World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples

• Environment
• Peoples
• History
• Governance
• Current state of minorities and indigenous peoples

Environment

The Republic of Korea (South Korea) is an East Asian state at the end of a peninsula which juts out into the Sea of Japan on the north-eastern edge of China. Directly east of it, across the Korea Strait, lies Japan. Its northern border is shared with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and both were until 1945 part of Korea, a country occupied by the Japanese after 1910. The peninsula's location away from the ancient migration routes of early populations may explain the country's particularly homogenous ethnic makeup.

Peoples

Main languages: Korean

Main religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Wonbuddhism, Chondogyo, Islam

Minority groups include Chinese and religious minorities.

Like its northern neighbour, the Republic of Korea with a population of about 49 million (Source: CIA World Factbook, 2007 estimate) is a very homogeneous country in linguistic and ethnic terms: other than recent migrant groups, there is only one small Chinese minority of perhaps as few as 20,000 people (Source: CIA World Factbook, 2007 estimate). Also like North Korea, religious minorities are quite significant: official statistics of 2005 indicate that 46.5 per cent of the population have no religious preference. The largest religious minority according to these figures are Christians (about 13.7 million), Buddhists (10.7 million), followed by Chondogyo, Wonbuddhism and Islam. The Chinese minority, previously concentrated mainly in the country's largest cities such as Incheon, has increasingly tended to be concentrated in the capital, Seoul. In recent years the longer established Chinese minority has also seen the arrival of migrant workers of Chinese background from other Asian countries.

Mention should also be made of the very large numbers of foreigners from other parts of Asia and the world (perhaps around 1 million, including Chinese migrant workers), with about half of them being migrant workers of which perhaps 200,000 are undocumented migrants who face particularly serious human rights problems.

History

The history of South Korea and its treatment of minorities, especially religious minorities, is also the story of North Korea - until at least the two were separated at the end of the Second World War. As with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Buddhism's minority status, for example, due partially to nearly 500 years of attempts to remove Buddhist influences and promote Confucianist ideals during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) until the occupation of Korea by Japan in 1910.

Christianity made slow inroads initially but was to become the largest religious grouping, though still a minority in the country: the first Roman Catholic missionary only arrived in Korea in 1785 and for almost 100 years the Joseon rulers mainly tried to restrain or even prohibit the activities of Christian minorities. This changed after 1881, when Korea opened up to Western countries and Protestant and others missionaries began to actively proselytise and open schools, hospitals and orphanages. Protestants were particularly present in opposing the Japanese occupation, which may explain some of their growth in the country. Immediately before the start of the Japanese occupation Christian minorities were particularly successful in the northern part of Korea. This changed at the end of World War II as many, if not most of these Christians fled into South Korea.

The beginning of the 20^th Century saw a number of religious sects began to form in Korea, one of which was to subsequently become quite widespread. Chondogyo is a syncretic Korean religious movement with roots in peasant uprisings of the previous century which was able to grow substantially in part as a native Korean response to the Japanese occupation, and its followers remain a significant minority in the country. Wonbuddhism also appeared at the start of that century. Combining elements of Mahayana and Zen Buddhism, Christianity and Neo-Confucianism, it gained over 1.2 million followers in South Korea between 1916, the year it was founded, and 2005.

The cold war division of Korea after World War II led to the creation of the Republic of Korea in 1948. The cold war also impacted directly on the Chinese minority, since during the rule of President Park Chung Hee between 1961 and 1979, they had restrictions on the businesses they could carry out and the ownership of land. As a result, perhaps 10,000 Chinese emigrated to the United States, Taiwan and other countries between 1972 and 1992.

Throughout the 1950s, South Korea was supported by the US and other Western powers, permitting it to survive the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's attempt to invade it. South Korea was hardly a democracy, and human rights were often set aside during the first decades of its history, as initially its first president and then military leaders who took over after military coups meant that state authorities in the country ruled autocratically, sometimes brutally using the pretext of the fight against communism. There was some relaxation after a military coup in 1961 and the leadership of General Park, though he increased his powers with constitutional changes in 1972. Following his assassination in 1979 and student demonstrations in 1980 which saw the army kill at least 200 demonstrators in Gwangju, further regime changes followed which were to eventually see South Korea move towards a fully operating democracy, though there were to be seven more years of dictatorship under General Chun Doo-hwan who seized power in 1980.

Huge economic development in the 1980s saw South Korea emerge as one of the world's strong economies. During the same period, there was growing pressure for political change and respect for human rights initiated to a degree by the revulsion felt by many at the actions of the government during the Gwangju massacre. Further unrest in 1987 and international pressure which built up to the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul all appear to have contributed to the adoption of a new, more liberal constitution, eventually allowing for the direct elections of the country's president.

