{"id":2199660,"date":"2022-12-07T10:41:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T10:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2199660"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:10:51","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:10:51","slug":"anti-china-xenophobia-drives-rok-proposal-to-restrict-foreigners-voting-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/12\/anti-china-xenophobia-drives-rok-proposal-to-restrict-foreigners-voting-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-China xenophobia spurs ROK proposal to restrict foreigners\u2019 voting rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Korea took a step toward stripping permanent residents of their voting rights this week, citing \u201csignificant\u201d public concern over outside political influence.<\/span><\/p>\n

People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, a close ally of President Yoon Suk-yeol, and 17 other party members proposed the Partial Amendment to the Public Office Election Bill<\/a>, which aims to make it more difficult for long-term Chinese nationals to vote in South Korean local elections.<\/p>\n

Permanent residents in the country are eligible to vote for mayors, governors and local council members after 36 months in-country. But Kweon\u2019s bill would increase this time to five years, and revoke altogether the right to cast a ballot for foreign nationals whose home country does not grant the same right to South Korean nationals with permanent residency.<\/p>\n

Justice minister Han Dong-hoon supports the measure, telling reporters on Tuesday that there is a lack of \u201c<\/span>reciprocity<\/span><\/a>\u201d for South Korean citizens living abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE DRAGON IN THE ROOM<\/b><\/p>\n

Kweon\u2019s bill is the latest manifestation of <\/span>anti-Chinese sentiment<\/span><\/a> in South Korea. Among the 127,600 foreign nationals who may vote in South Korea, some 100,000 of them are <\/span>Chinese citizens<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of foreign nationals staying in the country is increasing,\u201d the lawmakers who endorsed the bill said in a statement on Tuesday, \u201cand there is high concern that the opinions of our people would be distorted,\u201d without providing evidence. Kweon also claimed his bill would prevent foreign governments from exploiting South Korean elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are a few reasons that explain the <\/span>anti-Chinese sentiment<\/span><\/a> \u2014 already high in South Korea \u2014 expressed by the PPP and the public writ large. The first signs of possible clashes appeared when Korean and Chinese scholars <\/span>disagreed<\/span><\/a> over the cultural ancestry of the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo. There were also frivolous online arguments about the cultural ownership of <\/span>food<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>clothing<\/span><\/a>. However, relations between the two countries were not always bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

Relations between Seoul and Beijing were fairly positive as recently as 2015. In 2015, 61% of South Koreans had a <\/span>favorable view<\/span><\/a> of China. That was when then-South Korean President Park Geun-hye made the controversial <\/span>decision<\/span><\/a> to attend a massive military parade in Beijing that commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Korean public opinion about Xi and the Chinese government <\/span>began to fall<\/span><\/a> the following year after Beijing enacted economic sanctions against South Korean trade partners after Seoul agreed to host a U.S. missile defense system. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) was deployed to defend against North Korean missiles, but Beijing claims its powerful radar allows the U.S. to peer far into the Chinese mainland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The South Korean economy lost billions as a result of China\u2019s trade restrictions, and Seoul and Beijing have been mostly at odds since then.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

The Chinese Embassy in Seoul | Image: Chinese Embassy in Seoul via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0<\/a>)<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

GROWING ANIMOSITY<\/b><\/p>\n

South Korea and China have disagreed on more than they\u2019ve agreed since the THAAD dispute. President Yoon campaigned on anti-communist, strongly pro-U.S. rhetoric and policy positions, and voters appeared to be on board. Yoon has moved to steer the ROK <\/span>closer<\/span><\/a> toward the U.S. and has <\/span>foregone<\/span><\/a> strategic ambiguity to a large extent, framing South Korea as an essential stakeholder in the U.S. liberal order.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those state-to-state differences have also manifested themselves in people-to-people relations.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2021, Korean broadcaster SBS was forced to <\/span>cancel<\/span><\/a> one of its television series programs, \u201cJoseon Exorcist,\u201d after it was revealed the props used in the show were made in China. The show\u2019s story was based in medieval Korea and viewers were angry that apparently historically inaccurate replicas were used. Further, viewers were also outraged over the perceived servile demeanor the Korean king showed to a Chinese emissary in the show.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later that same year, online petitioners <\/span>demanded<\/span><\/a> that Gangwon Province scrap plans to build a Chinatown-themed tourist attraction due to concerns it would, apparently, provide a toehold for China to incorporate South Korea into its territory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chinese investors are also an easy and convenient target for politicians. Politicians frequently <\/span>point out<\/span><\/a> that foreign buyers, particularly wealthy Chinese buyers, purchase thousands of buildings and apartment units throughout South Korea. While this is true, these news stories tend to leave out the fact that domestic buyers far outnumber international buyers.<\/span><\/p>\n

With high property prices pushing many <\/span>out of the market<\/span><\/a>, frequent <\/span>insinuations<\/span><\/a> of Chinese speculators buying up swathes of in-demand South Korean real estate have built up resentment among a large number of South Koreans.<\/span><\/p>\n

POTENTIAL BLOWBACK<\/b><\/p>\n

The bill will have a difficult time passing in the National Assembly because of majority control by the Democratic Party. However, even if it does not pass, the bill can do significant damage. By othering Chinese nationals, the bill could exacerbate racism and hatred toward ethnic Chinese people living in South Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

South Korea also suffers from a declining population and it is in desperate need of immigrants, especially young educated professionals. The Yoon administration is <\/span>not unaware<\/span><\/a> of the country\u2019s needs, but appears to believe most long-term residents of the country should have less power to make their voices heard.<\/span><\/p>\n

Edited by Arius Derr<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Culture & Society<\/span><\/a>Inter-Korean & Foreign Relations<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Korea took a step toward stripping permanent residents of their voting rights this week, citing \u201csignificant\u201d public concern over outside political influence. People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, a close ally of President Yoon Suk-yeol, and 17 other party members proposed the Partial Amendment to the Public Office Election Bill, which aims to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7797,"featured_media":2199661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[25,28],"yoast_head":"\nAnti-China xenophobia spurs ROK proposal to restrict foreigners\u2019 voting rights - KOREA PRO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/12\/anti-china-xenophobia-drives-rok-proposal-to-restrict-foreigners-voting-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anti-China xenophobia spurs ROK proposal to restrict foreigners\u2019 voting rights - KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Korea took a step toward stripping permanent residents of their voting rights this week, citing \u201csignificant\u201d public concern over outside political influence. 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