ed Media and strange phobias

Do you know what xenophobia is? Wikipedia defines it as “the unreasoned fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange.”

The important part of the definition is “unreasoned,” meaning that something or someone is feared without proper grounds.

Another term that has recently been coined is “Chinaphobia,” which would imply that Koreans perhaps have an unreasoned fear of all things Chinese. This was highlighted recently through the brutal killing and dismemberment of a woman by a Chinese man of Korean descent.

It was discovered that the dismembered body, which was found in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, had no internal organs, making the crime even more chilling and heinous.

An interesting thing about the case is that the suspect has a Korean name. In fact, he is as much Korean as Chinese, and in a category that hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers here find themselves.

In general, Korean people do not harbor negative sentiment about the Chinese. An increasing number of Chinese tourists are coming to Korea and vice versa. So where does Chinaphobia come from? Most experts, especially from the world of academia, believe that the media has been pushing this trend.

Broadcasters and the print media take it upon themselves to highlight any unusual or interesting news involving foreigners and present the stories whatever way they see fit.

One example involves a story published about a decade ago following a lunch between figures from a leading newspaper and the German ambassador. The meeting occurred at a time when the owner of a Japanese restaurant had recently been kidnapped and killed in his own Mercedes sedan.

The ambassador was quoted as saying that crimes occur all the time all over the world, but in a single, one-minute news report concerning the murder, the Mercedes in question was shown five times. This, the ambassador believed, was to make a point that if you drive around in a luxury, imported German car, you may be killed.

Owing to the fact that the media tends to expand coverage of gruesome crimes, especially those committed by foreigners, the term xenophobia is commonly known among Koreans, even if many of them are not really well-versed in English.

However, government statics show that while 1.97 percent of Korean nationals committed various crimes last year, the corresponding figure was just 0.87 percent among foreigners, including immigrant workers. And yet, the truth is that the Korean media jumps all over crimes perpetrated by foreigners working, residing or visiting Korea.

In reporting all types of crimes ― murder, sexual assault and otherwise ― the media needs to stick to the facts and provide clear analysis based on expert opinions to prevent the public from flying off the handle and having unreasoned fears.