Korean Media Watch » Media Criticism

Jason Lim of The Korea Policy Review Chimes in on the Yonhap Story

The Metropolitician — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:58:41 +0000

Writing in The Korea Times, Jason Lim, chief editor of The Korea Policy Review, published out of Harvard’s Kennedy School, also makes the link between the media’s demonization of foreigners (as exemplified in the smear piece put together by Yonhap) and Korea essentially shooting itself in the foot in terms of its effots to develop into a more global and multicultural society. He goes so far as to describe the process as “racist”, which is a strong word, but completely appropriate in this context. When portraying an entire group as essentially and fixedly negative based on the actions of a very few, and for the purposes of social scapegoating, the use of the term “racist” is far from extreme. [HT to Korea Beat]

Ben Wagner Deals with HIV Policy in The Korea Herald

The Metropolitician — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:16:38 +0000

Source: [The Korea Herald]

We here at Korean Media Watch like dealing with rumor-mongering and myth-spreading with real numbers. Ben Wagner writes in his article “Abandon Discriminatory HIV Policy” in The Korea Herald about the problematic ways that the “AIDS” issue has been used as a blunt tool scare tactic to justify stigmatizing foreigners, then discriminatory regulations. The article also examines the shady origins of the “English Spectrum” myth, and how it was nothing more than a xenophobic response to essentially nothing.

Letter from Human Rights Watch to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea

The Metropolitician — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:16:34 +0000

Human Rights Watch has just printed this letter it sent to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea about the issue of discriminatory regulations and laws.

If the Korean government doesn’t think that nation branding and the treatment of foreigners living in Korea aren’t inexplicably linked, the future doesn’t look bright.