It may be a bit exaggerated to say we now live in the age of minorities and minority cultures. Nevertheless, it is undeniably true that ethnic minorities and their cultures are being recognized and appreciated in many countries these days. In the United States, for example, Americans elected Barack Obama as their president, giving tremendous hope to African Americans. President Obama also appointed ethnic minorities, including Korean Americans, to key posts in his Cabinet. 

A few weeks ago, President Obama recommended Jim Yong Kim as the next president of the World Bank, one of the most powerful financial organizations in the world. Kim is currently president of Dartmouth College and is hailed as the first Asian American president of an Ivy League school.

Recently, the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York appointed the renowned computer scientist Satish Tripathi as the president of the University at Buffalo. President Tripathi was born in India and graduated from Banaras Hindu University, majoring in statistics. Then he went to Canada and earned his M.A. degree from the University of Alberta, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto. It has been only a year since he took office, but he has a superb reputation already as an exceptionally able administrator who is highly esteemed by his colleagues and students. The appointment of President Tripathi inspired minority students who came to the United States after graduating from college in their countries. The message is: it is not too late; you too can become president of a major university in America.

In Dallas, Texas, there is a renowned Korean American judge named Dr. Don Chae who went to the United States to pursue his graduate studies even though he was already a university professor in Korea. He obtained his M.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Texas. Then he entered a law school and practiced law after graduation.

Now he is a highly esteemed judge in Texas, which is not an easy feat, especially as a Korean American in a predominantly white American society.

In today’s American cities, you can also find a variety of ethnic restaurants. Americans enjoy ethnic cuisines and it is fashionable to try diverse foods these days. Indeed, wherever you go in America, you can find Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese restaurants, not to mention the ubiquitous Chinese restaurants. In New York City, a Korean restaurant featuring a variety of Korean “namul” also enjoys enormous popularity among Americans who favor healthy foods.

It may not be too much of a stretch, then, to say that K-pop owes its popularity to this new interest in ethnic cultures pervading American society today.

Even in Korea, there are many encouraging signs that Koreans have become more accepting of ethnic minorities. For example, South Korea now has teachers, police officers and administrators whose families emigrated from Southeast Asian countries. Soon there will be minority lawmakers who represent their ethnic communities as the minority population grows rapidly. Indeed, ethnic minorities are beginning to form a significant part of Korean culture and society, enriching it and making it colorful.

Just like in the United States, Korea, too, has diverse ethnic restaurants. Seoul National University, for example, has a Vietnamese restaurant and a Mexican restaurant in the International Building. Koreans also relish Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisine, and young people enormously favor American fast food and Italian pasta.

We have come a long way to see this remarkable social change and yet, we still have to go far to build a truly multiethnic, multicultural society on the Korean Peninsula.

It is true that we have only a short history of ethnic minorities in our once homogeneous society, and thus the situation will improve as time goes on. Currently, however, there are no deans of minority origins at Korean universities, not to mention in the posts of university president. No major administrative positions have been filled by people of foreign origin either, with the possible exception of Lee Charm, president of the Korea Tourism Organization. But then Lee, a German Korean who speaks fluent Korean, can be said to be more Korean than most Koreans.

If women count as minorities as well, South Korea can compete with the United States in terms of equal opportunity. For example, the recent elections in South Korea reflected a rivalry between two strong women politicians, Park Geun-hye and Han Myeong-sook, who represented the ruling party and the opposition party, respectively.

Whoever is elected, it would be great to see a female president in Korea in the near future. And it is about time we have a female president who can maximize the merits of the flexible, embracing feminine grace that can heal the gaping wounds of Korean society, afflicted from age-old antagonisms and hostility.

The movie, “Minority Report,” warns that a country that ignores minority opinions and cultures will eventually turn into a self-righteous, totalitarian society. We should embrace minorities, listen to them, and accept them as our friends and family. Only then can Koreans become truly globalized citizens.

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English at Seoul National University and director of the Korea Literature Translation Institute. ― Ed.