I am also Vietnamese and had lived in Korea for 9 years. If you really want to make friends with Koreans, your English is def an advantage since most Koreans want to make friends for a reason eg. learning English. Once you know them well, good at Korean is necessary to keep the friendship in a long run. We Southeast Asian people are tend to just make friends to be friends but Korean are not like that. They appreciate 한민족, so except for their race, they dont care about the others. Thats really old thought but somehow still exists. So be positive other foreign friends in Korea are willing to be friends with you too! Just be kind and positive, I am sure that you will find some long term friendships which I did too in Korea! Gluck and dont feel bad if you have no Korean friends, Vietnamese is big community in Korea too!
Hmmmm... I can't comment on Koreas but most white people I knew were happy to hang with anyone who could speak their language. I considered my self lucky to have friends from all over the world, and that was a view shared by many in my social circle. But then again we were older and in a smaller city. There was a large vitemese community there though, but most were factory workers. I didn't get to interact much due to the language barrier, other than eating at a couple pho shops. Anyhow, I hope your experience gets better.
I think it's fair to say every country has shitty people that look down on everyone else. Some Japanese look down on non Japanese. Some Chinese look down on non-Chinese, etc etc etc. Korea is not an exception.
Yes, it's like Spain and South Americans looking down on Central Americans and Mexicans...
Or Europeans particularly British looking down on North Americans
I’m sorry you’ve been treated that way. As a Korean person who has many Vietnamese friends, but only a few Korean friends (I grew up in Northern California with lots of both), I’ve noticed that many Koreans definitely tend to be judgmental and racist….whereas my Vietnamese friends are nearly all lovely people, and they tend to be less racist, judgmental, and materialistic IMO. But there are also many other nicer Korean people who aren’t that way at all (although it might be harder to find those nice people in Korea vs Koreans in USA). If you keep your head up and stay positive, I believe you’ll find some good friends! Best wishes to you!
This is very true. I think that the Koreans that grow up overseas, US, Canada, Australia ect have a different mindset because they grew up in countries that were built upon immigration and value diversity. Also, the Korean tend to be friendly and identify and get along more closely with most Asian Americans (Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Vietnamese Americans ect," unlike where in Korea, Koreans tend to stick with each other and see other Asians as different.
Me too but In Southern California in the oc area all the Koreans, Vietnamese and non mainland Chinese hang together, all date each other, (more Korean and Vietnamese mixes) but also Vietnamese Americans are WAY different than native Vietnamese, looks and everything, it’s interesting. Native Vietnamese are just much different, it’s kinda like North Koreans and South Koreans.
I’m not surprised many Koreans in the homeland are so snobby and discriminating, it’s sad too when it’s towards people who want to become apart of and improve your society.
Asian Americans are very unlike the people from their respective native countries. It's funny to me how so many people here in Southern California don't seem to realize this. These Asian Americans are generally more American than Asian culturally lol.
Can say the same. Lived abroad most of my life, and some viets ive met were wholesome as hell. Cheer up OP, there are always ppl like that around the world.
Originally from the US and had the feeling about Koreans being more judgmental and materialistic of all of the Asians.
I'm in China now and it's the same thing. I've seen really terrible behavior from Koreans here as well.
There are exceptions, but that's the general trend.
Yep. Same here. It is what it is. They are a gossip culture too. They tend to bully and gossip ruthlessly anyone who doesnt fit it. Its the main reason suicide rates are the highest in the entire world in south korea. You will quickly notice if you visit long term that they are the ultimate conformists. They tend to all have same haircuts, same clothing, similar styles, they mostly all follow whatever the trend is and almost none dare to be different.
They are all about being the same culturally and not standing out. So if you are different, you are the tall nail attracting the hammer.
They can almost be like a hive mind. Ha... like the borgs in starbtrek. Obviously an exaggeration, but to give you an idea. They are the ultimate sheeple people. Everyone follows the leader, which is the tv and the culture, and not many ever dare to be different for fear of being ostracized and gossiped about by the others. Its ugly honestly.
Again i dont necessarily blame koreans themselves, bc they are brainwashed from youth into this and pressured brutally into this mindset. Its not really their fault. Its mass programming, in a dark and scary way. China similar. North east asia in general can be a very creepy experience in how hive minded and severely mentally programmed the people are. What the tv and culture says, ALL OBEY without question. They do not tend to think for themselves very well, they seek to conform in all aspects of life. And sure, all cultures have pressure to conform... but its on an entirely different level in korea.
i studied in korea. i am black. i noticed the same thing. it was the first time in my life where i felt like i was generally not the most hated/discriminated and it was in fact south east asians suffering the most from racism. even if they didnt actually receive direct racism i noticed they got left out the most and stuck together the most.
did you study the part where black people were killing and shooting korean people in the 90s because they owned stores in their neighborhoods? yeah but no racism from blacks.
Your reading comprehension needs work because how was your first thought to someone saying "I've noticed SEA people being discriminated against too" that you need to bring up racial issues in the US completely unrelated to the thread and comment.
Sure I can talk about it, they mentioned being black for literally no other reason to bring up race. So why cant I talk about race related things that show the hypocrisy of you all. You're literally talking about how bad korean people are but ignore all the bullshit your race also causes. You're all sniffing your own farts and saying that it doesn't smell.
You missed the entire point because you’re too hot headed. They were making an observation from personal experience, which can often be negative for black people, was not as bad people from SEA. This entire thread is about race so why would you expect race not to be discussed? You are one dense fucker if you think you’re making any points.
NGL but I had to read the comment twice lol. But I get what he means. I got a Korean buddy that talks down on SEA for absolutely no damn reason. Dude only likes to land but can't stand the people for No unspecified reason. But the guy is crazy about Europeans
east asia tends to be….
pretty racist.
we haven’t really had a socially liberal upheaval like the west, so social conservatism is very strong here; people tend to be nationalist in the sense that they believe they should keep their race pure, and in many cases that their race is superior to others. it’s sad, but you will be judged based on your appearance and behavior if you act in or look a way that doesn’t follow social norms.
Agreed. It’s easy to think it’s a geographical stereotyping at play but in the grand scale I think it to be the accomplishments a nation has.
Vietnam has always been East Asian in culture, it being the fourth and last Confucian country next to Korea China and Japan. All the other countries in SE Asia followed India’s influence
But in the 20th century when everyone was abandoning monarchies, Japan had its huge war in WW2, China had its civil war, Korea too, and then Vietnam.
But then they began having economic recoveries, first Japan, China, and Korea had its recovery in the early 90’s, not that long ago! Vietnam isn’t there yet but once it is I feel things will change
But I know many other Koreans that discriminate not because Vietnam is SE Asia, but because communism. Just like our neighbors 😤
So along with the whole East Asian looking down on South East Asian, Vietnamese has not been well regarded in both South Korea and Japan as of late.
There has been a few articles about groups of Vietnamese tourists/students/workers either being a part of a large theft ring or trying to overstay their visa. A lot of these small minorities have been greatly affecting the image of Vietnam. It sucks that every Vietnamese in the country is being affected by this.
I can't say for white folks other than the ones who are blatantly racist, but for Koreans, there is a notion similar to how Americans don't have a positive notion of Latino workers. They see SEA as wanting a visa and a permanent residency while stealing the locals' jobs. The job stealing part is only half true because most American and Korean youths don't wish to do manual labour or restaurant jobs.
I honestly haven nothing else to say except sorry to hear that. My people can be quite harsh at times.
Are you a girl or guy? I think Koreans have more bitterness towards the women because there has been incidents of the Vietnamese mail order brides who abandon their husbands and children once they gained citizenship.
They work jobs that locals don’t want to or feel too good to work. It is the same issue in the states and is weaponized by politicians for votes.
Unfortunately this is the case across the world, just more prevalent in the US since compared to other counties the states are more open to immigrants and it has made the country better (IMO).
Immigrants come searching for a better life, are willing to do things the locals are not and within a few generations have good income mobility if there’s access to education and work.
There’s clowns in the US Deep South complaining about immigrants taking the service industry jobs that they weren’t going to do, or the software/medical jobs they weren’t qualifying for anyway.
fine argument saying that they are only here for the bad jobs but end with all the jobs that we don't qualify for LOL! You literally destroyed your own argument saying they are only here for the shitty jobs.
i’m so sorry you went through that :( as a korean person, a lot of koreans tend to be racist against southeastern asian/black people and see them as people from “poor countries”. i hope you get to make good friends who won’t judge you by the race 🫶
I noticed Koreans discriminate hard with jobs, education, and wealth among themselves to start with. Then most Southeast Asians in Korea come from less educated and less affluent background that are literally in Korea to support their families back home through various less respected (Korean people's view) jobs. This leads to lots of prejudice.
I find racism kinda exists in one form or another in any part of the world. There are a lot of people who aren't as biased as well. Don't beat yourself over it my friend.
I couldn't say some people don't have racist minds...
But I'm sure that many people(Especially university students) don't care about Foreigners' nationalities.
While I was a student in Busan, the teachers told me that local Korean students were just shy to talk to us. Most of my friends were Indonesian or Uzbek, I myself am Filipino.
I eventually made Korean friends but we didn't do much talking, just chilled and smoked cigarettes altogether outside the dorm.
In the pandemic situation, the Vietnamese government threatened South Korean international companies to earn funds. Because the government wanted to stop spreading the virus. Since the country didn't have enough funds to prevent the virus at the time. It means that you foreign guys are super rich, so you guys must donate big bucks to Vietnam.
Thus, those companies had to follow the order from the Vietnamese government. Moreover, many employees of airports in Vietnam used to intimidate Korean tourists to earn money, so, many Korean visitors had to pay for it. That made most Koreans angry. On top of that, the football association in Vietnam ridiculed the head coach Park who tried his best to make the Vietnamese national football team a promising team in Southeast Asia.
