Not all ugly (No racism intended)

There have been a lot of e-mails and postings regarding the March 28 editorial the titled, “Ugly foreigners.” The readers’ responses are divided into two categories _ one about calling on foreigners to behave and the other raising the issue of overgeneralization, yes, racism.

Those in the second category overwhelm the first in number and volume.

First of all, the purpose of the editorial was not to single out foreigners and describe them as being prone to road rage and bad tempers. A law has been toughened against road rage or retaliatory driving since last month, so the editorial was intended to convey to foreign readers who were not aware of it _ or to jog their memory _ that they should comply with it.

In a way, the purpose manifested itself as the content described people of three nationalities, who were caught in action by a “black box” camera, now installed in virtually all vehicles, and were dealt with by police.

This anti-road rage law applies to foreigners as well as Koreans. Some readers’ missives tried to claim that the editorial assumed or tried to convey an underlying message that foreigners only break the law that Koreans observe. I am sure that nowhere did it indicate such an ulterior purpose, and, if there was any hint, it was not intended.

As a matter of fact, a German reader sent us what appeared to be a compilation of statistics stating that Koreans far exceed foreigners in terms of crimes committed. Repeatedly, we asked him to share his claim to be posted online or published in our paper, knowing that it is only natural for Koreans to commit more crimes than foreigners, considering expats account for only around 2 million of the nation’s total population of 45 million.

Once again, the editorial in question was purely educational so as to prevent foreigners from getting into trouble, being unaware of the change in the law.

However, in hindsight, we could have been more thoughtful on two points.

First, even if its purpose was educational, the headline sounded as if all foreigners had behavioral problems and could make law-abiding resident feel they were taking a bum rap. Plus, ugly, the adjective used in the headline, proved to be offensive. We should be more sensitive in the future. My heart goes out to the father who said in his email that his daughter was upset by the editorial (My personal apologies go to his daughter as well).

But we expect our readers to pay heed to two sets of “extenuating” circumstances. First, it was a kind of sequel to Ugly Koreans, the March 4 editorial, lamenting Koreans for their misbehavior in the Philippines, which made them easy targets of crimes of opportunity. Second, the word, ugly, may sound as ugly as it is, but we want our readers’ attention to hark back to the 1958 novel, titled “The Ugly American,” which resulted in the proliferation of word plays, which may sound pejorative but are commonly used.

Lastly, there are some emails and postings that accuse the editorial of being racist.

On this, we need to set the record straight. The Korea Times, as the oldest English-language newspaper in the country, started 65 years ago with the mission of serving foreigners _ then American and English speaking soldiers during the 1950-53 Korean War. Its mission is on an evolutionary path, now to let the world know more about Korea and narrow the gap in understanding caused by different cultures and customs.

The word “racism” has been so often used nowadays that users may not be fully aware how serious any pertinent allegations should be taken. In some cases, people would use the so-called racism card to get away with misdeeds. Although racism exists and should be fought against, it is also noted that those who wrongly use it may end up like the boy who cries wolf one too many times.

Now, we want to remind our readers that our mission is to inform the readers in the best and fairest way. For that, we are and will remain open-minded.

Oh Young-jin

Chief editorial writer

The Korea Times