THE HINES WARD EFFECT: KOREA QUESTIONS ITS

UNCLAS SEOUL 002577

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KS
SUBJECT: THE HINES WARD EFFECT: KOREA QUESTIONS ITS
NATIONAL IDENTITY


1. (U) SUMMARY: When Hines Ward, a half-Korean,
half-African-American pro football player, visited Korea
recently, the event caused Koreans to examine their own
prejudices against Koreans of mixed-race heritage. Hines
Ward became a media darling, while the average mixed-race
Korean suffers bigotry, poor education rates, high
unemployment, and are not even allowed to join the military,
despite compulsory military service for all other males. The
"Hines Ward effect" also impacted the ROKG, which introduced
anti-discrimination legislation during his visit and promised
to revise textbooks by 2009. As the number of mixed-race
Koreans and other foreigners continues to rise in Korea, the
ROKG and others will need to actively contend with this
issue. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Although some of Korea's hottest celebrities are
mixed-race, Hines Ward is the first half-Korean, half-African
American star to be embraced by the Korean public (the other
celebrities are half-Caucasian). When the Pittsburg Steelers
quarterback/most valuable player (MVP) of the 2006 Super Bowl
visited Korea in April 2006, corporations practically tripped
over themselves to offer him free products and endorsement
deals. The star treatment Ward received was in stark
contrast, however, to the way average mixed-raced people are
treated in Korea. As such, Ward's visit, especially the
caustic criticism from his accompanying Korean mother, caused
many Koreans to confront how they treat mixed-race people,
who were until recently mostly the children of American
soldier fathers and Korean mothers.

A BRIEF ETHNIC HISTORY
--------------


3. (U) Historically, Korea preferred to keep to itself,
hence the term Hermit Kingdom. But it was not always able to
fend off neighbors with colonial designs, such as Japan.
Thus, "pure blood" Korean ethnicity became a source of
national pride. In textbooks, Korean children are taught the
myth of Dan-gun, the leader of the "son of heaven" tribe,
which alludes to Korean people's celestial origins.


4. (U) Korea has remained virtually homogenous ethnically.
The only sizable non-Korean ethnic group is the Chinese
people, who first immigrated from Shandong in the late 19th
century. There are about 20,000 Chinese-Koreans, and they
typically remain distinct: they tend not to intermarry with
Koreans and retain their native language. In fact, many
remain citizens of China or Taiwan, since Korean law endows
citizenship per the father's nationality.


5. (U) Mixed-race children born during the Korean War from
unions between American soldiers and Korean women were the
first obviously mixed-race Koreans. These children were
discriminated against not only because they weren't
"pure-blooded" Koreans, but also because there was a
perception that the Korean mothers were prostitutes (or at
least very strange to choose such a union). Those who were
half African-American received the harshest treatment, as
Koreans tended to discriminate against those whose skin was
darker than theirs.

TREATMENT OF MIXED-RACED KOREANS
--------------


6. (U) For biracial children, life in Korea is bleak.
Forty percent of mixed-raced Koreans have attempted suicide,
says the state-run National Human Rights Commission.
According to the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, a nonprofit
organization that supports mixed-race children in Korea, a
sizable number of mixed-race children do not even make it
past elementary school because of discrimination. Between
1964 and 2002, 17.5 percent of mixed-race children failed to
complete middle school, versus 1.1 percent of full-blooded
Korean children. Twenty-two percent of mixed-race people are
unemployed, compared to the national rate in June 2006 of 3.4
percent.


7. (U) But when Hines Ward came to Korea, Koreans seemed
to ignore his African-American heritage and embraced him as a
Korean hero. Before then, he received no media attention. A
JoongAng Daily article from September 2005 claims that no
article had been written on Ward up to that point. The
attention that was showered upon Ward during his April 2006
visit provoked an array of emotions among Koreans: sorrow,
anger, shame, soul-searching, and confusion among mixed-race
Koreans, who had never seen a half African-American person so
adored. Hines Ward's mother, Kim Young-hee, did not hold
back criticizing the way she and Hines were treated when they
were in Korea, describing how they were spat upon during a
1998 visit. She said they would never have had the
opportunity to succeed if they remained in Korea. (NOTE:
They moved to the United States when Ward was one year old.
END NOTE.)

NEW LEGISLATION
--------------


8. (U) Hines Ward's story even inspired politicians to
enact anti-discrimination laws. Representative Kim
Choong-hwan (GNP),told poloff he was "deeply impressed" by
the difficulties that Ward's mother experienced. Kim
introduced an anti-discrimination bill to the National
Assembly in April 2006 that, among other things, proposes to
establish the Center for Helping Mixed Blood Families (under
the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family); requires schools
to carry out education plans for mixed-race children; and
empowers governments and local governing bodies to provide
financial aid as necessary. Kim will bring a revised version
of the bill to the National Assembly in September 2006, and
he expects wide support from representatives and Koreans in
general.


9. (U) The ROKG is also making some rhetorical changes.
The Blue House and the Ministry of Education and Human
Resources Development said they will revise textbooks by 2009
to include multiracial and multicultural aspects of Korea.
(NOTE: Currently, textbooks refer to Korea as an ethnically
homogenous society. END NOTE.) The ROKG will also use the
term "people of international marriages" instead of "mixed
blood" in all government documents.


10. (U) Recently, the ROKG has made other changes that give
more rights to non-"pure blood" Koreans. In 2005, the ROKG
revised voting laws so that foreign residents who have lived
in Korea for at least three years could vote in local
elections, but not presidential or parliamentary elections.
Plus, until earlier this year, mixed-race males were not
allowed to serve in the military, which meant they could not
participate in what is commonly viewed as a rite of passage.
Mixed-race men are now allowed to volunteer, but only a few
have come forward.


11. (U) There are critics to the ROKG's changes, ranging from
North Korea, who ridiculed the ROKG's reference to Korea as a
multiracial society, to academics, to average citizens.
There is a general belief that politicians were taking
advantage of the issue du jour, and that once the dust
settled, any changes that were made won't have a true or
lasting impact. A Korea Herald journalist wryly noted that,
when doing research on multiracialism in Korea, there was
media buzz around the Ward visit that lasted exactly one
month, but now there is nothing.

THE AMERICANIZATION OF KOREA?
--------------


12. (U) By 2020, the Pearl S. Buck foundation estimates
there will be 70,000 mixed-race Koreans. In addition, there
are currently 800,000 foreigners in Korea, many of whom are
workers. As more and more provincial Koreans move to the
cities, farmers and fisherman are "importing" wives from
other countries, particularly South-east Asia. The products
of those unions make up the majority mixed-race people in
Korea. (NOTE: There are 30,000 Korean and South-east Asian
mixed-race people, compared to 5,000 born to Korean mothers
and American fathers. END NOTE.) Many Koreans seem to accept
that globalization is inevitable for Korea. Although the
ROKG is making changes, the problems associated with
prejudice against mixed-race people or other foreigners will
continue to be an issue that it will be faced with for a long
time to come.
YUN