number of foreign residents in S. Korea triples over ten years|url=http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/699034.html|website=The Hankyoreh|access-date=13 July 2016}}</ref> As of 2011, ten ministries and agencies of South Korean government are supporting international couples and foreign workers in South Korea toward the cultural plurality.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kyeongin.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=589126|title=다문화가정 위한 올바른 정책방향|work=큰 눈 큰 생각 큰 신문|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref>
Existing provisions in South Korean criminal law may be used to punish acts of racial discrimination, but were never used for that purpose<ref name=uncom/> until 2009, when the first case of a South Korean citizen verbally insulting a foreigner have been brought to court.<ref name=nytimes2009/>
In 2010, the South Korean government changed the oath of enlistment of Korean soldiers, so that they do not swear allegiance anymore to the Korean race.<ref name=REKelly2015>{{Cite web|first=Robert E.|last=Kelly|url=http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2015/06/04/why_south_korea_is_so_obsessed_with_japan_108014.html|title=Why South Korea is So Obsessed with Japan|date=4 June 2015|work=Real Clear Defense}}</ref><ref name=YuriWDoolan2012>{{Cite thesis|page=63|first=Yuri W.|last=Doolan|title=Being Amerasian in South Korea: Purebloodness, Multiculturalism, and Living Alongside the U.S. Military Empire|date=June 2012|publisher=The Ohio State University|hdl = 1811/52015|type=Thesis}}</ref><ref name=OathChosunIlbo>{{Cite web|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/04/18/2011041801112.html |title=New Pledge of Allegiance to Reflect Growing Multiculturalism |quote=The military has decided to omit the word 'minjok,' which refers to the Korean race, from the oath of enlistment for officers and soldiers, and replace it with 'the citizen.' The measure reflects the growing number of foreigners who gain Korean citizenship and of children from mixed marriages entering military service. |work=The Chosun Ilbo |date=18 April 2011 |access-date=20 April 2011 |location=South Korea |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110420171019/http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/04/18/2011041801112.html |archive-date=20 April 2011 }}</ref> Similarly, prior to 2007 the [[South Korean pledge of allegiance]] was towards the "Korean race" rather than towards the country of South Korea.<ref name=OathChosunIlbo/>
A poll from 2015 found that Koreans tend to amalgamate Korean ethnic nationalism with [[classism]], resulting in a "hierarchy", viewing immigrants from more affluent countries less negatively than those who came from poorer countries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sinonk.com/2015/04/01/south-korea-as-subempire-workers-immigration-and-racialized-hierarchy/|title=South Korea as (Sub)Empire: Workers, Immigration, and Racialized Hierarchy|date=2015-04-01|website=Sino-NK|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-29}}</ref>
==See also==
{{Portal|Society|South Korea}}
* [[Anti-American sentiment in Korea]]
* ''[[The Cleanest Race|The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why it Matters]]''
* [[Hindutva]]
* [[Ilminism]]
* [[Japan–Korea disputes]]
* ''[[Limpieza de sangre]]''
* [[Nordicism]]
* [[White supremacy]]
==References==
{{reflist|2|refs=
<ref name="United Nations Human Rights Council 2014">{{cite web |first1= Michael Donald|last1=Kirby |author-link1=Michael Kirby (judge) |first2=Sonja |last2=Biserko |author-link2=Sonja Biserko |first3= Marzuki|last3=Darusman |author-link3=Marzuki Darusman |date=7 February 2014 |title=Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea – A/HRC/25/CRP.1 |url= http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIDPRK/Report/A.HRC.25.CRP.1_ENG.doc|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227104633/http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIDPRK/Report/A.HRC.25.CRP.1_ENG.doc | archive-date= February 27, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>
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==Further reading==
<h2 id="mp-tfa-h2" class="mp-h2">{{#ifexpr:{{formatnum:{{PAGESIZE:Wikipedia:Today's featured article/{{#time:F j, Y}}}}|R}}>150|From today's featured article|Featured article <span class="mp-later">(Check back later for today's.)</span>}}</h2>
* Campbell, E. (2015), [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nana.12120/full The end of ethnic nationalism? Changing conceptions of national identity and belonging among young South Koreans]. Nations Natl, 21: 483–502. doi:10.1111/nana.12120.
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* Chae, Ou-Byung. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=LZZsuIQYJfoC Non-Western Colonial Rule and its Aftermath: Postcolonial State Formation in South Korea]." Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan. ProQuest, 2006.
<h2 id="mp-dyk-h2" class="mp-h2">Did you know ...</h2>
* Grinker, Roy Richard. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TNhQzxNUPy4C Korea and its Futures: Unification and the Unfinished War]''. Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
<div id="mp-dyk" class="mp-contains-float">{{Did you know}}</div>
* Jager, Sheila Miyoshi. ''[https://archive.org/details/narrativesofnati0000jage Narratives of Nation-Building in Korea: A Genealogy of Patriotism]''. M.E. Sharpe, 2003.
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* Kim, Nadia Y. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tQcCKxiSEMsC Imperial Citizens: Koreans and Race from Seoul to LA]''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008.
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* Lee Gage, Sue-Je. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=xYxSlS90L-QC Pure Mixed Blood: The Multiple Identities of Amerasians in South Korea]." Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University. ProQuest, 2007.
<h2 id="mp-itn-h2" class="mp-h2">In the news</h2>
* Pai, Hyung Il. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=QxztLeLoVkQC Constructing "Korean" Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State-Formation Theories]''. Harvard University Asia Center, 2000.
<div id="mp-itn" class="mp-contains-float">{{In the news}}</div>
* Pai, Hyung Il, and Timothy R. Tangherlini (eds.). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ISdyAAAAMAAJ Nationalism and the Construction of Korean Identity]''. Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1998.
<h2 id="mp-otd-h2" class="mp-h2">On this day</h2>
* Schmid, Andre. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TJoACPFyYtkC Korea Between Empires, 1895–1919]''. Columbia University Press, 2002.
<div id="mp-otd" class="mp-contains-float">{{Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/{{#time:F j}}}}</div>
* Shin, Gi-Wook, and Michael Robinson (eds.). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=JMVgNnkZXAQC Colonial Modernity in Korea]''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University East Asia Center, distributed by Harvard University Press, 2001.
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* Shin, Gi-Wook. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=nNc2AzJmwPoC Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy]''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006.
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