Those Who Can Become “Foreign Koreans”: Globalisation, Transnational Marriages and Shifting Nationalist Discourse in South Korea

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)INTRODUCTION: GLOBALISATION AND NATIONALISMWe take pride in the fact that we are a single nation inheriting the same blood from the same ancestors, but at the same time, we must accept that national, racial, cultural and religious pluralism is the fundamental principle of globalization. . . We must bear in mind that some five million Koreans, or 7 percent of our entire race, reside abroad. . . . Even though they are also descendants of our forefather Tan-gun [Dan'gun], they are also citizens of different nations, members of multiethnic communities (LeeH.-K., 1994, p. 87).What creates a sense of national identity in individuals? The question of one's national identity is becoming harder to answer with various changes occurring with globalisation. With the greater exchange of culture and the influx of transnational migration from one country to another and often with conflicts between one's legal and cultural identities, the question of national identity seems to have simply become, for some at least: on what basis do I identify myself?How do individuals living in nation states do it? Many describe nationalism as political rhetoric by the state (Brueilly, 1993; Desai, 2008; Anderson, 1991), asserting that it is a modern invention by the nationalist elites, that a national essence is the business of nationalists. That of nationalism's historians and theorists is to identify the historical and social parameters within which such forging became at once possible and necessary (Desai, 2008; p. 397). The state may find it problematic, however, when the state-imposed nationalism conflicts with the individual's envisioning of his or her own national identity.In this regard, the problem of globalisation poses a unique challenge to the state especially in East Asia where people generally regard ethnicity as having an important role in creating one's national identity. The outburst of globalisation, the development of foreign diasporas, and incoming foreign migrants now challenge the traditional concept of a national identity. The control of the territorial boundaries is being contested as the state needs to care for its nationals living in the territory outside its control (i.e. diasporas) as well as foreign nationals living within the state's territory of jurisdiction.This is particularly the case for South Korea, a country where the belief of Korean people, regardless of its verifiability, has been celebrated since the start of the modern era. In this light, the crossborder population brought by the force of globalisation is considered as a threat to their homogenous society by some while, at the same time, the exclusiveness of the society against foreigners is criticised by others. In 2007, when the number of foreigners living in Korea first passed the one million point, marking 2 percent of the population (1,000,254 out of 48 million population),2 newspapers were flooded with self-reflective reports examining the reality, treatment, and inclusivity of foreigners in South Korean society. Two percent may not sound significant to some, but the number is a twenty-fold increase from 49,000 in 1990. Amidst the influx of foreigners, the most perplexing aspect is the dramatic increase in the number of transnational marriages between Korean citizens and foreigners who are mostly from China, Vietnam, and the Philippines (Seol et al., 2006). According to the Ministry of Justice, in 2008, the numbers of marriage migrants were more than 110,000, comprising approximately 10 percent of the foreign population residing in Korea.3 In 2009, transnational marriages accounted for 10 percent of all marriages, and one out of every three couples living in rural areas consists of a Korean man and a foreign wife.4 The occurrence of transnational marriages in 2007 increased by 2.5 times over that of 2001 (the number increased from 15,234 in 2001 to 38,491 in 2007). …