Black Lives Matter: for Koreans, an uncomfortable reminder that racial discrimination is still legal

As demonstrators in Seoul join calls for justice over George Floyd killing, activists note South Korea still lacks even a definition of discrimination

A new generation brings hope that change is on the horizon

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South Korean activists demonstrate near the US embassy in Seoul. Photo: EPA

Published: 7:58am, 11 Jun 2020Updated: 10:07pm, 11 Jun 2020

As South Korea marked its 65th Memorial Day on Saturday a crowd of 150 people marched along the streets of the nation’s capital of Seoul.

Pedestrians turned to stop and stare as the column continued along its 1.2km route through the shopping district of Myeongdong, the crowd chanting and waving pickets as it went.

But the marchers were not celebrating the countless servicemen who had given their lives in conflicts such as the Battle of Bongoh Town and the Korean war.

Instead, they were expressing solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, and calling for an end to the “everyday racism” to be found in South Korea itself.

The killing of George Floyd, an African-American man who died in Minneapolis on May 25 during an attempted arrest in which a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, has not only prompted worldwide demonstrations of solidarity with the American movement, it has forced many countries to re-examine their own attitudes to race and discrimination.

George Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25 during an attempted arrest in which a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Photo: AP

In South Korea it has provided an uncomfortable reminder that despite widespread public acceptance that racism exists, the country still lacks a law to penalise discrimination on the basis of race.

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