Essay#1

Hye Jeong Han

Prof. Kyle Brebner

IERW(04)                                                                                                      

11 November 2015

What If Syrian Refugees Move To Korea

Some Syrians protested against the government because they wanted their country to become democratic and demanded power change. But the dictatorship in that country has lasted for second generation. After all, antigovernment protestors rose against the dictatorship. At that time, the Russian government, which had helped to provide the Syria soldiers to arm with modern weapons, finally was required to intervene between the Syria government and antigovernment protestors and bombed the central part of the city in Syria. The civil wars destroyed the nation. Many Syrians are leaving their home and becoming refugees because they want to live somewhat safety places. The refugee movement becomes the conversation topic all around the world and there is a large range of opinion on this issue in Korea. In my opinion, Korean government should not welcome the Syrian refugees to settle in Korea due to the public emotion, prejudice and situation in Korea.

First of all, the Korean government cannot help considering the public emotion that the Korean people mostly have passive attitudes toward new ethnic group. Many Koreans prefer conservatism about politics and religion and believed that Korea was a homogeneous nation because Korea was geographically on a peninsula surrounded by three powerful nations: China, Japan and Russia, consequently, the Korean people had to get together in order to guard their country without accepting new ethnic groups. For this reason, the Korean government has to consider the public emotion that the Korean people don’t want to accept various groups.

             Additionally, the religions of Syria are Muslim(70%) but many Koreans have a prejudice about Muslim countries and culture. They have fear and horror by the influence of the 911 Attacks that the Muslim people happened. In addition to the public emotion that the Korean people mostly have passive attitudes toward new ethnic group, the Korean prejudice would make bad awareness of the Syrian refugees. But the Korean people need to be more broadminded about their acceptance because the world is turning into a multicultural society.

             Lastly, the Korean government should take diplomatic challenges into consideration. South and North Korea are in a state of truce. Accepting Syrian refugees can produce paradoxical results because it means that the country under war accepts other country’s refugees, consequently, the North Korean government may think accepting other country’s refugees is the South’s provocative actions against the North.

             To sum up, the Korean government should not welcome Syrian refugees. There are many considerations that the Korean government must think. Firstly, the Korean people have the passive attitudes toward new ethnic people. In addition, the Korean people judge by their prevailing prejudice toward Muslim. Lastly, the Korean government should consider the relationship between North Korean and South Korea because two countries are in a state of truce. I think, rather than accepting the Syrian refugees, the Korean government would give the international support like distributing relief supplies or sending abroad international volunteers to help them. I also consider this issue will continue to be discussed and debated to solve it.

References :
1. The relationship between Syria and Russia
http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=2087131&cid=48613&categoryId=48613

2. Syria's religion distribution
http://www.mofa.go.kr/countries/middleeast/countries/20110810/1_23078.jsp?menu=m_40_60_20