It’s a word I hear a lot more than I’d like to out here in Korea. In whispers at the playground with my son, in random sound bites on the street, in my Korean language textbook! It’s a word that labels you as different, an outsider in a country that can often be jealously protective of it’s boundaries. It’s a word that defines the insider, who is not an outsider.
In Korean the word is waegukin, literally translated as outside country person. It comes from the Chinese waiguoren (外国人), first used (I believe) in the Zhou Dynasty more than 3000 years ago as a political term to delineate between different ethnic groups. I’m not certain when it came into use in Korea, though my guess is possibly during China’s Han Dynasty in the 3rd century CE. So, the word itself is not only terribly ancient, but is itself of “foreign” origin.
Initially I’d get offended whenever I heard it, but then I noticed that even I started referring to other non-Koreans as foreigner. I read once about a Russian anthropologist in the 19th century who studied the Tungusic people of Siberia and Manchuria. Entering a settlement, he’d ask what the neighboring people’s were called, to which the locals would respond “Tungus.” Hence the name.
Only, some scholars have pointed out that in the local language the word tungus actually meant pig, which is what the neighbors were called. Unknown at the time, the word entered into common usage, to the point that even the “Tungus” began using it to refer to themselves. The word had come to shape their own sense of identity.
Like a lot of developed countries Korea is struggling to become more international without losing itself in the process. Just look at the new and beleaguered president’s policy of more free-trade clashing with hundreds of thousands of candle bearing protesters. Or the explosion in the number of migrant workers and the government’s avowed policy of deportation. The spike in both divorce rates and mixed-marriages. The tension between foreign and native is palpable.
It’s tragic in a way, the very thing Korea clings to keeps it from moving forward. Take a look at the comments, particulalry #3, to a blog post about a North Korean in China reflecting on the recent anti-US beef protests.
Not to say that Korea is the only country dealing with this. When I went back to the US for a visit recently a lot of my non-white friends said they’ve often been made to feel the outsider. I think of the immigration issue, with half the country convinced the US will become Mexican territory at some point. There’s a fear, driven as much by economic concerns as by racism.
All my life I’ve been a native. I’ve travelled some, lived in different cities and countries, but I always knew where home was. I was a local, even away from home, because I had a home, somewhere. Now, having settled in Korea, that sense of rootedness has been, well… uprooted. Because no matter how long I live here, I will always be a waegukin, an outsider, a foreigner. Unfortunately, it’s how I’m beginning to see myself.
Filed under: Identity, Korean Society, Politics | Tagged: Identity, immigration, Korea
I understand the need to be nationalistic, but if Koreans living outside of Korea don’t like being labeled foreigner then they should also stop labeling all immigrants as foreigners. I hope that things will change in the future but I don’t see that happening. Even though I immigrated from Trinidad to Canada 20 years ago, I am a proud Canadian and considered as such. I love Korean culture and would like to live there but don’t like being considered an outsider for the rest of my life.
in response most specifically to the linked comment on the anti-U.S. beef protests…
it seems to me that there is a pent up anger against the U.S. for its involvement in the Korean War, its role in the seperation of Korea into 2 halves and their continued miltary presence there. More recently the U.S. has tried to thwart reconciliation talks between the north and south. As with any ‘occupied’ country, Korea wants to be able to control its own future without an outside entity calling the shots.
Another brief story:
when a friend of mine was in Korea teaching English, there had been an incident of two school girls being run over and killed by an American tank. Later in the same week when my friend was out walking in the mountains, he was mistaken for an American and spit on by some teenage girls. After that he made sure to sew a Canadian and South Korean flag on his backpack.
… it’s no wonder to me why so many South Korean citizens will latch onto any opportunity to lash out against American interests in their country.
As an immigrant to United States, I can say that it is probably not that much different. Insiders often treat outsiders as the “other.” Over the years I see that it is a trait of many humans to define differences so that they can segregate, often so they can feel that they are superior somehow to the other(s). One could even say that it is a human trait, if I believe in that which I am not sure I do.
My consolation over the years is that I no longer care to be American, I feel more like a global entity which helps because I have traveled a lot, that I belong to the whole world, like it or not. I know most Americans or Canadians for that matter, at least you two have not had to deal with being that type of outsider. And it is interesting to me to see how you, Pete, will resolve it in your life.
Thanks for the post