Korean Apartheid Watch

Arnold knew of only one pool in town, but when she went there she was told, ‘No Foreigners Allowed.”’ She asked a Korean co-worker to call for her and explain that she had to swim for health reasons.

“I explained about you (doctor’s order) but they said no,” the co-worker wrote in a follow up e-mail. “Foreigner(s) cannot use the pool.”   [link]

The article is incorrect when it states that discrimination is legal in Korea.  As I explained in my congressional testimony, it is illegal, but the prohibition is unenforced and the law flouted so openly that people are surprised to hear it exists.  Furthermore, with both of Korea’s major political parties playing the nationalist card, it’s not a subject that a quorum of Korea’s political leaders will ever take on until it starts to cause Korea some tangible economic harm.

And while any kind of discrimination is maddening enough, it’s far more maddening when it’s focused at American soldiers who protect the freedom and prosperity of South Koreans, and who overwhelmingly did not choose to live in South Korea, a choice that implies some acceptance of its bigoted social contract.  More here.
HT