When talking about mixed race in Korea, I think the most important thing to keep in mind is Koreans’ view on race and nationality in general. To most people in South Korea, you’re either Korean, or you’re foreign.

While there are different classes of foreigners in Korea, people generally aren’t so concerned about mixed ethnicity. In fact, if you’re mixed ethnicity you will probably experience more curiosity from the foreign community there. It seems people there are mostly concerned with their own people.

In Korea, if you look Korean, you should probably speak Korean.. or else you may have a hard time. Korea has very strong nationalistic pride, and while they understand that many people have gone to live overseas for one reason or another, when in Korea it’s almost like you should put all of that behind you and be wholly Korean.

If you’re thinking about visiting, or moving to Korea to live, and you’re of mixed ethnicity that DOESN’T have Korean blood, it may not make a difference to most Koreans what your ethnicity is. Technically, both Richard and I are mixed ethnicity (if you consider that our parents didn’t come from the same countries) and it literally didn’t make a difference to Koreans.

And really when you think about it, what’s race and skin color anyways?

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