Korean-Chinese Demand Citizenship

When thousands of Korean-Chinese filed applications for Korean citizenship two weeks ago, it was widely perceived as a last-ditch attempt to stop the government from forcefully deporting them from Korea.

The unprecedented move by more than 5,000 ethnic Koreans from China came less than a week before a government-set deadline by which foreigners illegally residing in Korea had to leave the nation.

The Justice Ministry refused to accept the applications, except for those of four legal residents. "If their attempts are just intended to avoid the impending deportation, it is hard to grant (Korean) citizenship to them," the ministry said.

However, as some 2,200 Korean-Chinese have since continued their hunger strike for a 14th consecutive day to protest the decision, more and more people began to ponder what led these people to such desperate action, with increasing numbers of experts beginning to speak up for the protesters.

Former Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo said in an academic forum last week, "We should accept them if they have chosen to be Korean citizens." "In the case of Israel, they accept any Jews who come and say they wish to be Israeli citizens."

Human rights lawyer Chung Dae-wha said, "The Justice Ministry takes issue with their illegal status, but the government has provided a cause for their illegal residence, by effectively blocking them from entering Korea."

For the last few decades since the country`s dramatic economic turnaround, a number of Korean-Chinese have sought to come to their homeland in search of greater job opportunities. But the government has refused to issue visas for them if they come as manual workers, in what critics said was a move intended to stem the tide.

The decades-old conflict was rekindled when the government enacted a law governing an estimated 6 million overseas Koreans in 1999, in order to provide them with status almost equal legal to that of Korean nationals, but limited the definition of overseas Koreans to those who migrated after the establishment of the South Korean government in 1948.

The measure excluded millions of Korean-Chinese, because the majority of them are descendants of those who moved to the mainland to protest Japan`s brutal colonization between 1910-45, or who fled widespread famine in the second half of the 19th century.

According to the law, they were granted the right to enter and leave Korea freely, and engage in economic activities in the country.

Critics have said the main beneficiaries of the newly enacted law, therefore, are Korean-Americans, who mostly left the country after liberalization to pursue the "American dream."

In the face of escalating criticism by civic activists, the Constitutional Court ruled in 2001 that the law violated the right of equality, and ordered the government to amend the law. Unless the government complies with the order, the law will be automatically repealed at the end of this year, which seems certain to anger many ethnic Koreans - mostly Korean-Americans -residing and working here.

In September, four months before the law was destined to be withdrawn, the Justice Ministry expanded the definition of overseas Koreans to pacify civic groups, but still excluded those who left the country before 1922.

According to a survey released by a civic group earlier this week, more than 70 percent of the Korean public believes the government should grant the Korean-Chinese citizenship.

However, government officials and law experts said the problem was not that simple.

The government fears that its recognition of them as Koreans may cause diplomatic friction with China, which is keen to maintain a tight grip over minority groups within its territory.

Sung Nak-in, professor of constitutional law at Seoul National University, said, "The problem is that they are Chinese citizens, before being ethnic Koreans."

"The Chinese government demanded Seoul exclude Korean-Chinese while the country was contemplating the law favoring ethnic Koreans in 1999," he pointed out.

Officials also worry that if an estimated 3 million Korean-Chinese are allowed to enter Korea freely, it could put too much pressure on the nation`s already fragile labor market.

"We should also consider the resultant instability in the domestic labor market that the inflow of many cheap laborers from China could cause," said Park Hong-chul, a Justice Ministry official.

But Chung, the lawyer, dismissed the comments as groundless.

"Korea`s labor market is being operated under market principles. In addition, China`s economy is rapidly developing so as to absorb the Korean-Chinese work force," he said.

Some of the protesting Korean-Chinese say their applications for citizenship were a desperate attempt not to be deported abroad and that what they really want is "open" entrance to the country, as guaranteed to other ethnic Koreans, such as Korean-Americans or Korean-Japanese.

A group of lawmakers tabled a revision bill, which calls for their equal treatment with ethnic Koreans from other countries, to the National Assembly. They are planning to pass the bill before this year`s parliamentary regular session closes Dec. 9. But it remains unclear whether the government will eventually allow them to be recognized as overseas Koreans.