By Park Sang-woo
Nowadays interracial marriages are not uncommon in Korea though many Koreans still think they are ethnically homogenous people.
Interracial marriages are usually arranged with people from poorer countries. Because of this, some Koreans tend to look down upon them. This, however, is not good for Korea in the age of globalization. Interracial marriages have a lot of benefits.
Eight years ago, my brother went to India to study. Five years later he brought his girlfriend to Korea and they are planning to get married.
Because of this, my brother often makes me call her. I learn not only English but also Hindi by calling her. She also learns Korean by calling me.
In the beginning, I was concerned about communication between my brother and his girlfriend, but it turned out to be no problem because they communicate in English or Chinese. I can use English and Hindi when talking to them, so interracial marriages can help you learn other languages.
Secondly, I have learned not only Hindi but also the Indian culture while talking with my brother and his girlfriend.
I could understand many things about India directly from them. For example I learned about eating food with the right hand, solving toilet business with the left hand, and that there are many animals on the road and many kinds of curries.
Five years ago, I had a chance to visit India for volunteer work. Although I went there with other people, I was probably one of the only people who accepted Indian culture quickly.
While many people had a difficult time eating food with their hands and work, I knew how to live there thanks to advice from my brother’s girlfriend’s advice. Also due to this experience, I could broaden my views about the world and understand other countries well. As we approach the global age, experiences that supply you with world knowledge are important and marriages with those from other countries can help promote this.
Thirdly, many people talk about children after interracial marriage. In Korea, many people say that a multicultural family’s children will have difficulty, but I disagree.
Recently I have worked as an assistant in the Global Multicultural Bridge Program supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. So I taught and played with about 30 multicultural children.
At first I thought that many multicultural children had difficulty living in Korea but many of them were exuberant, self-confident and very creative.
One of them came from a multicultural family where the mother was Chinese and the father was Korean. The kid had a good command of Korean and Chinese and got along with many friends. But he was not the only one. Many children from different cultures, like Japanese and Korean, become friends with each other.
I realized that a child with a multicultural background could learn about both cultures and languages from their parents and it would be advantageous for the child.
When my brother said he will marry an Indian girl, someone said to him, “You’re going to marry an Indian girl not a Korean girl?” But my brother answered, “Why should I care about her nationality? I don’t think nationalities hinder the love between a man and a woman. There aren’t many problems and interracial marriages have a lot of benefits.”
If you marry with a person from another country, you can learn a lot of things such as the language, and understanding about his or her culture. Interracial marriages will bring benefits many ways. If you look down on interracial marriages, then you must change your thinking.
Park Sang-woo is a junior at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).