By Steven L. Shields
I love so much about Korea. I have so many wonderful Korean friends. I could say a lot about the variety and uniqueness of Korean cuisine. Most people are respectful, warm, and friendly. I enjoy the neighborhood where I live. I've found a warm, loving community atmosphere. I know many merchants, and I shop in their stores and eat in their restaurants. The quality of medical care and Korea's national medical insurance are tremendous.
I am painfully aware that I am an outsider, a foreigner. But occasionally, I am reminded that I am not a Korean. Sometimes these reminders come unexpectedly and often unwarranted. No matter my legal status as a resident of Korea, I am not ethnically Korean, and I do not look like a Korean. However, there are many legal statuses for non-Koreans.
The legal foreign resident is a working, taxpaying member of Korean society. Other foreigners come to Korea for short-term shopping or sightseeing and then return to their homelands. They even get refunds of VAT.
Last year, I turned 65 (chronologically). As a legal resident, the national medical insurance I am required (and want) to have gives us oldsters some added benefits. I live and work in Korea; I pay taxes like every Korean. (I also have to pay taxes in the United States on any money I earn in Korea). I pay medical insurance premiums, just like everyone else in Korea.
However, I have a Korean friend who complains that foreigners unduly benefit from national health insurance. He contends since I have not lived here for a lifetime and have not paid premiums all my life, I should get no or at the most reduced benefits. His logic is faulty. The whole idea of insurance premiums is to pool funding to give medical care to all in need. And legal residents are required by law in Korea to subscribe to the insurance.
I went to Gyeongju recently with my friend. Every historical site that has an admittance fee posts that "those who are chronologically 65 or older get in free." Sometimes an asterisk refers to a disclaimer, "except for foreigners." All foreigners are lumped into one category at these places: "tourists who do not belong to Korea or local society." Tourists should pay, one could argue, but as a taxpaying legal resident of Korea, I am excluded based solely on being non-Korean.
My argumentative friend makes the same argument about entrance fees as he does about medical insurance. Oddly, in Gyeongju, some sites willingly offered me the 65-plus entrance, but others did not. One site, managed by the city government, told me that while all Koreans over 65 are free, only senior foreigners who live in Gyeongju can get in free. Sites managed by the Buddhist temples, even though they are in a national park, told me the same thing.
I'm not asking for freebies. The admittance fees are little more than pocket change. I'm frustrated with and insulted by a two-tiered system that is applied unevenly.
The international airport is another story of two-tier exclusion policies. The Smart Entry Service, in which all legal residents of Korea are enrolled automatically, is no longer available to foreign passport holders. The reason given is "the pandemic," yet one wonders why foreigners (fingerprinted, has a legal residency permit, etc.) are different from Korean passport holders who can continue to use SES.
Standing in front of an immigration agent who takes my picture and scans my passport accomplishes nothing different from the SES kiosk. Both systems scan my passport, both systems recognize my residency status, and both systems take my photo and fingerprints. Besides, travelers must present a negative COVID-19 test result in the first place, so the pandemic excuse is invalid.
How I wish, as Korean and global societies, we could move beyond such two-tiered approaches. Lately, I've heard about many anti-Asian problems in the U.S. and other places. Some Korean "friends" suggest it's OK for Korea to pay back such discrimination. Tit-for-tat never built a solid, global society. I'm saddened to see some people in my home country act as xenophobes. All want to be acknowledged as human beings and members of society, regardless of where we live or physical appearance.
I'm a huge fan of Korea. I fell in love with Korea when I arrived more than 45 years ago. My love affair continues despite the occasional hiccup. But no matter what my legal status, I will always be an outsider.
Steven L. Shields (slshields@gmail.com) has lived in Korea for many years, beginning in the 1970s. He served as copy editor of The Korea Times in 1977. He is a retired clergyman and president of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea.
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I am painfully aware that I am an outsider, a foreigner. But occasionally, I am reminded that I am not a Korean. Sometimes these reminders come unexpectedly and often unwarranted. No matter my legal status as a resident of Korea, I am not ethnically Korean, and I do not look like a Korean. However, there are many legal statuses for non-Koreans.
The legal foreign resident is a working, taxpaying member of Korean society. Other foreigners come to Korea for short-term shopping or sightseeing and then return to their homelands. They even get refunds of VAT.
Last year, I turned 65 (chronologically). As a legal resident, the national medical insurance I am required (and want) to have gives us oldsters some added benefits. I live and work in Korea; I pay taxes like every Korean. (I also have to pay taxes in the United States on any money I earn in Korea). I pay medical insurance premiums, just like everyone else in Korea.
However, I have a Korean friend who complains that foreigners unduly benefit from national health insurance. He contends since I have not lived here for a lifetime and have not paid premiums all my life, I should get no or at the most reduced benefits. His logic is faulty. The whole idea of insurance premiums is to pool funding to give medical care to all in need. And legal residents are required by law in Korea to subscribe to the insurance.
I went to Gyeongju recently with my friend. Every historical site that has an admittance fee posts that "those who are chronologically 65 or older get in free." Sometimes an asterisk refers to a disclaimer, "except for foreigners." All foreigners are lumped into one category at these places: "tourists who do not belong to Korea or local society." Tourists should pay, one could argue, but as a taxpaying legal resident of Korea, I am excluded based solely on being non-Korean.
My argumentative friend makes the same argument about entrance fees as he does about medical insurance. Oddly, in Gyeongju, some sites willingly offered me the 65-plus entrance, but others did not. One site, managed by the city government, told me that while all Koreans over 65 are free, only senior foreigners who live in Gyeongju can get in free. Sites managed by the Buddhist temples, even though they are in a national park, told me the same thing.
I'm not asking for freebies. The admittance fees are little more than pocket change. I'm frustrated with and insulted by a two-tiered system that is applied unevenly.
The international airport is another story of two-tier exclusion policies. The Smart Entry Service, in which all legal residents of Korea are enrolled automatically, is no longer available to foreign passport holders. The reason given is "the pandemic," yet one wonders why foreigners (fingerprinted, has a legal residency permit, etc.) are different from Korean passport holders who can continue to use SES.
Standing in front of an immigration agent who takes my picture and scans my passport accomplishes nothing different from the SES kiosk. Both systems scan my passport, both systems recognize my residency status, and both systems take my photo and fingerprints. Besides, travelers must present a negative COVID-19 test result in the first place, so the pandemic excuse is invalid.
How I wish, as Korean and global societies, we could move beyond such two-tiered approaches. Lately, I've heard about many anti-Asian problems in the U.S. and other places. Some Korean "friends" suggest it's OK for Korea to pay back such discrimination. Tit-for-tat never built a solid, global society. I'm saddened to see some people in my home country act as xenophobes. All want to be acknowledged as human beings and members of society, regardless of where we live or physical appearance.
I'm a huge fan of Korea. I fell in love with Korea when I arrived more than 45 years ago. My love affair continues despite the occasional hiccup. But no matter what my legal status, I will always be an outsider.
Steven L. Shields (slshields@gmail.com) has lived in Korea for many years, beginning in the 1970s. He served as copy editor of The Korea Times in 1977. He is a retired clergyman and president of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea.
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