“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” ― Martin L. King Jr.

One of the greatest disappointments I have experienced here in Korea has been the realization that prominent institutions, not merely misguided individuals, believe that the content of one’s character is determined by the color of one’s passport.

As a Yonsei law school professor, I spend my days helping some of the most brilliant law students in Korea discover, understand and commit themselves to the fundamental principles of law, fairness and equality.

Yet, less than 1,000 meters from the law school, at a Hana Bank branch, I am treated as a person without a shred of integrity or the faintest respect for the law ― due solely to the color of my passport.

When I applied for a small used car loan, Hana Bank treated everything about me as irrelevant ― my income, background, profession, even my status as a longtime customer. All that mattered was the color of my passport.

The color of my passport told them everything they needed to know about my credit worthiness. The color of my passport alone guaranteed that I would breach any loan contract at the first opportunity. Because, well, apparently that’s just what people who don’t have Korean passports do.

Incredibly, in the same breath with which the Hana Bank representative assured me that if I had been a Korean professor (or really even a jobless Korean student), Hana Bank would have been happy to grant my request, he also assured me that there was no discrimination.

According to him, foreigners have no family in Korea, and they can leave Korea at any time ― thus, there is a logical reason for treating all foreigners as liars and thieves.

But are Korean orphans also refused loans at Hana Bank? What of Koreans who have U.S. or Canadian visas? Does Hana Bank’s loan application even ask Koreans about their family relationships or their ability to leave the country?

For, if having no family in Korea and having the ability to leave Korea are factors that make one such an enormous credit risk that nothing else matters, should not the bank check those factors for everyone? The truth is, having no family in Korea and being able to leave the country make you a credit risk ONLY when you are also a foreigner. And no matter how much Hana Bank managers want to pretend otherwise, that is the very essence of discrimination based on alienage.

Even more troubling, there was not the slightest suggestion that Hana Bank’s acquisition of KEB Bank (often considered the most foreigner-friendly bank in Korea) modified these discriminatory policies in any way. Instead, the level of inconvenience, insult, blatant prejudice and flagrant discrimination directed toward me by the Hana Bank management is forcing me to close my KEB account as well as my Hana Bank account.

Other foreign customers of these banks should carefully consider whether they wish to financially support an institution committed to their marginalization.

Moreover, Koreans should ask themselves if they really want the type of society such discrimination creates ― a society that is more protective of its money than of its children.

Can Korea avoid creating that type of society when its institutions will not trust foreigners with Korean won, but will trust those same foreigners with Korean children?

Either the vast majority of foreigners are not so lacking in moral integrity as financial institutions like to pretend, or Korean society subscribes to a truly disturbing hierarchy of values.

By Franciska Coleman

Professor, Yonsei Law School