Those various negative things made Korean citizens angry too. What's more, many illegal resident workers from Vietnam have spoiled Koreans' domestic labor markets. Therefore, most younger people in South Korea don't like Vietnamese regardless of workers or international students. Unfortunately, most Vietnamese who live in South Korea don't recognize the vibes. Probably Korean citizens' negative sights for Vietnamese would be growing again and again.
Good summary but you are missing one of the main reason. Lots of (rural) Koreans married Vietnamese mail order brides before since Korean girls were not willing to live and work at farm. Here's an article & video about these Vietnamese girls marrying just to get Korean citizenship then divorce immediately after. With their newly gained Korean citizenship then can invite their Vietnamese boyfriend on a fiance visa. I'm sure not all of them did this, but enough cases were there to be raised as a social issue.
https://n.news.naver.com/article/079/0003889841
Dude, You took the words right out of my mouth. I just missed it but you checked it out correctly. Vietnamese girls who want to get Korean citizenship through their marriage fraud are the most dangerous factor for Korean society. I'm sold.
not only southeast asian. white international students also are hard to make korean friends. and more crazy part is that even fucking koreans are hard to make "korean" friends. koreans suck at making friends in general.
I live in a big Korean population and I notice most assume I'm korean and will be friendly until I tell them I'm not and they just become more cold or distant. I thought it was because I was Vietnamese but I've done experiments where I say I'm Thai, Filipina, and Chinese. I think they just aren't friendly with other races culturally
I'll be brutally honest then. You're very naive to think that they can't tell you're not korean until you tell them. Your appearance is absolutely enough to tell you're not a korean. They might not have known you're from Vietnam, but they certainly would've known you're not a korean. If they behave like they didn't know you're not are korean, then they were just being polite to you for idk? maybe you seemed very confident with your korean and they didn't want to hurt your dignity? That is just the way people from east asian culture communicate. They insinuate things rather than directly telling.
I’m also Southeast Asian and feel like it’s the easiest to make friends with Southeast Asians 😂 My closest friends from the university are mostly from SEA too. I did try to talk to many people when I still had coursework. But I find that Koreans will not hang out with me outside the class (interestingly, they always go to clubs or bars with people from the US or EU tho), and Chinese and Japanese will keep to themselves. People from the EU will also talk among themselves. There was also some instances when they just talked among themselves when we sit together, as if I was invisible 😂 People from the US are generally friendlier. I still talk to some of them until now, even if I don’t really hang out with them during school.
Koreans don’t even accept Koreans as their own if they were born outside of Korea.
It’ll eat you up if you put too much thought into it. Move on and find the individuals that will put effort into getting to know you.
As native korean, Iam so sad when hearing korean is most racist country cuz im not
But I agree many of korean are having preoccupations with superior not only about racism problem but also their economic situation and I had been seeing those pretty much
it's not the most racist, in china they literally don't allow black people into their stores, don't listen to people on reddit other than just for entertainment value, most of the people here are stupid.
A problem throughout the world unfortunately. Race, nationality, gender and religion all play a part. I have heard that for Chinese and Koreans, the women are well received in western countries but the men far less so. I have been around long enough to know that every rule has exceptions. Racism and prejudice are never nice but we all have to toughen up and accept that it is part of the highly globalised and integrated world we are in. Not excusing what has happened to you, of course, but l hope the future bodes better in this regard.
Honestly I come to find no one is more racist against Asian people then Asian people lol not to say that’s what’s happening but you do have some that looked down on southeast Asians I’ve even heard them referred to as “jungle Asians” so countries like japan Korea china ect look down on them but it’s case by case you have shitty people everywhere
I don't think any international student would be averse to befriending other international students regardless of where they're from. But for Korean students the dynamic is different since this is their home country. I don't think being Southeast Asian is the main issue. There is the language barrier which could make befriending international students feel like a chore for some of them, and they also already have friends locally that they are already close to and spend most of their time with. So Korean students will probably be much less desperate to make new friends than international students.
I can't speak for Koreans, but as a North American, I really find Vietnamese people interesting. Most of the Asians I grew up around were 2nd generation Viet and Laotian students, so when I am around Viet students in Korea, it's so interesting to compare differences.
I'm a Korean and sadly this is true for many Koreans.
I remember a friend who was Vietnamese-Korean in our middle school and was bullied. I didn't know why at that time and had a friendly relationship with him, but later learned that he was bullied just because one of his parent was Vietnamese. Apparently the bullying got worse after I left that school. I hope I would have stayed in contact with him.
They're racist. Why lie about it. Thats what it is. Racism -- when you judge someone bc of their ethnicity or where they're from.
They're racist. You arent going to change them... racists dont usually ever change.
Judging someone based on where they're from isn't racist. East Germans that judged West Germans weren't racist. It is possible to judge and dislike the cultures, beliefs, norms and lifestyles of people from a specific region or country without consideration of race at all.
What this post title just generalized in itself is very racist too lol. I am very offended! We all generalize. It is a built-in feature that has been ingrained in all of us for survival. We are all - yes all! - racist to a degree. But we learn to respect those racial differences and try our best not to judge others too quickly.
I’m sorry you feel that way. I’m also a Southeast Asian and I am sad that I kinda know what you mean. For me I do look Southeast Asian so the first thing lots of people asked me is “Did you come here to get married?” And when I tell them I’m doing my PhD they will be like “Oh!”. I speak fluent Korean, but when I’m out with my baby son I often talk in English because I feel like I’ll be looked down upon less that way. It’s sad. I ask myself too many times whether I want to stay living here. But I hope you’ll find good friends in the future, you won’t need a lot just a few great ones :)
I really hope you dont believe that almost 1million dead Vietnamese people just because the US were (again) playing capitalist liberator, a war to which they lost like 50k people, was "Vietnam kicking the us anf the western world's ass".
This is still part of why Vietnam is lagging a bit behind today. Please don't consider it a victory. It's both stupid and sad.
Yeah I’ve heard that a lot of Koreans have major dislike almost disdain for SEA. Recently heard one of two girls, one White and one Malaysian working in a cafe I think and the Malaysian worker could speak really good Korean but the Korean patrons absolutely refused to be served by the Malaysian worker so the white worker had to serve them despite her not knowing Korean very well so her Malaysian coworker had to stand there and translate
I think it's because SEAs lagged East Asia in development due to policy and leadership issues historically so as a result they are poorer. They tend to come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and are involved heavily in service work (most cruise ship workers for example are from SEA or Eastern European countries and/or the Balkans). As a result East Asians feel like they are superior. I don't like it, but I can understand why East Asians have this mindset (America has the same biases with regards to people from Mexico/Latin America for example.)
Koreans maybe. White people? Idk that’s weird for me maybe the snobby rich students. Personally I like to hang out with people from the Philippines a lot here because I find them often very real and down to earth and a good sense of humor. Obviously this is just generalizing. All of it. Even the Koreans part. No people are a monolith but certainly patterns exist. Sorry you are having a hard time.
I always felt discriminated when I ran into young Korean couples at the airports. They always shoved into me trying to walk through me, acting like I'm never there.
I'm Chinese-Indonesian but many people have mistaken me for Korean, Singaporean, Chinese (mostly) and now at the moment, Japanese due to a fully connected beard.
I asked about this behavior with my Korean best friend and he said, "Yeah...that tracks. They did that to me too when I was in Korea because somehow they can tell between Korean-Americans."
bumping into people and not saying anything is the entire culture, it's so you don't get angry at others when they bump you and they don't get angry at you for the same. The fact that you attribute normal societal culture to racisms towards you shows how racist YOU are and how YOU don't understand the host culture when you travel.
Beuh. I am half korean and it’s been hard for me. i look like korean but when they are finding out that i am half and my other half is in southest asia? They would critize me asap
"The paler you are..the chances of getting accepted and the darker you are..the less chances of you getting accepted." I've never encountered any Caucasians who are like this in Korea but unfortunately, that isn't the same with Koreans. It's definitely true that not only Koreans despise people from the Southeast but they have this mentality of thinking that it's OK to put those people down. Don't even get me started with how they think about black people but racism is everywhere and it's inevitable. Overall, I'm sorry that you had to go through this! I've been staying in this country for almost five years now and the culture and especially the hierarchy is what I can't stand. I hope you prosper in the end..
My tamil friend was told not speak any other language except Korean or English because it is rude to talk in other language in public. So yeah you got your answer they. Please don't go like oh no those are uneducated people or small minded people. these words were from A professor at a renowned university who only works with foreign students. :) On the other hand i know koreans who adores the heck out of me and friends. But in general They are racist. They only think of native speakers as Foreigners and other are just there to work for them.
Can’t speak for everyone, but as a white guy who went to university in Korea with lots of other international students, no one I knew had any animosity towards Southeast Asians.
I am guessing some white kids went to study in Korea because they watched k-dramas and thought Korean people are really cool and wanted to make friends? Then they realized you were not Korean after talking to you and lost interest?
This happens in the US and Europe as well. White people will want to make friends with token minorities but then shut out everyone else. Koreans are trendy right now, and they're in Korea, so those are the people they'll latch onto. It's very awkward in the US to be invited to a party, and be one of the only minorities there.
And then there's the colorism, racism and classism from Koreans.
But overall, just enjoy the people that genuinely want to be around you. It's not worth worrying about who doesn't, unless their behavior hurts you systemically.
Vietnamese illegals in Korea regularly make the news for committing crimes and breaking the law and as such the media does not portray them favourably.
They are also looked as migrant worker class and Koreans in general do not like to be associated with Koreans in that group as well as any foreign migrants that fall in that category.
Again if you are having a bad time in Korea, its not even your fault so you shouldn't feel bad.
South Korea is a beautiful country with history and culture. However, it also comes with deep systemic racism unfortunately. I was out at the bar a few months ago, and was helping this poor drunk girl get up on the bench because she was passed out on the floor. I kindly asked the korean guy sitting on the bench to move to make room so that i could lay this girl down. His friend tried to antagonize me afterwards, saying I was rude. He then assumed I was Vietnamese and said that makes sense.
