User:Slapell/Anti-Korean sentiment

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Anti-Korean sentiment involves hatred or dislike that is directed towards Korean people, culture or either of the two states (North Korea or South Korea) on the Korean Peninsula. Anti-Korean is a universal issue that is derived from nationalism, politics, economic competition, cultural influences, and historical disputes. While politically separated, and generally unaffiliated, many of the stereotypes that foster into the larger scheme of Anti-Korean sentiment are drawn from the political turmoil between North Korea and other countries. Anti-Korean Sentiment that is not directly rooted in this nature is either due to generalizations of South Koreans and Eastern Asians alike as well as internal strife caused by imperialism. This article will address the key components of how the Anti-Korean Sentiment functions in countries that have direct links to Korea as well as exploring how historical factors have impacted modern-day perceptions of Koreans.

History[edit]
Anti-Korean sentiment is prevalent in all regions of the world as exemplified by the 2017 BBC World Service Poll, but is more rampant in surrounding countries and countries that interact politically. Historically, it is important to recognize that such prejudice has existed prior to the divide between South and North Korea. This is clear as within the Chinese language there is a term "xianhan" which refers to such prejudice due to their conception of Korea’s sense of superiority which has challenged that of China’s.

While these sentiments exist within the populaces of people they are most visible when contextualized by the government’s actions, such as the 2018 FIFA World Cup between Korea and China, the Liancourt Rocks dispute between Korea and Japan, and currently the spike in violence in America surrounding the novel Coronavirus.

United States[edit]
In the United States, prejudices towards Koreans and Korean Americans are historically centered around the lasting impacts of the Korean War. The Korean War starting in the 1950s resulted in a mutual defense treaty between The Republic of Korea and the United States providing that both parties provide mutual aid in the case of an armed attack. In turn, the United States maintains a level of hostility towards The Democratic Republic of Korea while accepting South Korean media to permeate into mainstream media. This divide as well as immigration politics have heavily impacted how Koreans are perceived in America.

Focusing on the political alienation of North Korea, the United States in cooperation with the UN has imposed various sanctions that inhibit the growth of the North Korean government by targeting companies involved in warfare advancement and high ranking members of the state. Additionally, in 2017 the United States reenlisted North Korea as a state which sponsors terrorism and has forbidden international trade of goods and workers. President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002, described North Korea as a part of the

"Axis of evil," leading to North Korea's renlistment.

Another factor in understanding anti-Korean sentiment is their positioning as immigrants in America, and the United States’ response to Asian immigration. Due to America’s historic racial discriminatory practices and the stratification of people of color Koreans are generalized into the racial category of Asian and so prevailing racial stereotypes of other Asian populaces equally affect America’s perception of Koreans. In addition, due to the historical and economic relations between China, Korea, and other eastern Asian countries, this racial generalization has created a monolith for the Asian American population to be of Eastern Asian descent. Korean immigration into America began in 1903 and is often categorized into three waves. The first wave of Korean immigrants came into Hawaii to work on sugar plantations due to famines in Korea and was pulled into America after the Chinese Exclusion Act which depleted America’s working class. The second wave (1950-64) of South Korean immigrants entered America with the McCarran and Walter Act of 1952 which disbanded the legislation excluding Asian immigration and the political unrest fostered by their newly found independence from Japan and division of states. The third wave is comprised of immigration after 1965 which encompasses 95% of current Korean Americans.

A large factor that led to such immigration was the United State’s alliance with South Korea, the Immigration Act of 1965, and military/economic linkage between the two countries. Beyond this linkage, prejudice festered as Korean women were cast as kijichon, or “Korean Military Comfort Women,” after the Mutual Aid Treaty which brought US military camps to South Korea. Despite the explicit agreement that prostitution was not suitable for military purposes, it was not condemned and South Korean women became the largest source of sexual labor for the US military during this era. Contextualizing this within contemporary prejudice, the victimization and objectification of Korean women have lead to the fetishization of eastern Asian women in America. This pervasive fetishization of Asian women has become prominent in the discourse surrounding the Atlanta spa shootings which occurred March 16, 2021, in which Robert Aaron Long fatally shot 8 people, of which 6 were Asian. This attack not officially noted as a hate crime is only one of the more recent violent crimes against eastern Asian people and has continued to rise during the pandemic. This attack specifically is a prime example of how historical depictions of Korean and Asian women as prostitutes, and the 40% who have felt coerced by their jobs to partake in such work, have created prejudices towards Asian women.

In the larger sense, anti-Korean Sentiment is heavily affected by “Hallyu” or the Korean Wave, which refers to the influx of Korean pop culture into American media. While this increase in popularity has created a more open relation between Korean and American citizens, the assimilation and acceptance of such come at the cost of perpetuating notions of white supremacy.

In order for the white dominating forces to maintain power within the United States people of color are stigmatized and dehumanized. In terms of Korean and Korean American people, the term “model minority” has played a large role in furthering the dismission of racial inequality in America as well as placed such groups against one another. A key example of this is the Los Angeles riots of 1992 which were partially motivated by Anti-Korean sentiment among African-Americans. This sentiment from the African American community is expressed in Ice Cube's song "Black Korea," written in response to the death of 15-year-old African-American Latasha Harlins, who was shot and killed by Korean-American store owner Soon Ja Du on March 16, 1991, as well as the preponderance of Korean grocery stores in primarily black neighborhoods. This history between African Americans and Korean immigrants is an important history to be critical of as it places blame on another oppressed group and adverts attention away from the dominating factor of white supremacy, which has led to such economic disparity and violence.