That’s a shocking insight into how the Koreans in the Philippines think. Luckily, Filipinos are generally docile and easy going, so we won’t be seeing hate crimes any time soon. Not that that sort of behavior doesn’t deserve hate crimes. Well, they don’t, but treating us like insects isn’t cool either.

Thanks for dropping by, and thank you for your kind words. We also have an entry on Indians if you’re interested.

Koreans have little respect, if any, for the Filipinos. My GF was schooled in London and is well-traveled and yet she considers Filipinos as inferior beings – kinda like how they think of Bangladeshi workers in Busan/Seoul. I may also say that Koreans think of themselves as White and this partly is the cause why they mistreat Filipinos – they also dislike Chinese but don’t think of them as insects. She also says that the Filipinos don’t have integrity and their behavior defined by your money and/or status.

She is equally full of contempt and disgust for your typical dark-skinned Indian/South Asian. She refuses to see the irony in our relationship on the ground that I am relatively fair-skinned and educated, therefore not subject to the stereotype. She also talks about how a lot of Koreans think of their blood as pure and her relationship with me is a brave and difficult choice she has made. She also points to the lack/rarity of korean female-filipino male couples as a proof.

I am in an amusing position because when I am out with her, both of us get weird stares from all – Filipinos, Koreans and Indians. Her brother doesn’t approve of me tapping her sister and I have to stay at the reception every time I go to her place to pick her up. Also, as she acknowledges, Korean men are worse then the women – in the sense that while most Korean women steer clear of the local men, Korean men prefer to go to the KTVs and abuse/humiliate the girls they hire there. This is apparently okay with her, because Koreans are extremely sensitive and well-mannered with each other.

Where I live, the building is full of Korean families and they are very decent and civilized – in fact, more than some Filipino-Indians I know. But my relationship with one makes me privy to a barely-disguised racism.

I hope not all Koreans think of Filipinos this way but the huge number of ‘entertainers’ that go to Korea and the perceived work-profile of OFWs doesn’t impress my GF and other Koreans like her.

Filipinos are not perfect. Neither are Indians or Koreans. But Filipinos are amazingly warm, cheerful and well-meaning people – with as much potential as any other Asian nation, if not more, given the advantages of American occupation and subsequent influence. I hope Filipinos don’t let themselves be defined by their reaction to myopic, immature antics of expats (irrespective of where they come from).

p.s. Thank you for this excellent blog. This is just the kind of social commentary I thought was completely missing on the Pinoy blogosphere.