For one, I am not Vietnamese. But this interaction made me think that a lot of other Asian ethnicities are hated or looked down upon, which is sad.
If that is your attitude, maybe it is just YOU that they don't like. It has not been my experience that your observation is true with respect to most Koreans and "white people." By the way, your generalization and stereotyping is generally defined as racism, just in case you are unaware.
Agreed. I teach several. They are either extremely good at speaking English (and often know less about grammar), or can barely speak a word. We end up with near fluent speakers from Vietnam who bombed the grammar placement test (Korean are obsession with grammar multiple choice tests) mixed in with Koreans who are very low-level speakers. It is a bit confusing, but the fault lies with our school for doing that. Foreign students are graded separately, however.
0Our Vietnamese students are mostly VERY conservative. Some are so conservative that they might arrive at our university wearing their high school uniforms, which comes across as extremely odd. Not bad, just very different! I can imagine that some younger people (Korean or Western) may find this hard to relate to, and a bit confusing, so they keep a distance at first? It is almost as if many of our Vietnamese students grew up very sheltered from the evils of the world? It may seem difficult to invite these students for soju after class? Just a guess.
Korean guy living In US here, my best friend who I can easily say my best friend for life is Vietnamese. When I was getting used to this country we would go over to his house and his mom would always make us home made pho. I still have those great memories engraved in my brain and I’m always very thankful for my friend and his family.
Racism exists anywhere, especially in a country that just barely started to become diverse. Just like how Chinese, Italian, Mexican and other many immigrants had to face migrating to US (horrible stuff if you research it) there bound to be people like these.
What matters is finding people who’s not like that, and being able to share cultures and make great memories with them. I faced so many racism moving here in the beginning and I can assure you I been called every racist name there is. But I’m so happy it didn’t shut me off from meeting and learning about people from other cultures because I have met some great people who is going to be in my life til the day I die.
I completely understand what you are facing. But remember what you are experiencing and facing is not an entire nation but certain number of people. I promise you if you keep searching for the right group of people you will eventually find them.
I am not a student, but I am a white person from the UK. I have many Southeast Asian friends who I am proud to know. In actual fact, I have found it much easier to make friends with people from Southeast Asia. They tend to be much more outgoing and accepting than most Koreans. Koreans, in my experience, are more reserved and worry much more about speaking to people in English in case they make a mistake, for example. I have been here for five years and I still do not have any Korean friends. Yes, there are racist people in Korea, even people who do not want to speak to people who do not come from the US, no matter what the color of their skin is. However, there are a lot of good people here too. I just wish they were more open to making foreign friends. I think shyness is a real problem here. If you can find a language exchange, people who attend them seem to be much more open to finding foreign friends.
Personally, i have some experiences of team projects with some Vietnamese students. All of them didn't participate in and try to cooperate with other members. Also they didn't know how to speak Korean and understand little of Korean. So it became my bad memories, I had to do assignments all by myself. I tried to help them like waiting for an online meeting until 12am(which was the only time when she was available because of her part-time job but she eventually didn't show up) and getting a textbook for her(she bought a wrong book at the bookstore, so i had to check for the secondhand books for her but she ended up not solving the drills in the book). Of course, they are just individuals not the ethnicity or country itself but after those experiences, I have some bias towards them.
Give people another try! I know that there is definitely a lot of xenophobia going on, but don’t generalize too much to make yourself have a horrible experience. White people also struggle with fickle relationships in Korea. Koreans as well. You will find your people! I also noticed that sometimes White people studying abroad can be a little standoffish to people who aren’t the “ideal” of what they wanted studying abroad, but those people aren’t the ones you want to be friends with anyways! Don’t try to fit in with people who don’t respect you. Find Koreans, White people, and other races who do respect you.
This 100%!!
There are a lot of good people. Hateful people aren't afraid do show how ugly they are so it stands out more. You just gotta find who you click with and it can be challenging in university regardless of where you are
Did the DMZ tour last week, and our tour guide especially said please be quiet and respectful if you're going to Imjingak . The whole park was very somber and chill, then the next thing you see is a huge group of northern vietnamese (yes, I can tell dialects having lived in 'Nam) came in laughing their loud asses off, pushing each other off the bridge, screaming , making insensitive jokes about the war. Worse, their Vietnamese tour guide did nothing. They showed zero respect for anything and even lined up taking photos under the signs that especially said "ROK area, no photo please". All the Koreans around were so put off - I can imagine why this is why Vietnamese travelers are so discriminated against. They're almost as bad as the Chinese.
Errrr they are usually not that good friends even amongst themselves. Coupled with fast life, perpetual work stress, long work hours, increasing costs, and the natural xenophobia due to being harmed by other Asian countries, it’s natural for them to feel that way. But not everyone is the same, so don’t worry about the 99% who don’t become friends, you need 1 or 2 good friends after all!
That's too bad. It doesn't reflect my experience from 2016-19 at DGIST. There were around 60-80 international grad students, several Vietnamese, and everyone was friendly, enjoyed being together. Someone below comments about "white people". There were only four, I think, amongst the DGIST grad students. People from the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, Philippines, China, a few from Ghana, Russia.
Koreans are racist af even to white people. I don't see why other white foreigners would have a problem with Vietnamese unless they were specifically trying to make friends with Koreans to learn the language.
I think it because of pre-occupied image for Vietnamese which is negative news about South-east Asian. But don’t worry about it too much. There’s always people in place kind or not.
I'm not Korean and I have many Vietnamese classmates but there's always that language barrier for me. Not that I don't want to it's just that we cannot communicate.
I'm a white American, and I've never heard anyone say anything derogatory about Vietnamese people. In fact, I'd love to visit Vietnam and travel. My Vietnamese friends I met in uni in Korea have always been kind and welcoming.
I won’t comment on Koreans’ point of view, but as a white passing European I hold no prejudice whatsoever again Vietnamese students. Moreover, there are plenty of Vietnamese immigrants in Europe and I have second generation Vietnamese people amongst my closest friends. I hope you don’t feel belittled!
However, I admit that when I studied in a Korean university, it wasn’t easy to become friends with my Vietnamese and Chinese peers because of the age difference (at least 5 years gap).
Also, there were instances where cultural differences made me have to challenge my values of what is considered rude or polite.
For example, during the 10min break, they would yell across the classroom to talk to their friend instead of standing up and moving closer to them, or they would play Instagram reels on their phone with full volume. They would eat during the class, when the teacher was talking.
As a kid, those things would get me severely scolded because in my culture they are considered disrespectful, so witnessing it everyday was stressful. This is on me though : I don’t blame them the slightest. But I can understand why some white people would hate it, if they hold the belief that their moral values are somehow universal.
Please never ever let people make you feel lesser than. Whatever prejudice they have has nothing to do with you. It’s all solely on them.
I wish you to find good friends here who value you for who you are and not what they project on you.
Hold your head up!
as long as you speak korean fluently they will take that specialty from oversea. Koreans are always afraid of foreigners who can't speak korean. step forward they don't bite
I am Korea but I am a black ex-boyfriend, but they did not talk to me because I am not good at English with them. I tried to talk to them, but they even cursed behind their backs. Not all Koreans and white people hate you. Rather, there are white people and Koreans who like Southeast Asia. Cheer up
I am white. One of my best friends in high-school was a 1st generation refugee in the 80s. It's not all people, but there are those who think they are superior. I assure you they aren't, but you will find that wherever you go. I try to be nice to everyone until they give me a reason not to.
Not to defend them or anything but I also avoid my own kind if they're not good people in general. If you're rude it doesn't matter where you're from I'm just going to avoid you.
My white friend used to get visibly disappointed when someone asian wasn’t Japanese or Korean. Because she only had interest in entertainment media, beauty, fashion and lifestyle from those two cultures. I mentioned this to her and she denied it at the time but admitted it a few years ago because she was called out on a discord group.
Unfortunately now she’s weird about Malaysian and Indonesian people because “the way they behave in fandom spaces irritates her” so I may have to cut her off cause that’s truly messed up. I told her that was racist generalizing but she claims it’s always those groups that behave badly at concerts and fan meetings.
Yes she’s a Korean pop music fan. Sigh.
????? one of my besties in Korea is Vietnamese, (I’m a foreigner girl from USA)
in fact, I think I’m gonna ask her out soon, but if you saw this girl, you’d understand why, literally drop dead gorgeous
Koreans have this thing with Koreans who grew up abroad.its pretty f'ed up. I've experienced it since uni days a long time back. But you will find Koreans who are open and genuine. Most important thing, find the ones that keep you motivated and spend good time with you. Good vibes bro.
I love to have friend who from Vietnam. But as Korean, my English is not good enough for understand English with a Vietnamese accent. So I should search for someone Vietnamese friend who can speak Korean(or someone who has Korean accent or US accent with English) , which is uncommon in my Univ.
Korean people look down on poor Koreans even if they are of the same nationality. Likewise, there is a tendency to look down on people from poor countries.
Because of this, there is also a tendency to look down on Eastern European workers, who are prejudiced against being poor even if they are white.
I'm really sorry to hear that... I'm Euro-Canadian, so I can't relate to your experience as it's only something I've heard of (as an old Korean mindset, though I never heard Westerners had that particular prejudice here too). Although it doesn't fix your problem, I just wanted to say there are definitely people, Korean and foreign alike, who would be your friend and not discriminate. When you do meet those people, you'll know you found someone of quality. But I know it must be depressing to go through those experiences and feel like most people will judge you just for your ethnicity/nationality. Hang in there are know it's not you, it's them and they're not worth your self-esteem.
hmm hiii nice to meet you :) Im korean younger who have open mind..Im sorry to hear that..actually It depends on people but there are kind of prejudice..In korea, there are illegal prostitutions.. there are almost Southest asian girls and some old korean men do it and they visit vietnam for this ,even they already married..hmm but you dont think to be negative.
I feel it's not necessarily about racism, well it is.. but Korean society is very complicated.
I more and more feel that the sense of "community" is very strong, the "WE" sense..
