'Bi-cultural self-esteem essential for interracial children'

Olivia Ih

By Yi Whan-woo

Korea faces growing challenges in successfully embracing interracial children as members of society. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, their numbers peaked at 204,204 in January 2014.

Olivia Ih, 29, a native French lecturer at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), says self-esteem and critical thinking as a bi-cultural and bi-lingual person are essential for interracial children to adapt to the communities of their parents’ origin.

Having been raised by a Korean father and a French mother, Olivia married a Korean man in 2013 and is now working on her doctoral thesis on marriage migrants at Ewha Womans University.

“Be proud of who you are, of having two cultures, and you will become a valuable member of Korean society,” she said in an e-mail interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday.

Olivia advised people with a diverse background to remain objective when speaking about different cultures, not making superficial observations while considering why cultural differences exist.

“For instance, don’t just note the fact that in Korea we take off our shoes as opposed to Europeans countries,” she said.

“Understand that there is a deep reason for it. In Korea, many people still sleep on the floor, whereas in Western societies we sleep in beds. So, entering the house with shoes on is not a big deal in terms of hygiene for Westerners.

“This is how you can become valuable and help others _ who don’t have the chance or advantage of being interracial _ to understand and expand their knowledge of other cultures and countries.”

She acknowledged that these children face a “double burden” to successfully absorb two different cultures.

“It is as if you had to change hats all the time, one time it’s French, one time it’s Korean and each time you have to find the right equilibrium between the two.”

Olivia, however, emphasized that that burden can also be a “double benefit,” as seen from her educational background and career path.

Before beginning her doctoral program in 2012, she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Paris-Diderot in France and was selected by the prestigious Princeton in Beijing program as an exchange student.

Fluent in five languages _ Korean, French, English, Spanish and Chinese _ she also has worked as a lecturer, TV show host, radio show guest and intern since 2006 in various schools, media outlets and a U.N.-linked organization.

These included the KNDA, Ewha Womans and Sookmyung Women’s universities, Arirang and Food TV, and the International Vaccine Institute, a non-profit organization initiated by the United Nations Development Program.

Olivia also comes from an elite family.

Her father, Ih Seung-gheun, is a former Korean national tennis player and founder of the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps’ tennis team.

Her mother, Martine Prost, is a retired diplomat who served as a professor at the University of Paris-Diderot.

Her brother, Adrien, 31, is an engineer and currently the host of “Showbiz Korea,” an entertainment and celebrity news program aired by Arirang TV, an English-language network in Seoul. He earned his industrial engineering master’s degree at KAIST Graduate School of Management.

Olivia says it is crucial to have role models among their peers.

“I think that the stigma attached to interracial families and their children has to disappear.

“The fastest way to do so is by having several children from middle- and low-income interracial families that become successful in different fields to give hope to others from the same milieu, while at the same time showing society that not all interracial kids have the same fate,” she said.

Olivia also urged that children should be encouraged to learn their immigrant parents’ native languages.

“This will provide the child with an effortless competitive advantage and society as a whole can benefit as they become a bridge between the different nations.”