Ethnic Chinese in South Korea: Interplay Between Ethnicity, Nationality, and Citizenship

Abstract

This paper aims to explore historical changes in the citizenship status of ethnic Chinese in South Korea. The first stage, from 1882 to 1948, was characterized by strong influences of Confucian familism. Koreans perceived ethnic Chinese immigrants simply as a different clan or family. Although both sides were strictly separated, they respected each other. The second stage, which lasted until the 1990s, could be described as an ongoing struggle for either inclusion or exclusion of the Chinese minority in the South Korean nation-state. The implementation of an ethnic-based nationality in South Korea legally excluded the ethnic Chinese from participation in the social, political, and economic life of South Korean society. In the third stage, the period since the 1990s, the impact of democratization and globalization took public discussions about a more comprehensive concept of citizenship and nationality beyond ethnicity. Based on historical analysis, this paper comes to the conclusion that the formation of the nation-state in the late 1940s and early 1950s represents a critical juncture for the ethnic Chinese community in South Korea. However, after the democratic regime change in 1987, the concept of citizenship profoundly changed. It appears that membership in the South Korean nation-state did not depend on a single principle; the discussion was, rather, characterized by a sometimes fierce competition between different concepts of citizenship and participation.