Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
20 years ago, passports were issued only reluctantly, but trips abroad are no longer exclus-
ively the domain of the rich and connected. More South Koreans are coming into contact
with—and marrying—foreign nationals, challenging the country's heavily race-based iden-
tity. It's anybody's guess how these struggles will play out, but what does seem certain is
that South Korea is on its way to becoming a very different place.
Unfortunately, much of South Korea's contact with foreign nations has been of the negative
variety. Most of the peninsula's earliest exchanges were with neighboring China, which was
alternately a rival and a “big brother” of sorts to which Korea's rulers paid tribute in return
for China allowing their shifting territories to function quasi-independently. But not every
empire was so amenable; from the 13th to the 20th centuries Korea endured a nearly con-
stant barrage of attempted conquest, invaded and ruled on and off by the Mongols, Chinese,
and Japanese. A move by the battle-weary nation to close its borders to the outside world
in the early 19th century was repealed under pressure from trade-hungry Western powers.
Some of the Korean wariness of outsiders turned out to be justified; most of the world stood
by as Japan took over the peninsula in the early 20th century, and there was a similar lack of
protest when World War II ended and newly independent Korea was divided into what were
essentially U.S. and Russian client states. The Korean War of 1950-1953 involved massive
numbers of foreign troops on both sides, and a significant U.S. military presence remains
in South Korea to this day, proof to some of the two nations' stalwart alliance but a major
source of resentment to others.
Since so much of South Korea's foreign relations have been characterized by strife, be-
trayal, and bloodshed, it is perhaps understandable that views on foreigners are somewhat
mixed. On the one hand, South Koreans are immensely curious about other countries and
highly appreciative—envious, even—of their assets and achievements. They desperately
want foreigners to have a positive impression of their nation and are deeply concerned
about the way the country is portrayed to the outside world. The result, desirable or not, is
that expatriates tend to come in for plenty of special treatment. Nearly every foreign res-
ident will have a story or two to tell about being offered assistance when they looked lost,
strangers pressing umbrellas into their hands when they were stuck in the rain without one,
or restaurant servers bringing them free extras. Any foreign resident showing a genuine in-
terest in the country—by learning a few Korean phrases, for example, or enjoying the loc-
al cuisine—will find no shortage of delighted would-be guides, friends, or teachers. The
former “Hermit Kingdom” also seems to have both feet squarely in the globalization camp:
