By Paul Johnston
Korea’s national financial regulator has decided to make banking even more difficult for foreigners residing here. The new rules, that will be enforced starting this September, state that foreigners must live in Korea for at least 3 months before they can open a bank account.
Then after three months foreigners can open new accounts, but they will not be able to use online banking services or ATMs for the first three months. This means that a foreigner who has just moved to Korea cannot access regular banking services for six months. This is a troubling sign for a country whose stated goal is to become ``Northeast Asia’s financial hub’’ and a major competitor in the global economy.
To understand the problems that these measures will cause, we must first understand exactly what and who ``foreigners’’ are. The word foreigner, first of all, is the catch all term used to mean anybody who is not of Korean descent. Thus, a foreigner could be African, Asian, or North American. This person could be a doctor, engineer, professor, ESL instructor, or a factory worker. These people speak a wide range of languages, practice many kinds of religion, and have different economic and academic backgrounds. What are foreigners? The answer is simple: They are the rest of the world.
Thus the problem is that this exclusive, discriminative law is simply not designed to allow these ``foreigners’’ to live normal, productive lives in Korea. When foreigners who work legally at hospitals, companies, or academic institutions receive their monthly salary, how are they supposed to accept it without a bank account? Then when they finally are allowed to open a bank account, they cannot use the ATM. Due to busy work schedules and limited banking hours, how can these people withdraw money to pay for their daily and monthly living expenses. What if there is an emergency? No answers?
Obviously these problems do not affect any Korean citizen. However, these rules do affect Korea’s economy. Korean companies and international companies located in Korea constantly need to recruit educated and talented foreign employees, parents need ESL teachers for their children, and factories need workers. Just imagine for a moment if all these people suddenly left Korea. The economic impact would be tremendous. Companies and factories’ productivity would drop, factories would fold, and jobs would be lost. If academies no longer had any teachers, the multi-billion dollar ESL industry in Korea would go bust overnight. Imagine.
Preventing fraud is the reason given to justify these restrictions. This is almost laughable when one reads in the newspaper about Korean politicians and businesspeople being investigated for or charged with fraud, real-estate speculation, and tax evasion. The sums of money in these cases number in the millions of dollars. The average ``foreigner’’ in Korea receives a monthly salary between 500,000 won to four million won. Any kind of fraud that these people can do is hardly comparable. Unfortunately, the notion that ``Korean’’ money leaving Korea is evil still persists. However, it is not Korean money. It is money that an individual legally earned and, as a person living in a democratic society, has the right to choose how to use.
The word ``global’’ is interesting because it symbolizes Korea’s aspirations, but not its reality. Korea has long had a love-hate relationship with the outside world. It is argued that this xenophobia comes from thousands of years of aggression from outside powers. While this is certainly true, it is no longer an excuse that people can hide behind now. The millions of Koreans that live and study in North America and Europe do not face these limitations. So why do we? Korea has opened its doors to the world and the world has come. In the era of globalization, we must act to create harmony, not division.
The article is in response to a Korea Times story, “Foreigners Face Restricted Banking,” published July 24. Paul Johnston is with ESL Curriculum R&D at Chung Ang University Language Center in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province.