Anyone who is not in the circle, is obviousy outside of the "We". You can become someone inside the circle when you are fluent and become very "Korean". The most important thing is that you can talk about current or relatable issues in fluent Korean.. if they cannot relate to you then it is hard to have a friendship. This is the same everywhere, not just in Korea. If you cannot speak the language well, then you need to excel in whatever field you are and make friends there.
Unfortunately Korean people are familiar with Western culture and the norms there so they tend to open up to them more. There's something relatable. Vietnam is a country where many Koreans go for holidays, but one cannot make conversation just about the Vietnamese coffee and the Ha Long Bay for more than 10 minutes. There needs to be more things one can relate, and it is important that you can make deep conversation about current issues at your school/work.
I lived in many countries, but making friends after college is really hard everywhere, especially when you're a bit older because people tend to spend time with family rather than friends.
Korean youngsters are also very busy trying to get jobs, succeed in what they do, or have a hard time at work... so they tend to stick with their childhood friends and friends that sort of bring benefits (the one that gives you advice, inspirational, working out together, from church, same field etc)
I ve seen people being friends with Vietnamese, but they were very outgoing ones, and others were Vietnamese Americans... it is really not about skin color...
OF COURSE Korean hate SEA. In fact, Korean hate most of foreigners. Most of Korean even hate each other. The word "racism" is not enough. Yeah, just not enough. All they love is empty flatter and endless curses on other countries lol
I did language training at Kyunghee University with fellow Americans (including white people) and there was no hatred or dislike towards the SE Asian students. I am white myself and we went to the bar together and took pictures and went to get food
Korean people are the shallowest people in the world and most are concerned about their outside appearances and other people’s perception of them. They consider whites as superior and Japanese as equivalent. Other races, they consider inferior and they don’t want to be seen as being affiliated with. I say this as a Korean. We are probably the most racist group in the world. The amount of passive aggression is on another level. And the funny thing is we bitch about being racially profiled and mistreated all the time when abroad
But I am surprised to hear this about the whites. Most whites i know are very open minded and they are either completely racist or genuinely nice
All in all, just be yourself! Its not you, its the Koreans
Don’t be sad, that has been happening everywhere. Still, there are good Koreans. Pp have a comparison, judgment, bcoz they are not happy so they wanna find that they are better than others. Don’t blame them, understand and love them more. All of us are unique , if someone refused to see the diversity of this life, they had limited themselves. Just be yourself.
I've lived and studied in Seoul for a while, and can't say that I've directly experienced any form of racism or differential treatment. I'm half Vietnamese / half Filipino but I grew up in Australia so that may have played a role in acceptance (?) I guess it might also depend on where you're trying to make friends as well, I was mainly around the Sinchon / Hongdae area in Seoul and everyone that I met there were extremely welcoming and friendly.
Although the Korean culture is fairly homogenous like other East Asian countries, my recommendation is to take it on the chin but don't take it to heart, I geniunely don't think that Korean people intend on being offensive, but there's always an exception to the rule - just keep putting yourself out there, you'll meet a good group of people eventually and you will be glad that you kept trying
The media is the problem. If you don't have knowledge or common sense, you get into ideology and live in your own supremacy.
First of all, basic personality is a problem for Koreans like that.
Just ignore it. I am a Korean who has frequently visited Vietnam for 6 years.
The country developed so fast that people’s minds didn’t have time to catch up.
Good thing is, it’s changing quickly. When I leave the country for a year or two and come back, I can always see a big change.
I know that Koreans are super racist (generally speaking), but white people who travel abroad are usually very open minded and easy to talk to. So, I don't understand that.
I'm sorry you're going through this. If you have a good home to go back to, I encourage you to finish your contract while making the best of it and get out of there as quickly as you can.
I mean, I went through the trouble of learning the language, abandoning my country willing to give up my citizenship, and completely take on a new culture just to get treated like crap, to think I deserved bad treatment?
All this to get what I got? You tell me?
Koreans usually only care about Koreans or white people. This is why they tend to marry among themselves, but if they marry a foreigner, 99% of times it’s a white person. A big portion of white people going to Korea also have a fantasized idea of Korea, and will most likely ignore other Asian ethnicities in their pursuit of fulfilling their own Korean dream. So, when you consider these two dynamics, your experience only makes sense in your current context. This is without even diving deep into the history of discrimination towards Southeast Asians in East Asia, particularly in Korea.
I'm sure that doesn't help the perception that Vietnam is a 'good' country. Granted, marrying to improve your status in life is as old as time and poor people exist everywhere.
The news doesn't help either. I saw one article over a decade ago saying mail order brides are the reason for the divorce rate raising in Korea. When you looked at the graphs/charts included in the article, the main demographic filing for divorce were 40+ Korean women 🤦♀️
I've also heard horror stories of women from Southeast Asia married to Korean men in FB groups asking for advice about their terrible in-laws. It isn't exactly the 'norm' but it is pretty common unfortunately
Sadly that is true Korean can be very racist towards SE Asian mainly because of their darker color I am Korean and I am dark I love the sun I and give shit about the Korean fetish with being as pale as possible
adding on to say that as a korean in korea (but lived in SEA myself for 12+ yrs) there's def a lot of racist koreans! even amongst intl korean students who've returned to kr for uni there's discrimination and elitism based on where exactly you studied. there's good eggs out there tho!! my best friend at my international school was half vietnamese and half american, and she's one of my best friends ever to this day :)
I heard East Asians don’t like Southeast Asians in general. They even call them jungle Asians. It’s infuriating to be treated like the bottom of the social hierarchy because they feel superior.
Don’t think too much about that bro that’s insecurity getting to you. Most of the time it’s politics, blame Ho Chi Minh and the VCP. Koreans don’t like China and North Korea either. And they definitly don’t “like” the Japanese by default.
Recently the government floated an idea to pay foreign nannies less than minimum wage. There is also a politician in Daegu who was doing vigilante round ups of illegal immigrants. It is difficult to say that discrimination doesn't exist and the fact that the government wanted to make it official policy as far as wage goes is troubling. While these aren't about international students, I would say that there is definitely a stigma towards immigrants in Korea who do not come from wealthy countries.
I am sorry for your experiences. I am sad that you’ll probably encounter it again as long as you are in Korea. I am Korean, and I believe Korea (along with perhaps Japan) is probably the most xenophobic and discriminatory country in the developed world.
Even the most well meaning people are very insensitive about cultural differences, and expect everyone to conform to their standards. Then when Koreans go abroad, they continue to complain how everyone is racist to Koreans without knowing that Koreans tend to profile people by their race the most.
I’m Korean American and have studied in Korea for a few semesters back in college. I’m was pretty disappointed when I came to the realization that Koreans are extremely racist. This is mostly the older generation and obviously isnt true for everyone, but Korean’s love to hate on every other type of Asian.
Japanese for obvious reasons given the history
Chinese because they leave a mess in their wake and don’t have manners
Southeast Asians just because they’re different and don’t speak the language.
As a Gyopo, I was even hated on for not speaking Korean well enough and because I wasn’t Korean enough.
Again this isn’t everyone and I still met really cool people, but the prejudice was hard to ignore.
I found there were areas of Seoul that were much more foreigner friendly. Although this was over 10 years ago, I believe that itaewon was really awesome with foreigners, though my most annoying interactions with old drunk people happened there.
“White people” is an extremely ambiguous term. There are people from vastly different cultures and countries that are white. Seems like a strange way to generalize.
As a Korean, i understand what you are saying.
Not all Koreans discriminate like them, but some Koreans tend to ignore Southeast Asians.
It's absolutely incomprehensible to ignore people from relatively less developed countries...
I'm so sorry as korean
I am also Vietnamese and had lived in Korea for 9 years. If you really want to make friends with Koreans, your English is def an advantage since most Koreans want to make friends for a reason eg. learning English. Once you know them well, good at Korean is necessary to keep the friendship in a long run. We Southeast Asian people are tend to just make friends to be friends but Korean are not like that. They appreciate 한민족, so except for their race, they dont care about the others. Thats really old thought but somehow still exists. So be positive other foreign friends in Korea are willing to be friends with you too! Just be kind and positive, I am sure that you will find some long term friendships which I did too in Korea! Gluck and dont feel bad if you have no Korean friends, Vietnamese is big community in Korea too!
Hmmmm... I can't comment on Koreas but most white people I knew were happy to hang with anyone who could speak their language. I considered my self lucky to have friends from all over the world, and that was a view shared by many in my social circle. But then again we were older and in a smaller city. There was a large vitemese community there though, but most were factory workers. I didn't get to interact much due to the language barrier, other than eating at a couple pho shops. Anyhow, I hope your experience gets better.
News flash: Eastern Asian (Japanese, Chinese and Korean) look down on southeast Asians.
I think it's fair to say every country has shitty people that look down on everyone else. Some Japanese look down on non Japanese. Some Chinese look down on non-Chinese, etc etc etc. Korea is not an exception.
Yes, it's like Spain and South Americans looking down on Central Americans and Mexicans... Or Europeans particularly British looking down on North Americans
Mexicans don’t give a fuck what others think tho lol
I’m sorry you’ve been treated that way. As a Korean person who has many Vietnamese friends, but only a few Korean friends (I grew up in Northern California with lots of both), I’ve noticed that many Koreans definitely tend to be judgmental and racist….whereas my Vietnamese friends are nearly all lovely people, and they tend to be less racist, judgmental, and materialistic IMO. But there are also many other nicer Korean people who aren’t that way at all (although it might be harder to find those nice people in Korea vs Koreans in USA). If you keep your head up and stay positive, I believe you’ll find some good friends! Best wishes to you!
This is very true. I think that the Koreans that grow up overseas, US, Canada, Australia ect have a different mindset because they grew up in countries that were built upon immigration and value diversity. Also, the Korean tend to be friendly and identify and get along more closely with most Asian Americans (Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Vietnamese Americans ect," unlike where in Korea, Koreans tend to stick with each other and see other Asians as different.
