🔎 Zoom In: Deep-Rooted Regional Discrimination in Korea

📔 Vocabulary: "Korean dialects (사투리)" and "Three 연s in Korea"

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After months of social distancing, I allowed myself to visit the theater. I was there to watch "이웃사촌 (The Neighbors)", a biographical film written and directed by Lee Hwan-kyeong, who also directed the now-cult-legend "7번방의 선물" (2012). Set in the 80s, The Neighbors follows the life and political struggles of former president Kim Dae-joong. An icon of Korean progressive politics, he famously served years of house arrest for his outspoken criticism against the authoritarian regime in the 1980s.

Watching this film, I could not help but feel like something was amiss, like cringing to a  band performance where the lead guitarist forgot to tune his instrument before the show. My suspicion was confirmed when I later discovered an article criticizing (Korean link) the movie for its lapse in including the Jeolla dialect, even though president Kim spoke in a  heavy Jeolla accent all his life. 

Asked about this inconsistency, the actor, Oh Dal-soo, said the decision to remove the accent was intentional. He did so because he did not want the film to sound "a bit funny". 

The actor's comment stirred unrest because the Jeolla dialect, just as much as the region and its people, is often ridiculed and even marginalized, caused by a long history of cultural and political discrimination. The actor's decision, and the director's approval, to erase the identity of the protagonist by cutting out his language demonstrate how wide-spread and accepted microaggressions against the Jeolla region are. 

This brought back the memory of another incident that demonstrates the marginalization of the Jeolla region in Korean society.

Last week, Jo Ju-bin, the main perpetrator behind the "Nth room," was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

A criminal organization that orchestrated cybersex trafficking, child pornography, and blackmail. The group mainly acted on the social media platform Telegram between 2018 and 2020. The leader of the group, who worked under the pseudonym "God God" (Korean: 갓갓) sold sexually explicit videos, often filmed without consent, and many involving minors on Telegram channels and groups. 

Jo Ju-bin is one of the many arrested during the course of the investigation. He was accused of and tried for blackmailing dozens of women and forcing them to take sexually exploitative videos of themselves, some of which involved rape. 

 

The number of confirmed victims is at least 103, including 26 minors.

While some view Korea as small and homogenous, it is home to a diverse cultural heritage. Each geographical region having a distinct culture, traditions, and dialect. Despite the differences, the animosity between the regions rarely goes beyond common stereotyping and teasing. However, there is one noteworthy conflict and that is the fued between Jeolla and Gyeongsang. 

The conflict between these two regions transcends the friendly socio-cultural competition. It has a decade-long history and it is definitely not friendly. Their division has been exacerbated by years of political tension, sparked by the tumultuous socio-political developments of modern Korea, resistance against dictatorship, and biased government mandates. Some consider the animosity between the two regions, not a competition but a systemic, persistent marginalization of Jeolla and its people. 

Hello, I am A, and I moved to Seoul from Gwangju several years ago for college. After my experience here, I can say with certainty that discrimination against the Jeolla region and its people is still prevalent in Korean society. Here is my story.

When I was a student, I had trouble finding work, even the part-time jobs (Korean link), because I was from the Jeolla region. I faced smiliar hardship after graduation. A major company (Korean link) said it would not hire employees from the Jeolla region.

Mass media is at the front and center of casual microaggressions against the Jeolla region and people. Once the news of COVID-19 infections in Gwangju reached the media, hate comments started pouring in, such as "do not treat people from Jeolla" (Korean link). Such comments were given thousands of affirming thumbs-up. The hatred against my people is one of the many "inside jokes" that we can never take part in. 

In television shows (Korean link) and movies, the Jeolla dialect is often eliminated, even when such a decision impacts the credibility of the film. If the accent does make an appearance on the screen, it is more often than not a slur spoken by the bad guy of a story, as if this accent makes someone's misdeeds more believable. 

So here is my question: Where does the regional discrimination against the Jeolla area come from and when did it start? 

Originally, the economic and political gap between Gyeongsang and Jeolla were insignificant. For example, the turnout for former President Park Chung-hee in the 5th presidential election (Korean link) 1963 the regional voting trend was minimum. However, much changed after this fatal election. 

