In-between the National and the Foreigner: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the “half-bloods” in South Korean Newspaper Hyun Jun Kim International Migration and Ethnic Relations Bachelor Thesis 15 credits Spring 2020: IM245L Supervisor: Sayaka Osanami Törngren Word Count: 11374 Hyun Jun Kim 950510-6634 IMER: Bachelor Thesis Abstract This paper seeks to examine how South Korean news media portrayed mixed-race South Koreans in Korean society by analysing articles from the newspapers Dong-A Ilbo and Kyunghyang Shinmun. The paper explores the process of formation of discourse on mixed- race people in South Korea, and the contextual background that relates to it by analysing newspaper articles from 1950 to 2019 through critical discourse analysis. The research is conducted within the theoretical frames of the concept of ‘othering’ and critica l discourse analysis of the newspapers. The results of the study show that mixed-race people in South Korea are characterised as an unwanted nuisance, as outsider ‘others’ as opposed to Korean ‘us’, and as a victim with reflective views in the newspaper portrayals. Furthermore, the paper highlights that such portrayals of mixed race are based on ethnic nationalism and patriarchal ideas that influenced the discourse around them in South Korea. Keywords: Mixed-race, Korea, South Korea, Critical discourse analysis, Othering, Pure- bloodism 2 Hyun Jun Kim 950510-6634 IMER: Bachelor Thesis Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................4 1.1 Introduction to the Topic ...................................................................................................4 1.2 Research Problem ..............................................................................................................4 1.3 Aim and Research Q uestions.............................................................................................6 1.4 Terminology ......................................................................................................................6 1.5 Korean Context..................................................................................................................7 2 Literature Review...................................................................................................................9 2.1 Previous Research Regarding the mixed-race in Korea....................................................9 2.2 Discourse Analysis around the Newspapers ...................................................................10 3 Theoretical Fra me wo rk .......................................................................................................12 3.1 Critical Discourse Analysis .............................................................................................12 3.2 ‘Stereotyping & Othering’...............................................................................................14 4 Research Method and Data Collection...............................................................................16 5 Analysis .................................................................................................................................18 5.1 How did Korean society look at the mixed-race? ...........................................................18 5.1.1 The Mixed Race as a Nsuisance ...............................................................................18 5.1.2 As ‘the Other’, Foreigners ........................................................................................22 5.1.3 As Sympathised Victims ...........................................................................................25 5.2 What kind of ideas in Korean society affected the discourse on mixed blood? ..............27 5.2.1 ‘Us’ and ‘Others’, Pure-bloodism..............................................................................27 5.2.2 Jus sanguinis to paternal line.....................................................................................29 6 Concluding Re ma rks ............................................................................................................31 6.1 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................31 6.2 Further Reseaech .............................................................................................................32 References ................................................................................................................................34 News Paper Articles ................................................................................................................36 3 Hyun Jun Kim 950510-6634 IMER: Bachelor Thesis 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction to the Topic As international migration became commonplace and transnational activities became active throughout South Korea (hereafter Korea), the Korean society has transformed into a multicultural society where people with various races, cultures, and religio ns co-exist. Accordingly, the number of foreign residents has drastically increased from 65,673 in 1992 to 2,367,607 in 2018, which amount to around 4.6% of the population in Korea in 2018 (Ministry of Justice, 2018). The increased ethnic diversity brought about the birth of increased people of mixed background including people of mixed race. People of mixed race in the Korean society increasingly became acknowledged since Hines Ward, a mixed black American and Korean football player, has achieved fame in American football (Ahn, 2015). Korean nationalism tends to emphasise its ethnic nature and beings of mixed race are somewhat tricky in that they are in between the Korean and outsider. The mixed-race in Korea has gone through discrimination due to the ambiguity of their belonging (Lee, 2017; Kim, 2014). The discrimination towards the mixed race is often based on the idea of pure- bloodism, which forms the Korean identity among the people. The special situation of mixed race can be found and explored in light of the way Korean newspapers portrayed them. Therefore, it would be of value to carry out a critical discourse analysis of mixed persons in Korean to understand how news media shape public views and construct the society in the minds of Korean people. 1.2 Research Problem In the traditional socio-cultural framework of a single nation, mixed-race people are placed in boundaries between Korean and foreigners distinct from the majority of Korean society (Lee, 2017, p. 535). In the socio-cultural context with bloodline centred society in Korea, mixed- race tend to be objectified into the role of ‘the other’, and often marginalised in school life, family formation, employment and social relations often based on a different appearance in the society (ibid). In terms of the Korean notion of an ethnically homogeneous society, “mixed blood” belongs to the ‘new third category’ as a person born between Korean and 4 Hyun Jun Kim 950510-6634 IMER: Bachelor Thesis other ethnic groups. This group of people of mixed race is not only a political and economic minority but also a cultural minority that is discriminated in the cultural structure of the Korean nation-centred society and has no conditions to express themselves through the official channels of society (Oh, 2009, p. 219). Especially, in contrast to the growing scholarship on mixed-race studies in the United States or Europe, few studies examine mixed- race figures in East Asia because race has only recently become an analytic framework to navigate social changes in the region (ibid). Particularly South Korea has been historically considered as racially homogenous and mixed-race figures have been underrepresented in media and faced social discrimination due to their racial ‘impurity’ (M. Lee, 2008; Lim, 2010; Ahn, 2015). In Soen, Shechory and David (2012), Louis Wirth defines a minority group as “a group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.” (Soen, et al., 2012). Sociologists typify minority groups by four characteristics: first, suffering discrimination, exclusion, subordination; second, cultural and/or physical traits that single them out and which are disapproved by the majority group; third, a shared sense of collective identity and common sorrows; and fourth, socially shared rules as to who belongs and who does not belong (Ibid). In terms of those characteristics, mixed-race Koreans can be categorised as a minority group as they correspond to three conditions except for the collective consciousness (Baek, 2006, p. 4). In the US and Britis h media, minor ity groups and ethnic groups are often excluded from the news. When reporting, the media tend to highlight negative sides of mixed race to form social prejudice, and frame the whole group with negative images to distort them (Hall, et al., 2013). Similarly, in the case of Korean media, foreign women from international marriages, and their mixed-race children tend to be portrayed with negative and undeveloped images rather than positive and developmenta l images (Baek, 2006, p. 8). The human rights of ‘ethnically different’ foreign workers are not considered but they are sensationally reported for the sake of arousing the interest (Jung & Lee, 2007, p. 52). In other words, the socially underprivileged