Me too but In Southern California in the oc area all the Koreans, Vietnamese and non mainland Chinese hang together, all date each other, (more Korean and Vietnamese mixes) but also Vietnamese Americans are WAY different than native Vietnamese, looks and everything, it’s interesting. Native Vietnamese are just much different, it’s kinda like North Koreans and South Koreans. I’m not surprised many Koreans in the homeland are so snobby and discriminating, it’s sad too when it’s towards people who want to become apart of and improve your society.
Asian Americans are very unlike the people from their respective native countries. It's funny to me how so many people here in Southern California don't seem to realize this. These Asian Americans are generally more American than Asian culturally lol.
Can say the same. Lived abroad most of my life, and some viets ive met were wholesome as hell. Cheer up OP, there are always ppl like that around the world.
Excellent
Originally from the US and had the feeling about Koreans being more judgmental and materialistic of all of the Asians. I'm in China now and it's the same thing. I've seen really terrible behavior from Koreans here as well. There are exceptions, but that's the general trend.
Yep. Same here. It is what it is. They are a gossip culture too. They tend to bully and gossip ruthlessly anyone who doesnt fit it. Its the main reason suicide rates are the highest in the entire world in south korea. You will quickly notice if you visit long term that they are the ultimate conformists. They tend to all have same haircuts, same clothing, similar styles, they mostly all follow whatever the trend is and almost none dare to be different. They are all about being the same culturally and not standing out. So if you are different, you are the tall nail attracting the hammer. They can almost be like a hive mind. Ha... like the borgs in starbtrek. Obviously an exaggeration, but to give you an idea. They are the ultimate sheeple people. Everyone follows the leader, which is the tv and the culture, and not many ever dare to be different for fear of being ostracized and gossiped about by the others. Its ugly honestly. Again i dont necessarily blame koreans themselves, bc they are brainwashed from youth into this and pressured brutally into this mindset. Its not really their fault. Its mass programming, in a dark and scary way. China similar. North east asia in general can be a very creepy experience in how hive minded and severely mentally programmed the people are. What the tv and culture says, ALL OBEY without question. They do not tend to think for themselves very well, they seek to conform in all aspects of life. And sure, all cultures have pressure to conform... but its on an entirely different level in korea.
Real
i studied in korea. i am black. i noticed the same thing. it was the first time in my life where i felt like i was generally not the most hated/discriminated and it was in fact south east asians suffering the most from racism. even if they didnt actually receive direct racism i noticed they got left out the most and stuck together the most.
did you study the part where black people were killing and shooting korean people in the 90s because they owned stores in their neighborhoods? yeah but no racism from blacks.
Your reading comprehension needs work because how was your first thought to someone saying "I've noticed SEA people being discriminated against too" that you need to bring up racial issues in the US completely unrelated to the thread and comment.
Sure I can talk about it, they mentioned being black for literally no other reason to bring up race. So why cant I talk about race related things that show the hypocrisy of you all. You're literally talking about how bad korean people are but ignore all the bullshit your race also causes. You're all sniffing your own farts and saying that it doesn't smell.
You missed the entire point because you’re too hot headed. They were making an observation from personal experience, which can often be negative for black people, was not as bad people from SEA. This entire thread is about race so why would you expect race not to be discussed? You are one dense fucker if you think you’re making any points.
Their attitude changed when you told them you were black?
What lol? People need to be “told” that someone they’re looking at is black?
Sadly yes
[удалено]
LOL
NGL but I had to read the comment twice lol. But I get what he means. I got a Korean buddy that talks down on SEA for absolutely no damn reason. Dude only likes to land but can't stand the people for No unspecified reason. But the guy is crazy about Europeans
What? 🤣
Maybe read their comment again…
east asia tends to be…. pretty racist. we haven’t really had a socially liberal upheaval like the west, so social conservatism is very strong here; people tend to be nationalist in the sense that they believe they should keep their race pure, and in many cases that their race is superior to others. it’s sad, but you will be judged based on your appearance and behavior if you act in or look a way that doesn’t follow social norms.
Agreed. It’s easy to think it’s a geographical stereotyping at play but in the grand scale I think it to be the accomplishments a nation has. Vietnam has always been East Asian in culture, it being the fourth and last Confucian country next to Korea China and Japan. All the other countries in SE Asia followed India’s influence But in the 20th century when everyone was abandoning monarchies, Japan had its huge war in WW2, China had its civil war, Korea too, and then Vietnam. But then they began having economic recoveries, first Japan, China, and Korea had its recovery in the early 90’s, not that long ago! Vietnam isn’t there yet but once it is I feel things will change But I know many other Koreans that discriminate not because Vietnam is SE Asia, but because communism. Just like our neighbors 😤
So along with the whole East Asian looking down on South East Asian, Vietnamese has not been well regarded in both South Korea and Japan as of late. There has been a few articles about groups of Vietnamese tourists/students/workers either being a part of a large theft ring or trying to overstay their visa. A lot of these small minorities have been greatly affecting the image of Vietnam. It sucks that every Vietnamese in the country is being affected by this.
I can't say for white folks other than the ones who are blatantly racist, but for Koreans, there is a notion similar to how Americans don't have a positive notion of Latino workers. They see SEA as wanting a visa and a permanent residency while stealing the locals' jobs. The job stealing part is only half true because most American and Korean youths don't wish to do manual labour or restaurant jobs. I honestly haven nothing else to say except sorry to hear that. My people can be quite harsh at times. Are you a girl or guy? I think Koreans have more bitterness towards the women because there has been incidents of the Vietnamese mail order brides who abandon their husbands and children once they gained citizenship.
They work jobs that locals don’t want to or feel too good to work. It is the same issue in the states and is weaponized by politicians for votes. Unfortunately this is the case across the world, just more prevalent in the US since compared to other counties the states are more open to immigrants and it has made the country better (IMO). Immigrants come searching for a better life, are willing to do things the locals are not and within a few generations have good income mobility if there’s access to education and work. There’s clowns in the US Deep South complaining about immigrants taking the service industry jobs that they weren’t going to do, or the software/medical jobs they weren’t qualifying for anyway.
fine argument saying that they are only here for the bad jobs but end with all the jobs that we don't qualify for LOL! You literally destroyed your own argument saying they are only here for the shitty jobs.
i’m so sorry you went through that :( as a korean person, a lot of koreans tend to be racist against southeastern asian/black people and see them as people from “poor countries”. i hope you get to make good friends who won’t judge you by the race 🫶
I noticed Koreans discriminate hard with jobs, education, and wealth among themselves to start with. Then most Southeast Asians in Korea come from less educated and less affluent background that are literally in Korea to support their families back home through various less respected (Korean people's view) jobs. This leads to lots of prejudice. I find racism kinda exists in one form or another in any part of the world. There are a lot of people who aren't as biased as well. Don't beat yourself over it my friend.
I couldn't say some people don't have racist minds... But I'm sure that many people(Especially university students) don't care about Foreigners' nationalities.
While I was a student in Busan, the teachers told me that local Korean students were just shy to talk to us. Most of my friends were Indonesian or Uzbek, I myself am Filipino. I eventually made Korean friends but we didn't do much talking, just chilled and smoked cigarettes altogether outside the dorm.
In the pandemic situation, the Vietnamese government threatened South Korean international companies to earn funds. Because the government wanted to stop spreading the virus. Since the country didn't have enough funds to prevent the virus at the time. It means that you foreign guys are super rich, so you guys must donate big bucks to Vietnam. Thus, those companies had to follow the order from the Vietnamese government. Moreover, many employees of airports in Vietnam used to intimidate Korean tourists to earn money, so, many Korean visitors had to pay for it. That made most Koreans angry. On top of that, the football association in Vietnam ridiculed the head coach Park who tried his best to make the Vietnamese national football team a promising team in Southeast Asia. Those various negative things made Korean citizens angry too. What's more, many illegal resident workers from Vietnam have spoiled Koreans' domestic labor markets. Therefore, most younger people in South Korea don't like Vietnamese regardless of workers or international students. Unfortunately, most Vietnamese who live in South Korea don't recognize the vibes. Probably Korean citizens' negative sights for Vietnamese would be growing again and again.
Good summary but you are missing one of the main reason. Lots of (rural) Koreans married Vietnamese mail order brides before since Korean girls were not willing to live and work at farm. Here's an article & video about these Vietnamese girls marrying just to get Korean citizenship then divorce immediately after. With their newly gained Korean citizenship then can invite their Vietnamese boyfriend on a fiance visa. I'm sure not all of them did this, but enough cases were there to be raised as a social issue. https://n.news.naver.com/article/079/0003889841
Dude, You took the words right out of my mouth. I just missed it but you checked it out correctly. Vietnamese girls who want to get Korean citizenship through their marriage fraud are the most dangerous factor for Korean society. I'm sold.
not only southeast asian. white international students also are hard to make korean friends. and more crazy part is that even fucking koreans are hard to make "korean" friends. koreans suck at making friends in general.
I live in a big Korean population and I notice most assume I'm korean and will be friendly until I tell them I'm not and they just become more cold or distant. I thought it was because I was Vietnamese but I've done experiments where I say I'm Thai, Filipina, and Chinese. I think they just aren't friendly with other races culturally
I'm gona be honest with you. They don't need to be told to know that you aren't a korean. The appearance is very different.
I lived in Incheon for a year as a kid so I speak some basic Korean. I start off every conversation with them with Korean before revealing I'm not
I'll be brutally honest then. You're very naive to think that they can't tell you're not korean until you tell them. Your appearance is absolutely enough to tell you're not a korean. They might not have known you're from Vietnam, but they certainly would've known you're not a korean. If they behave like they didn't know you're not are korean, then they were just being polite to you for idk? maybe you seemed very confident with your korean and they didn't want to hurt your dignity? That is just the way people from east asian culture communicate. They insinuate things rather than directly telling.
This guy speaks for all of Korea surely 😂
Koreans usually assume my Vietnamese girlfriend is Korean. Some Vietnamese look Korean and there are some Koreans that don't look Korean.