1) Trade Purposes 

At that time, South Korea's major trading partners were Japan and the United States. Gyeongsang Province and Busan are close to Japan and easily accessible via seaports and therefore became the focus areas of development.

Former President Park Chung-hee chose his hometown, Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province, as an industrial development zone, despite its low development value as an inland suburb. Gumi eventually became one of Korea's leading industrial cities.  

The concentration of economic support in the Gyeongsang region over time led to an atmosphere of envy, and politicians took advantage of this. Korea's "regional conflict" was thus promoted and reinforced during the early 70s. A politician from Jeolla Province once famously said, "Let's overthrow Gyeongsang Province," while a politician in Gyeongsang Province said, "People in Gyeongsang Province should elect Park Chung-hee no matter what." 

The 7th presidential election in 1971 revealed how severe the local conflict had become. Park Chung-hee's approval ratings stood at 75% in Gyeongsang Province, while Kim Dae-jung's approval rating was 60 percent in Jeolla Province.

However, due to government control over the media, it was reported that the movement was a North Korean maneuver. People in other provinces branded people in Gwangju and Jeolla Province as "commies (빨갱이)" after seeing the government propaganda. With the intense anti-Communist sentiment that dominated the era, to be labeled as a "commie" was close to social death. Since then, Jeolla region has been stigmatized  as a "communist region" without any evidence. 

Hence, while previous regional conflicts had only significance in terms of support for politicians, the regional conflicts that arose in the 1980s have led to widespread discrimination and still cause conflict and affect people's daily lives (Korean link).

The capital of Korea is Seoul, where infrastructure is heavily concentrated. The popular expression "Republic of Seoul" (서울공화국) reflects upon the fact that many move to Seoul for better opportunities in jobs and education. In a way, Seoul is its own country full of immigrants. As people from a variety of regions all gather in Seoul, discrimination becomes more visible.

Since the industrialization of the 1980s, policies to achieve balanced regional development have been implemented. 

🚘 The 88 Olympic Expressway, which was completed in 1984, was also built with the aim of balanced regional development.   

🏭 The establishment of the Gwangyang Steel Mill was decided in the 80s. The steel mill, located in Jeolla Province, was completed in 1992 and has become a representative heavy industrial complex of Jeolla Province. 

As a result, South Jeolla Province, which ranked 15th in per capita income among all 18 local governments in 1985, rose to fifth place in 1995. At that time, however, North Jeolla Province still remained at the bottom, and even South Jeolla Province fell back to the bottom of the income bracket in 2018.

The Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Law (Korean link) will be implemented with the aim to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of gender, disability, age, and language. Discrimination on the basis of region of origin will also be prohibited by this law. 

The law has yet to be passed, but discussions have begun on June 29. The bill, if passed, will likely further reduce discrimination in Korea, including regional discrimination. 

Despite all of these efforts, there are several reasons why regional discrimination still remains. 

1) Structural Forces that Benefit from Regional Conflict 

As we described above, regional conflicts can be used as a political tool. Politicians take advantage of regional conflicts when elections come, and each time, the vicious cycle of conflict is repeated.

2) Deep-rooted Culture of Favoritism 

When Koreans meet for the first time, they always ask each other where they come from. Favoritism runs deep in many parts of Korean society, even in the public sector. As Park Chung-hee’s development plan showcases, once someone from a certain region holds office, they tend to offer more opportunities to people from the same region. Years of favoritism can thus lead to high levels of collusion in the public sector. 

Reply 1994: The drama that is full of dialects. 

Check out some clips from it here: 👉Link  👉Link

Have you heard of "지연," "혈연," and "학연"? 연 (緣) means connection or relationship, and the word preceding it refers to something that "ties" people up. 지 (地) means region, 혈 (血) means blood, and 학 (學) means school. So 지연, 혈연, and 학연 refer to regionalism, blood ties, and school ties.  

Historically, these three types of ties have played a key role in an individual’s social success. People thought it's natural to back someone up who has the same background as them. However, this sometimes leads to unfairness and can create "cartels" among privileged groups (ex. students from prestigious universities). 

These days, the "Z generation" is mostly opposing this culture, and such connections are getting weaker. But since the idea is deeply rooted in Korean society, you can still see that these ties matter. 

Wheew! Thank you for your attention! 

This week, we tried to make the article more informational with the emphasis on the historical context.  

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