"Spreading Rumors That Your Mom Is Vietnamese"... Multicultural Families Suffering from Discrimination and Hate

Middle School Sports Club Student, Continuous Assault by Classmates
Couldn’t Report School Violence for Fear of Hurting Father with Terminal Lung Cancer
8.2% of Multicultural Family Children "Experienced School Violence"
Experts: "Need to Improve Awareness of Diverse Races, Not Just White-Centered"

Multicultural families are increasingly growing in Korean society. However, it is known that some still hold discriminatory and prejudiced views.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] An incident occurred in a middle school sports club in Jeonnam where a student continuously assaulted a classmate. The perpetrator threatened the victim by saying, "I will reveal that your mother is Vietnamese," preventing the victim from reporting the school violence (school bullying).

As multicultural families are increasing in Korean society, concerns about discriminatory and prejudiced views toward them are growing. Experts emphasize the need for nationwide efforts to improve awareness of multicultural families.

According to the Jeonnam Police Agency on the 8th, reports were received that from January this year until recently, a second-year middle school student A from Jindo assaulted classmate B and his friends and extorted money.

A, the captain of the rugby team, repeatedly hit B's buttocks with a vacuum cleaner stick in the rugby team's dormitory shower room and extorted 50,000 won twice. On a day when B brought A's younger sibling to training, A assaulted B three times in front of his sibling. A also took B's cellphone and mocked B's mother’s Korean, who is not fluent, in front of friends, causing humiliation.

The victims reportedly did not dare to report due to fear of retaliation from A's verbal abuse and assault. In particular, A threatened B by saying, "If you report, I will spread the rumor that your mother is Vietnamese."

This victimization was revealed when a local junior of B's father hinted, "Didn’t you know B was being severely bullied by my friend's son?" B's father, who was battling lung cancer at a hospital in Gyeonggi Province, reported the violence to the police and school on the 1st after learning about the school violence.

B had hidden the victimization because he heard that "If you mess with A, A's older brother and sister and family members will come and harass you," and he feared that if his father, who is fighting cancer, found out, his condition would worsen.

The Jindo Office of Education has started verifying the facts with the school, and the police are investigating the exact circumstances based on B's testimony.

A classroom in an elementary school in Seoul. / Photo by Yonhap News

The revelation that hate and discriminatory remarks, and even violence, occurred against students from multicultural families has caused shock. According to statistics, multicultural families are continuously increasing in Korean society.

According to the '2021 Youth Statistics' released on the 25th of last month by Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF), the number of multicultural students in elementary, middle, and high schools last year was 147,378. Among them, 107,694 were elementary students, 26,773 middle school students, and 12,478 high school students. This is about three times the number in 2013 (55,780).

The proportion of multicultural students among all elementary, middle, and high school students (5,356,000) is 2.8%, steadily increasing since 2013 (0.9%). As of 2020, there are 353,803 multicultural households in Korea, and the number of multicultural newborns is 17,939, accounting for 5.9% of total births.

However, residents of multicultural families face difficulties in stable social adaptation. According to one survey, 3 out of 10 multicultural households experienced discrimination.

According to a survey conducted by the Korea Youth Policy Institute in April targeting 2,245 multicultural youth in the 4th grade of elementary schools nationwide and their parents, among 2,167 parent respondents, 612 (28.24%) answered that they had experienced discrimination as immigrants living in Korea.

When asked how they coped with such situations, 73.52% (450 people) said they "just endured it." This was followed by 12.09% (74 people) who "consulted family or friends," and 8.16% (50 people) who "demanded an apology from the other party."

Especially, children from multicultural families had difficulties forming relationships with family or friends. According to a 2018 survey by MOGEF, 8.2% of multicultural family children answered that they "experienced school violence victimization," a significant increase compared to 5.0% in 2015, three years earlier.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Korea’s multicultural acceptance index is also low. The general public’s multicultural acceptance index was 52.81 out of 100 points (as of 2018). This survey is conducted every three years, with the first evaluation in 2012 scoring 51.17, and 53.95 in 2015, remaining in the 50-point range.

MOGEF analyzed these results by stating, "Although the level of multicultural acceptance awareness among our citizens is rising, this is acceptance as global citizens rather than relationships with minority groups in our society," and "In terms of practical integration, such as direct interaction with immigrants, there is a tendency to decline." While not agreeing with strong stereotypes about immigrants, it is interpreted that the acceptance of direct interaction with immigrants is low.

Experts emphasized the need for education to improve awareness of cultural diversity within schools.

Park Oksik, director of the Korea Multicultural Youth Association, said, "The number of multicultural students continues to increase, and although we have entered a multicultural society, Korea still has strong exclusive views toward them. The school violence experienced by children from multicultural families is much higher than the average for general students," pointing out, "This school violence case shows that awareness of multicultural families is very insufficient and wrong."

He added, "More effective character education that can enhance understanding of cultural diversity should be conducted within schools," and "Nationwide efforts through the media and mass communication are needed to make such education a daily practice. Recently, programs dealing with multicultural families have increased in entertainment, but most are centered on white people. There is a need to balance the representation in such areas as well."