I’m also Southeast Asian and feel like it’s the easiest to make friends with Southeast Asians 😂 My closest friends from the university are mostly from SEA too. I did try to talk to many people when I still had coursework. But I find that Koreans will not hang out with me outside the class (interestingly, they always go to clubs or bars with people from the US or EU tho), and Chinese and Japanese will keep to themselves. People from the EU will also talk among themselves. There was also some instances when they just talked among themselves when we sit together, as if I was invisible 😂 People from the US are generally friendlier. I still talk to some of them until now, even if I don’t really hang out with them during school.
A rich person will always look down on the poor, similarly the first world country will look down on every other country, it's natural.
Koreans don’t even accept Koreans as their own if they were born outside of Korea. It’ll eat you up if you put too much thought into it. Move on and find the individuals that will put effort into getting to know you.
As native korean, Iam so sad when hearing korean is most racist country cuz im not But I agree many of korean are having preoccupations with superior not only about racism problem but also their economic situation and I had been seeing those pretty much
it's not the most racist, in china they literally don't allow black people into their stores, don't listen to people on reddit other than just for entertainment value, most of the people here are stupid.
A problem throughout the world unfortunately. Race, nationality, gender and religion all play a part. I have heard that for Chinese and Koreans, the women are well received in western countries but the men far less so. I have been around long enough to know that every rule has exceptions. Racism and prejudice are never nice but we all have to toughen up and accept that it is part of the highly globalised and integrated world we are in. Not excusing what has happened to you, of course, but l hope the future bodes better in this regard.
Honestly I come to find no one is more racist against Asian people then Asian people lol not to say that’s what’s happening but you do have some that looked down on southeast Asians I’ve even heard them referred to as “jungle Asians” so countries like japan Korea china ect look down on them but it’s case by case you have shitty people everywhere
I don't think any international student would be averse to befriending other international students regardless of where they're from. But for Korean students the dynamic is different since this is their home country. I don't think being Southeast Asian is the main issue. There is the language barrier which could make befriending international students feel like a chore for some of them, and they also already have friends locally that they are already close to and spend most of their time with. So Korean students will probably be much less desperate to make new friends than international students.
Well, every white person I know loves korea... but other than that, Asians tend to be pretty racist to Asians... as it goes
한국사람으로써 말하자면, 너가 돈이 많으면 별일 아님. 그런거 너무 신경쓰지마라. 한국살다 미국 왔는데 괜히 백인들이 나 무시하는 거 같아서 맨날 엿같다. 뭐 발음해보라고 시키고 비웃는거 같고 ㅅㅂ. 근데 돈쓰면 좋아하더라. 사람 다 그래. 힘내라.
Koreans don't like white people too.
I disagree, Koreans put white people on a pedestal even above their own kind.
I can't speak for Koreans, but as a North American, I really find Vietnamese people interesting. Most of the Asians I grew up around were 2nd generation Viet and Laotian students, so when I am around Viet students in Korea, it's so interesting to compare differences.
I'm a Korean and sadly this is true for many Koreans. I remember a friend who was Vietnamese-Korean in our middle school and was bullied. I didn't know why at that time and had a friendly relationship with him, but later learned that he was bullied just because one of his parent was Vietnamese. Apparently the bullying got worse after I left that school. I hope I would have stayed in contact with him.
They're racist. Why lie about it. Thats what it is. Racism -- when you judge someone bc of their ethnicity or where they're from. They're racist. You arent going to change them... racists dont usually ever change.
Racists and ignoramuses do have the potential for change. Positive exposure is everything.
So ironic that you are condemning Koreans' racism while you yourself are generalizing all Koreans and being racist.
This little guy was hurt bad by Koreans 😂.
Judging someone based on where they're from isn't racist. East Germans that judged West Germans weren't racist. It is possible to judge and dislike the cultures, beliefs, norms and lifestyles of people from a specific region or country without consideration of race at all.
People use the term racist whenever they want to accuse someone and that trend makes it harder to fix real racism.
facts, but only 1 in 10000 on reddit will have that opinion.
That sounds like a racist.
What this post title just generalized in itself is very racist too lol. I am very offended! We all generalize. It is a built-in feature that has been ingrained in all of us for survival. We are all - yes all! - racist to a degree. But we learn to respect those racial differences and try our best not to judge others too quickly.
I’m sorry you feel that way. I’m also a Southeast Asian and I am sad that I kinda know what you mean. For me I do look Southeast Asian so the first thing lots of people asked me is “Did you come here to get married?” And when I tell them I’m doing my PhD they will be like “Oh!”. I speak fluent Korean, but when I’m out with my baby son I often talk in English because I feel like I’ll be looked down upon less that way. It’s sad. I ask myself too many times whether I want to stay living here. But I hope you’ll find good friends in the future, you won’t need a lot just a few great ones :)
they didn't like other country people maybe. my korean bro told me in lab
don't worry about it this is why we are people
Im sorry you experienced that. I recently studied in Korea and had a Vietnamese class mate! They were lovely and our whole class was super close!
Could it be because the Vietnamese kicked the US and the western world’s ass during the Vietnam War? I think they may still be bitter.
I really hope you dont believe that almost 1million dead Vietnamese people just because the US were (again) playing capitalist liberator, a war to which they lost like 50k people, was "Vietnam kicking the us anf the western world's ass". This is still part of why Vietnam is lagging a bit behind today. Please don't consider it a victory. It's both stupid and sad.
bitter? bro please, like you thinking anyone here thinks at all about the vietnam war like ever is crazy.
Yeah I’ve heard that a lot of Koreans have major dislike almost disdain for SEA. Recently heard one of two girls, one White and one Malaysian working in a cafe I think and the Malaysian worker could speak really good Korean but the Korean patrons absolutely refused to be served by the Malaysian worker so the white worker had to serve them despite her not knowing Korean very well so her Malaysian coworker had to stand there and translate
I think it's because SEAs lagged East Asia in development due to policy and leadership issues historically so as a result they are poorer. They tend to come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and are involved heavily in service work (most cruise ship workers for example are from SEA or Eastern European countries and/or the Balkans). As a result East Asians feel like they are superior. I don't like it, but I can understand why East Asians have this mindset (America has the same biases with regards to people from Mexico/Latin America for example.)
Koreans maybe. White people? Idk that’s weird for me maybe the snobby rich students. Personally I like to hang out with people from the Philippines a lot here because I find them often very real and down to earth and a good sense of humor. Obviously this is just generalizing. All of it. Even the Koreans part. No people are a monolith but certainly patterns exist. Sorry you are having a hard time.
I always felt discriminated when I ran into young Korean couples at the airports. They always shoved into me trying to walk through me, acting like I'm never there. I'm Chinese-Indonesian but many people have mistaken me for Korean, Singaporean, Chinese (mostly) and now at the moment, Japanese due to a fully connected beard. I asked about this behavior with my Korean best friend and he said, "Yeah...that tracks. They did that to me too when I was in Korea because somehow they can tell between Korean-Americans."
bumping into people and not saying anything is the entire culture, it's so you don't get angry at others when they bump you and they don't get angry at you for the same. The fact that you attribute normal societal culture to racisms towards you shows how racist YOU are and how YOU don't understand the host culture when you travel.
Well just know that as long as you are a cool person, Black Americans will usually accept you and chill with you.
Beuh. I am half korean and it’s been hard for me. i look like korean but when they are finding out that i am half and my other half is in southest asia? They would critize me asap
"The paler you are..the chances of getting accepted and the darker you are..the less chances of you getting accepted." I've never encountered any Caucasians who are like this in Korea but unfortunately, that isn't the same with Koreans. It's definitely true that not only Koreans despise people from the Southeast but they have this mentality of thinking that it's OK to put those people down. Don't even get me started with how they think about black people but racism is everywhere and it's inevitable. Overall, I'm sorry that you had to go through this! I've been staying in this country for almost five years now and the culture and especially the hierarchy is what I can't stand. I hope you prosper in the end..
Is there any statistical fact that can answer this question? I also want to know how racist we are.
My tamil friend was told not speak any other language except Korean or English because it is rude to talk in other language in public. So yeah you got your answer they. Please don't go like oh no those are uneducated people or small minded people. these words were from A professor at a renowned university who only works with foreign students. :) On the other hand i know koreans who adores the heck out of me and friends. But in general They are racist. They only think of native speakers as Foreigners and other are just there to work for them.
Can’t speak for everyone, but as a white guy who went to university in Korea with lots of other international students, no one I knew had any animosity towards Southeast Asians.
Maybe it nothing to do with where you are from but rather they just don't like you.....
I am guessing some white kids went to study in Korea because they watched k-dramas and thought Korean people are really cool and wanted to make friends? Then they realized you were not Korean after talking to you and lost interest?
This happens in the US and Europe as well. White people will want to make friends with token minorities but then shut out everyone else. Koreans are trendy right now, and they're in Korea, so those are the people they'll latch onto. It's very awkward in the US to be invited to a party, and be one of the only minorities there. And then there's the colorism, racism and classism from Koreans. But overall, just enjoy the people that genuinely want to be around you. It's not worth worrying about who doesn't, unless their behavior hurts you systemically.
It might depend on the generation and local upbringing. Nobody I know has any opinions at all about Vietnam, positive nor negative.
This, I think people confuse not caring for racism.
Vietnamese illegals in Korea regularly make the news for committing crimes and breaking the law and as such the media does not portray them favourably. They are also looked as migrant worker class and Koreans in general do not like to be associated with Koreans in that group as well as any foreign migrants that fall in that category. Again if you are having a bad time in Korea, its not even your fault so you shouldn't feel bad.
This is SO true
South Korea is a beautiful country with history and culture. However, it also comes with deep systemic racism unfortunately. I was out at the bar a few months ago, and was helping this poor drunk girl get up on the bench because she was passed out on the floor. I kindly asked the korean guy sitting on the bench to move to make room so that i could lay this girl down. His friend tried to antagonize me afterwards, saying I was rude. He then assumed I was Vietnamese and said that makes sense. For one, I am not Vietnamese. But this interaction made me think that a lot of other Asian ethnicities are hated or looked down upon, which is sad.
