Dr. Scott Shepherd is a British-American academic. He received his Ph.D. from the University of London on the text and performance of Hamlet, and has taught in universities in the U.K. and Korea.
Are mandatory coronavirus tests racist?
Migrant workers queue up for coronavirus testing at a makeshift clinic in Seoul, March 19. Britain's ambassador to Korea on Thursday criticized Korean health authorities for mandating coronavirus tests for all foreign workers in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi Province in a mass-testing campaign that has triggered complaints about racial discrimination. AP
By Scott Shepherd
By Scott Shepherd
A lot of anger has come about as a result of the recent announcements by the governments of Gyeonggi and Seoul that all foreign residents working in those regions must be tested for COVID-19.
There is obviously justification for the testing of workers in crowded workplaces where the virus can and does spread easily. Indeed, there have been a number of outbreaks in factories and crowded dormitories; testing workers there is of course a sensible policy.
That, however, is not what's being required. Plenty of people
the inconsistencies in the logic behind this mass-testing of foreigners, when the Koreans working side by side in the very same jobs have no obligation to get a swab up the nose. At the same time, there are plenty of foreigners working from home who have had little contact with the outside world for weeks or months.
Most disturbing of all is the fact that the Gyeonggi government ordered that employers must have foreign employees undergo
COVID-19 tests before being hired
while there are no such restrictions on hiring Korean workers for exactly the same positions. As a preventative measure it is inconsistent and simply stokes understandable anger and resentment.
Have no doubt: if any Western government suggested these kinds of measures, even the most popular leader would be immediately toppled among shouts of racism, bigotry and xenophobia.
Korea, of course, isn't a Western country, despite its development and wealth. As David Tizzard quite rightly wrote in his Korea Times column last week, “Korean racism must be understood differently from
.” The country has its own set of norms and traditions based on completely different axioms from the West. This is right and good; and, as I've written before, Korea has no obligation to become a multicultural nation on the model of Europe and North America.
But, as I've argued, it does need to protect those living here, and it does need to treat them fairly. And credit is surely due to President Moon and his administration for making a number of steps in the right direction. With recent revisions concerning
and
the number of workers staying in dormitories
, it is clear that Moon and his administration are making serious efforts to redress the problems faced by foreigners here. It was all the more surprising, therefore, to read that this testing decision was made not on the local level by the leaders of Seoul and Gyeonggi, but on advice from the central government.
The tests in and of themselves are unlikely to have much of a direct detrimental impact on the hundreds of thousands of foreigners living in Korea ― aside, of course, from the deeply unpleasant experience of having a giant swab thrust far up the nose and down the back of the throat.
But that is only temporary, if rather intense, discomfort. The problem is that this mandatory testing fiasco is a symptom of a wider disregard for minorities in Korea, a symbol of their disenfranchisement and neglect. In fact, Korean law may prohibit me from even writing this article, since it can be seen as a “political act,” prohibited by Article 17 of
.
I'm under no illusions, by the way, that I'm anywhere near the worst affected by discrimination. As a white professor working from home, I have a lot of privilege even as a minority. I'm in a very different situation from the workers who sleep cheek to jowl in packed dormitories, or from the Cambodian woman found dead this past winter who had been living in a greenhouse provided by her
employers as a pathetic excuse for housing
. The testing mandates pale in comparison to the discrimination that some here face daily.
As part of the bigger picture, these tests aren't a big deal. Ultimately, I'm happy to get tested as many times as necessary if that will help control the spread of COVID-19 in Korea. Well, maybe “happy” is pushing it; the bit up the nose really doesn't feel good. But I'm willing to do it, and I imagine that most of the foreign workers standing in lines across the region right now are willing to do their part too.
We can probably see the enforced testing in a positive light if we squint hard enough. At least it gives all foreigners the opportunity to find out if they are unknowingly carrying the virus. It could well save lives ― and presumably it is this hope that inspired the government to impose these mass tests, rather than simply some kind of hatred or fear of foreigners.
It's all too easy to run around shouting “racist” every time a minority is treated differently. Living in Korea as visible outsiders, foreigners can really feel like outsiders sometimes. While it's so easy to get offended every time someone's rude, it's probably better for everyone involved not to. There are definitely plenty of examples of racism in daily life, but I find it's better to assume that a person hates me not for the color of my skin, but because of the content of my character. Plenty of people are just jerks.
For example, when I got a coronavirus test this week, the bureaucrat who was registering people was pretty rude to me. Given the context, it would have been easy for me to get angry and assume he was acting like this because of my race. The nice thing to note, however, is that he was simply a rude man: while queuing up, I had watched him as he scowled one by one at the people in front of me, and after I had filled out all the paperwork, I could hear him continue to grumpily register others, both Korean and foreign. Such inclusive misanthropy: how wonderful.
So is the decision to test foreigners racist? It's discriminatory for certain and doubtless based on flawed reasoning, but probably not racist: it's too broad for that. If anything, it's a well-meaning if illogical and poorly executed attempt to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. Even while we acknowledge its stupidity and unfairness, let's not let this mandate cause yet more anger and division in a world already so divided and so angry. Let's just brace ourselves, flare our nostrils and open wide. The test itself only takes a few seconds. Oh ― and don't forget to blow your nose before you go.
Since this article was written, Seoul has withdrawn its testing order, and Gyeonggi has rescinded the requirement for new foreign workers to submit a negative test result before being hired.
Dr. Scott Shepherd is a British-American academic. He has taught in universities in the U.K. and Korea, and is currently assistant professor of English at Chongshin University in Seoul. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.