The last two decades of South Korea's history saw it evolve from a country dominated by autocratic regimes to a one which would have free elections 1992 which saw the election as president of Kim Young-sam, into power, followed in 1997 by the election of an opposition politician, human rights activist and subsequent Nobel peace prize laureate, Kim Dae-jung. In addition to constitutional amendments and legislative changes which strengthened human rights protections during this period, a National Human Rights Commission was established in 2001. Draconian national security legislation which forbids any praise for the regime in North Korea remains however in effect, with one academic being charged and convicted in 2005 for questioning the legitimacy of South Korea.

Governance

The legal context for minorities in South Korea has improved greatly as South Korea has moved towards greater incorporation and implementation of human rights guarantees as it became increasingly democratic. Ratification of a number of human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights after 1990 - which are directly applicable in its courts under Korean law - and the monitoring system to which it has subjected has brought about a series of improvements over the last decade. In a general sense, South Korea's human rights record has become increasingly good.

For most religious minorities - except perhaps for small sects - this has meant no significant areas of limitations of their rights nor any widespread situations of discrimination. In addition to creating in 2001 a National Human Rights Commission, initiatives has been put in place to promote non-discrimination regarding women, including the establishment of the Ministry of Gender Equality.

Newer arrivals such as migrant workers tend to have less legal protections than citizens because of their status. As in Japan, discrimination against non-Koreans by private employers is less well protected under the current legal system, with disputes over non-payment of wages involves migrant workers commonplace.

Current state of minorities and indigenous peoples

While constitutional, legislation and other human rights guarantees in South Korea now signify that most religious and other minorities are today generally well protected, migrants, some small newer religious groups and even the Chinese minority in the country still have some areas of concern.

One notable problem involves the issue of military service for members of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious minority in South Korea. Since legislation does not permit any exemption or alternative service for those who have a religious objection to serving in the country's armed forces, members of this minority were still being imprisoned for their refusal in 2005 and 2006. A number of district courts, prior to and during 2004, had acquitted conscientious objectors who were Jehovah's Witnesses of criminal charges over their refusal to serve in the military. In August 2004 however, the Constitutional Court handed down a judgment confirming the constitutionality of legislation mandating the imprisonment of conscientious objectors who are members of a religious minority. Other conscientious objectors belonging to religious minorities such as the Seventh Day Adventists and others also face similar problems.

Judges of the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court, as well as the National Human Rights Commission in 2005, have all urged the government to seek some form of alternative service for conscientious objectors. As of 15 December 2005, there were however 1,044 Jehovah's Witnesses in prison for not participating in military service.

According to government statistics the number of foreigners residing in South Korea for 90 days or longer exceeded 530,000 in 2006, accounting for 1.1 percent of the total population. Foreign workers numbered some 250,000 but the number could rise further when including undocumented migrant workers. Foreign businessmen, diplomats, students and their dependents number 190,000. In particular, the country is witnessing an influx of women from Southeast Asian countries who come to marry Korean farmers.

Some progress occurred for migrant workers in August 2004 with the entry into effect of the Employment Permit System Act. On the face of it, the legislation provides a first legal framework to control and monitor migrant workers, and some protection of basic rights. The legislation also would permit the immediate detention and deportation of undocumented workers who have stayed in South Korea for more than three years (migrant workers are only permitted to work in South Korea for a maximum of three years, and may only change their workplace three times, with the approval of authorities, for reasons such as the violation of their human rights). When a Migrant Workers Trade Union was formed on 24 April 2005, the response of the authorities was to crack down on the leaders of this and other migrant workers' rights organizations, with the president of the Migrant Workers Trade Union being arrested in May 2005 and detained by immigration authorities. Such crackdowns on the leadership of migrant workers groups continued until 2006. The Migrant Workers Trade Union was however legalized by the South Korean High Court in January 2007.

In an attempt to face up to its multiracial and multicultural mosaic the South Korean government pledged during the August 2007 meeting of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) to introduce a law to ban racial discrimination as soon as possible. The Committee welcomed the adoption, in May 2007, of both a National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and the Act on the Treatment of Foreigners in Korea.

The state of the Chinese minority, while much improved in general like most Koreans, is still subjected to discrimination in the areas of employment and citizenship. While the many of them have been born in South Korea, or are even the descendants of early settlers arriving in the country more than 100 years ago, they cannot be naturalised unless they prove their financial ability, have the endorsement of high-level South Korean officials and go through a complicated process.

In a March 2007 report the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants noted that organized migrant associations as well as womens organizations had in a large part through their negotiations with the authorities helped push through this important legislation. However the report also acknowledged that shortcomings in the implementation of the Act mean that migrant workers, especially women, remain vulnerable.

Under current labour laws migrant workers are only permitted to change their jobs with the permission of their employer; and work contracts have to be renewed each year, with a maximum stay of three years. According to a 2007 report by Amnesty International, many employers take advantage of these restrictions to exploit migrant workers - making them work long hours in poor conditions, withholding salaries and seizing passports and work permits, to prevent them from looking for jobs elsewhere.

In recent years there have also been a growing number of international marriages between Korean men and foreign women, mainly Vietnamese, Filipina and Chinese women who face serious problems of discrimination and often lack fluency in Korean. 

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