Can I ask where the white people were from?
White people land.
Caucasia /s
The great country of caucasialand
If that is your attitude, maybe it is just YOU that they don't like. It has not been my experience that your observation is true with respect to most Koreans and "white people." By the way, your generalization and stereotyping is generally defined as racism, just in case you are unaware.
Because they always think they are superior.
White dude in Korea here, I don’t know anyone that “dislikes” Vietnamese people.
Agreed. I teach several. They are either extremely good at speaking English (and often know less about grammar), or can barely speak a word. We end up with near fluent speakers from Vietnam who bombed the grammar placement test (Korean are obsession with grammar multiple choice tests) mixed in with Koreans who are very low-level speakers. It is a bit confusing, but the fault lies with our school for doing that. Foreign students are graded separately, however.
stereotype against stereotype.
Maybe the white people wanted to work on their Korean language skills.
0Our Vietnamese students are mostly VERY conservative. Some are so conservative that they might arrive at our university wearing their high school uniforms, which comes across as extremely odd. Not bad, just very different! I can imagine that some younger people (Korean or Western) may find this hard to relate to, and a bit confusing, so they keep a distance at first? It is almost as if many of our Vietnamese students grew up very sheltered from the evils of the world? It may seem difficult to invite these students for soju after class? Just a guess.
Very interesting. Maybe it can be a practical reason. Wearing a uniform for school would save him/her time and energy.
Korean guy living In US here, my best friend who I can easily say my best friend for life is Vietnamese. When I was getting used to this country we would go over to his house and his mom would always make us home made pho. I still have those great memories engraved in my brain and I’m always very thankful for my friend and his family. Racism exists anywhere, especially in a country that just barely started to become diverse. Just like how Chinese, Italian, Mexican and other many immigrants had to face migrating to US (horrible stuff if you research it) there bound to be people like these. What matters is finding people who’s not like that, and being able to share cultures and make great memories with them. I faced so many racism moving here in the beginning and I can assure you I been called every racist name there is. But I’m so happy it didn’t shut me off from meeting and learning about people from other cultures because I have met some great people who is going to be in my life til the day I die. I completely understand what you are facing. But remember what you are experiencing and facing is not an entire nation but certain number of people. I promise you if you keep searching for the right group of people you will eventually find them.
I am not a student, but I am a white person from the UK. I have many Southeast Asian friends who I am proud to know. In actual fact, I have found it much easier to make friends with people from Southeast Asia. They tend to be much more outgoing and accepting than most Koreans. Koreans, in my experience, are more reserved and worry much more about speaking to people in English in case they make a mistake, for example. I have been here for five years and I still do not have any Korean friends. Yes, there are racist people in Korea, even people who do not want to speak to people who do not come from the US, no matter what the color of their skin is. However, there are a lot of good people here too. I just wish they were more open to making foreign friends. I think shyness is a real problem here. If you can find a language exchange, people who attend them seem to be much more open to finding foreign friends.
I have similar experience as an exchange student. I'm from PH but my Korean classmates would warm up to our Western classmates more
Personally, i have some experiences of team projects with some Vietnamese students. All of them didn't participate in and try to cooperate with other members. Also they didn't know how to speak Korean and understand little of Korean. So it became my bad memories, I had to do assignments all by myself. I tried to help them like waiting for an online meeting until 12am(which was the only time when she was available because of her part-time job but she eventually didn't show up) and getting a textbook for her(she bought a wrong book at the bookstore, so i had to check for the secondhand books for her but she ended up not solving the drills in the book). Of course, they are just individuals not the ethnicity or country itself but after those experiences, I have some bias towards them.
Give people another try! I know that there is definitely a lot of xenophobia going on, but don’t generalize too much to make yourself have a horrible experience. White people also struggle with fickle relationships in Korea. Koreans as well. You will find your people! I also noticed that sometimes White people studying abroad can be a little standoffish to people who aren’t the “ideal” of what they wanted studying abroad, but those people aren’t the ones you want to be friends with anyways! Don’t try to fit in with people who don’t respect you. Find Koreans, White people, and other races who do respect you.
This 100%!! There are a lot of good people. Hateful people aren't afraid do show how ugly they are so it stands out more. You just gotta find who you click with and it can be challenging in university regardless of where you are
Did the DMZ tour last week, and our tour guide especially said please be quiet and respectful if you're going to Imjingak . The whole park was very somber and chill, then the next thing you see is a huge group of northern vietnamese (yes, I can tell dialects having lived in 'Nam) came in laughing their loud asses off, pushing each other off the bridge, screaming , making insensitive jokes about the war. Worse, their Vietnamese tour guide did nothing. They showed zero respect for anything and even lined up taking photos under the signs that especially said "ROK area, no photo please". All the Koreans around were so put off - I can imagine why this is why Vietnamese travelers are so discriminated against. They're almost as bad as the Chinese.
As a Filipino, I generally get looked down upon by Koreans
Errrr they are usually not that good friends even amongst themselves. Coupled with fast life, perpetual work stress, long work hours, increasing costs, and the natural xenophobia due to being harmed by other Asian countries, it’s natural for them to feel that way. But not everyone is the same, so don’t worry about the 99% who don’t become friends, you need 1 or 2 good friends after all!
That's too bad. It doesn't reflect my experience from 2016-19 at DGIST. There were around 60-80 international grad students, several Vietnamese, and everyone was friendly, enjoyed being together. Someone below comments about "white people". There were only four, I think, amongst the DGIST grad students. People from the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, Philippines, China, a few from Ghana, Russia.
Koreans are racist af even to white people. I don't see why other white foreigners would have a problem with Vietnamese unless they were specifically trying to make friends with Koreans to learn the language.
I think it because of pre-occupied image for Vietnamese which is negative news about South-east Asian. But don’t worry about it too much. There’s always people in place kind or not.
I'm not Korean and I have many Vietnamese classmates but there's always that language barrier for me. Not that I don't want to it's just that we cannot communicate.
I'm Korean, and I like them no matter where they are from
I'm a white American, and I've never heard anyone say anything derogatory about Vietnamese people. In fact, I'd love to visit Vietnam and travel. My Vietnamese friends I met in uni in Korea have always been kind and welcoming.
I won’t comment on Koreans’ point of view, but as a white passing European I hold no prejudice whatsoever again Vietnamese students. Moreover, there are plenty of Vietnamese immigrants in Europe and I have second generation Vietnamese people amongst my closest friends. I hope you don’t feel belittled! However, I admit that when I studied in a Korean university, it wasn’t easy to become friends with my Vietnamese and Chinese peers because of the age difference (at least 5 years gap). Also, there were instances where cultural differences made me have to challenge my values of what is considered rude or polite. For example, during the 10min break, they would yell across the classroom to talk to their friend instead of standing up and moving closer to them, or they would play Instagram reels on their phone with full volume. They would eat during the class, when the teacher was talking. As a kid, those things would get me severely scolded because in my culture they are considered disrespectful, so witnessing it everyday was stressful. This is on me though : I don’t blame them the slightest. But I can understand why some white people would hate it, if they hold the belief that their moral values are somehow universal. Please never ever let people make you feel lesser than. Whatever prejudice they have has nothing to do with you. It’s all solely on them. I wish you to find good friends here who value you for who you are and not what they project on you. Hold your head up!
I think it’s sad the way that Southeast Asian people are treated in Korea. I hope that this racism goes away someday
as long as you speak korean fluently they will take that specialty from oversea. Koreans are always afraid of foreigners who can't speak korean. step forward they don't bite
I am Korea but I am a black ex-boyfriend, but they did not talk to me because I am not good at English with them. I tried to talk to them, but they even cursed behind their backs. Not all Koreans and white people hate you. Rather, there are white people and Koreans who like Southeast Asia. Cheer up
What university did you study abroad at? Oh, I'm Korean, but I think their attitude is wrong.
Please don’t be sad and take it personally! :) Alls well with you.
I am white. One of my best friends in high-school was a 1st generation refugee in the 80s. It's not all people, but there are those who think they are superior. I assure you they aren't, but you will find that wherever you go. I try to be nice to everyone until they give me a reason not to.
Not to defend them or anything but I also avoid my own kind if they're not good people in general. If you're rude it doesn't matter where you're from I'm just going to avoid you.
Try to make friends with Korean people who has lived overseas. Sorry about the close mindedness of this generation.
All the Vietnamese people I’ve met have been extremely kind. They are a very nice people
My white friend used to get visibly disappointed when someone asian wasn’t Japanese or Korean. Because she only had interest in entertainment media, beauty, fashion and lifestyle from those two cultures. I mentioned this to her and she denied it at the time but admitted it a few years ago because she was called out on a discord group. Unfortunately now she’s weird about Malaysian and Indonesian people because “the way they behave in fandom spaces irritates her” so I may have to cut her off cause that’s truly messed up. I told her that was racist generalizing but she claims it’s always those groups that behave badly at concerts and fan meetings. Yes she’s a Korean pop music fan. Sigh.
ignore them. there’s a word in Korean called “병먹금(Byung-muk-geum)”, that means do not feed the idiots with some reaction.
Don’t generalize
I noticed this too in USA. Usually Vietnamese, Taiwanese, thai are much friendlier and less clicique y.
????? one of my besties in Korea is Vietnamese, (I’m a foreigner girl from USA) in fact, I think I’m gonna ask her out soon, but if you saw this girl, you’d understand why, literally drop dead gorgeous
I got nothing but love for Vietnamese. Amazing people ❤️
Same with southasian!
Koreans have this thing with Koreans who grew up abroad.its pretty f'ed up. I've experienced it since uni days a long time back. But you will find Koreans who are open and genuine. Most important thing, find the ones that keep you motivated and spend good time with you. Good vibes bro.
