Foreign residents experience discrimination amid COVID-19

Signs hanging at four eateries in Seoul stating that foreigners are not allowed to enter. / Courtesy of Dominic Phua

By Lee Hyo-jin

Dominic Phua, 30, a Chinese-Singaporean office worker in Seoul, feels hesitant about taking taxis after being kicked out of one for the second time in September, when the driver noticed he was a foreigner.

"The same had happened to me once in March during the early stages of the pandemic. Both times they suddenly asked me to get out of the car midway, treating me like a coronavirus spreader. I was so shocked at the time that I couldn't even take a picture of the car number plate or report it to the police," recalled Phua.

He also shared several incidents in which he was denied entry to eateries and cafes due to his nationality.

"At a cafe in Seoul I was allowed to enter, probably because I'm ethnically Asian, but after they heard me and my friends talking in English, we were immediately asked to leave. When we asked why, the staff replied 'it's our policy set by the manager'," Phua told The Korea Times.

Ksenia Petrova, a student from Russia, finds it hard to keep track of the latest COVID-19 news in the country as she is not fluent in Korean. She recently had to spend a long time searching for exact information about the five-tier social distancing measures.

"The social distancing measures here have a bunch of dos and don'ts, and I don't want to violate any rules as it will lead to a fine. But as only a few government websites offer translations in multiple languages, I mostly use social media channels and chat rooms on Kakao run by Russians to get the information," she said.

Phua and Petrova are among many foreigners who have experienced COVID-19-related discrimination in daily life or have been excluded from state policies, according to the national human rights agency.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) made public its report on foreign residents' human rights amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Friday, including a survey conducted between July and August on 307 foreign residents living in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.

The survey showed that 73 percent felt that they were left out from state policies.

When asked for specific cases, 30 percent pointed to their exclusion from the state relief fund plan, followed by 29 percent who mentioned text message alerts provided only in Korean, and 16 percent who replied they were unable to purchase face masks through the rotation system earlier in March.

In addition to the state policies, one out of three foreign residents has suffered from discrimination in their daily lives. They have received aggressive remarks both online and offline, and faced discriminatory practices on public transport, as well as in eateries and cafes.

Reports of specific incidents and comments included: "A man approached me at a bus stop and yelled 'Stop spreading the virus and go back to your country,'" and "I read a lot of comments on the internet to deport all Chinese." Another complaint was of people avoiding taking the elevator with them or sitting next to them on the subway.

"Since the coronavirus outbreak, foreigners of various nationalities have been exposed to a serious level of discrimination and social stigma. They are also not being informed properly on the situation in languages they can understand," read the report.

It also noted that migrant workers in factories are suffering from discrimination and unfair treatment by their employers, such as not being provided with masks and banned from leaving their place of residence.

"Many employers restrict their workers from going elsewhere other than the workplace or dormitory, out of concerns that they will contract the virus. This is an evident violation of human rights and freedom of movement. Some even discriminate against foreign workers by giving them fewer masks compared to local employees," said Lee Han-suk, head of the Migration & Human Rights Institute.

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