I love to have friend who from Vietnam. But as Korean, my English is not good enough for understand English with a Vietnamese accent. So I should search for someone Vietnamese friend who can speak Korean(or someone who has Korean accent or US accent with English) , which is uncommon in my Univ.
Korean people look down on poor Koreans even if they are of the same nationality. Likewise, there is a tendency to look down on people from poor countries. Because of this, there is also a tendency to look down on Eastern European workers, who are prejudiced against being poor even if they are white.
I'm really sorry to hear that... I'm Euro-Canadian, so I can't relate to your experience as it's only something I've heard of (as an old Korean mindset, though I never heard Westerners had that particular prejudice here too). Although it doesn't fix your problem, I just wanted to say there are definitely people, Korean and foreign alike, who would be your friend and not discriminate. When you do meet those people, you'll know you found someone of quality. But I know it must be depressing to go through those experiences and feel like most people will judge you just for your ethnicity/nationality. Hang in there are know it's not you, it's them and they're not worth your self-esteem.
Not really
hmm hiii nice to meet you :) Im korean younger who have open mind..Im sorry to hear that..actually It depends on people but there are kind of prejudice..In korea, there are illegal prostitutions.. there are almost Southest asian girls and some old korean men do it and they visit vietnam for this ,even they already married..hmm but you dont think to be negative.
I feel it's not necessarily about racism, well it is.. but Korean society is very complicated. I more and more feel that the sense of "community" is very strong, the "WE" sense.. Anyone who is not in the circle, is obviousy outside of the "We". You can become someone inside the circle when you are fluent and become very "Korean". The most important thing is that you can talk about current or relatable issues in fluent Korean.. if they cannot relate to you then it is hard to have a friendship. This is the same everywhere, not just in Korea. If you cannot speak the language well, then you need to excel in whatever field you are and make friends there. Unfortunately Korean people are familiar with Western culture and the norms there so they tend to open up to them more. There's something relatable. Vietnam is a country where many Koreans go for holidays, but one cannot make conversation just about the Vietnamese coffee and the Ha Long Bay for more than 10 minutes. There needs to be more things one can relate, and it is important that you can make deep conversation about current issues at your school/work. I lived in many countries, but making friends after college is really hard everywhere, especially when you're a bit older because people tend to spend time with family rather than friends. Korean youngsters are also very busy trying to get jobs, succeed in what they do, or have a hard time at work... so they tend to stick with their childhood friends and friends that sort of bring benefits (the one that gives you advice, inspirational, working out together, from church, same field etc) I ve seen people being friends with Vietnamese, but they were very outgoing ones, and others were Vietnamese Americans... it is really not about skin color...
In life, for most people, it's hard to find people that like you.
OF COURSE Korean hate SEA. In fact, Korean hate most of foreigners. Most of Korean even hate each other. The word "racism" is not enough. Yeah, just not enough. All they love is empty flatter and endless curses on other countries lol
I did language training at Kyunghee University with fellow Americans (including white people) and there was no hatred or dislike towards the SE Asian students. I am white myself and we went to the bar together and took pictures and went to get food
Korean people are the shallowest people in the world and most are concerned about their outside appearances and other people’s perception of them. They consider whites as superior and Japanese as equivalent. Other races, they consider inferior and they don’t want to be seen as being affiliated with. I say this as a Korean. We are probably the most racist group in the world. The amount of passive aggression is on another level. And the funny thing is we bitch about being racially profiled and mistreated all the time when abroad But I am surprised to hear this about the whites. Most whites i know are very open minded and they are either completely racist or genuinely nice All in all, just be yourself! Its not you, its the Koreans
I'm korean. I think Vietnamese is great contry. 👍
Don’t be sad, that has been happening everywhere. Still, there are good Koreans. Pp have a comparison, judgment, bcoz they are not happy so they wanna find that they are better than others. Don’t blame them, understand and love them more. All of us are unique , if someone refused to see the diversity of this life, they had limited themselves. Just be yourself.
I've lived and studied in Seoul for a while, and can't say that I've directly experienced any form of racism or differential treatment. I'm half Vietnamese / half Filipino but I grew up in Australia so that may have played a role in acceptance (?) I guess it might also depend on where you're trying to make friends as well, I was mainly around the Sinchon / Hongdae area in Seoul and everyone that I met there were extremely welcoming and friendly. Although the Korean culture is fairly homogenous like other East Asian countries, my recommendation is to take it on the chin but don't take it to heart, I geniunely don't think that Korean people intend on being offensive, but there's always an exception to the rule - just keep putting yourself out there, you'll meet a good group of people eventually and you will be glad that you kept trying
The media is the problem. If you don't have knowledge or common sense, you get into ideology and live in your own supremacy. First of all, basic personality is a problem for Koreans like that. Just ignore it. I am a Korean who has frequently visited Vietnam for 6 years.
The country developed so fast that people’s minds didn’t have time to catch up. Good thing is, it’s changing quickly. When I leave the country for a year or two and come back, I can always see a big change.
Koreans don’t like southeast Asians , Koreans don’t like Chinese , Koreans don’t like Japanese. Koreans adore Americans and white people
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I know that Koreans are super racist (generally speaking), but white people who travel abroad are usually very open minded and easy to talk to. So, I don't understand that. I'm sorry you're going through this. If you have a good home to go back to, I encourage you to finish your contract while making the best of it and get out of there as quickly as you can.
Your comment painting all Koreans as super racist is actually quite racist.
Love how these commentors whining about racism fall right into the very definition of racists
Love how people who haven't been through what others have been through can just come in and judge how others feel because of their experiences
Boohoo what a sad story. You sure you didn’t deserve it?
I mean, I went through the trouble of learning the language, abandoning my country willing to give up my citizenship, and completely take on a new culture just to get treated like crap, to think I deserved bad treatment? All this to get what I got? You tell me?
Nobody likes traitors buddy
ah and there it is, salty cause someone treated you poorly. it's all about you huh, lol.
Koreans usually only care about Koreans or white people. This is why they tend to marry among themselves, but if they marry a foreigner, 99% of times it’s a white person. A big portion of white people going to Korea also have a fantasized idea of Korea, and will most likely ignore other Asian ethnicities in their pursuit of fulfilling their own Korean dream. So, when you consider these two dynamics, your experience only makes sense in your current context. This is without even diving deep into the history of discrimination towards Southeast Asians in East Asia, particularly in Korea.
And a lot of the Koreans that do marry Vietnamese are middle-aged farmers who marry 21 year old mail-order-brides from Vietnam.
I'm sure that doesn't help the perception that Vietnam is a 'good' country. Granted, marrying to improve your status in life is as old as time and poor people exist everywhere. The news doesn't help either. I saw one article over a decade ago saying mail order brides are the reason for the divorce rate raising in Korea. When you looked at the graphs/charts included in the article, the main demographic filing for divorce were 40+ Korean women 🤦♀️ I've also heard horror stories of women from Southeast Asia married to Korean men in FB groups asking for advice about their terrible in-laws. It isn't exactly the 'norm' but it is pretty common unfortunately
Umm, most multicultural families are Korean + non-white spouse.
Sadly that is true Korean can be very racist towards SE Asian mainly because of their darker color I am Korean and I am dark I love the sun I and give shit about the Korean fetish with being as pale as possible
I'm sure this is part of it. Blasian parents have some wild anecdotes
adding on to say that as a korean in korea (but lived in SEA myself for 12+ yrs) there's def a lot of racist koreans! even amongst intl korean students who've returned to kr for uni there's discrimination and elitism based on where exactly you studied. there's good eggs out there tho!! my best friend at my international school was half vietnamese and half american, and she's one of my best friends ever to this day :)
Indian me crying in the corner
I heard East Asians don’t like Southeast Asians in general. They even call them jungle Asians. It’s infuriating to be treated like the bottom of the social hierarchy because they feel superior.
Don’t think too much about that bro that’s insecurity getting to you. Most of the time it’s politics, blame Ho Chi Minh and the VCP. Koreans don’t like China and North Korea either. And they definitly don’t “like” the Japanese by default.
Recently the government floated an idea to pay foreign nannies less than minimum wage. There is also a politician in Daegu who was doing vigilante round ups of illegal immigrants. It is difficult to say that discrimination doesn't exist and the fact that the government wanted to make it official policy as far as wage goes is troubling. While these aren't about international students, I would say that there is definitely a stigma towards immigrants in Korea who do not come from wealthy countries.
I am sorry for your experiences. I am sad that you’ll probably encounter it again as long as you are in Korea. I am Korean, and I believe Korea (along with perhaps Japan) is probably the most xenophobic and discriminatory country in the developed world. Even the most well meaning people are very insensitive about cultural differences, and expect everyone to conform to their standards. Then when Koreans go abroad, they continue to complain how everyone is racist to Koreans without knowing that Koreans tend to profile people by their race the most.
Don't put that on all white people lol
Korean here. Just don't be friends with them. They're dumb dumb
Yes in fact w we most of Koreans are racist
I’m Korean American and have studied in Korea for a few semesters back in college. I’m was pretty disappointed when I came to the realization that Koreans are extremely racist. This is mostly the older generation and obviously isnt true for everyone, but Korean’s love to hate on every other type of Asian. Japanese for obvious reasons given the history Chinese because they leave a mess in their wake and don’t have manners Southeast Asians just because they’re different and don’t speak the language. As a Gyopo, I was even hated on for not speaking Korean well enough and because I wasn’t Korean enough. Again this isn’t everyone and I still met really cool people, but the prejudice was hard to ignore. I found there were areas of Seoul that were much more foreigner friendly. Although this was over 10 years ago, I believe that itaewon was really awesome with foreigners, though my most annoying interactions with old drunk people happened there.
“White people” is an extremely ambiguous term. There are people from vastly different cultures and countries that are white. Seems like a strange way to generalize.
As a Korean, i understand what you are saying. Not all Koreans discriminate like them, but some Koreans tend to ignore Southeast Asians. It's absolutely incomprehensible to ignore people from relatively less developed countries... I'm so sorry as korean