With the large proportion of Filipinos exiting the Philippines, there is evidence of an increase in the number of South Koreans visiting and taking up residence in almost all of the Philippines major urban areas. According to an article from Asia Sentinel, more than 570,000 Koreans visited the country in 2006 overtaking arrivals from the US, which includes balikbayans (overseas Filipino residents and workers). About 65% of visitors on the island resort of Boracay were South Koreans who enjoyed one of the most famous tourist spots in the country. I’m all for spreading tourism in the Philippines to other nations, which is one of the reasons why I decided to learn Chinese Mandarin as my fourth language. However, I wanted to focus on this topic because of recent reports of the way these Korean tourists have been behaving in the Philippines and how some of them treat our fellow Pinoys and Pinays. It was hard for me to believe that South Koreans would act this way to Filipinos in our country because my experiences with some Koreans here in the states and from South Korea have been very positive while others I encountered have superiority complexes. It was through relatives who had bad experiences with Korean tourists while vacationing in the Philippines (more specifically in Boracay) and numerous articles focusing on this topic that made me decide to post this topic.

Migration
Koreans touring or migrating to the Philippines is nothing new and they actually do have a history ranging all the way back to World War II. According to Katsumi Kanako in her study of Koreans in the Philipines, Korean migration to the Philippines is broken into 5 phases: the first lasting until the end of World War II (consisting of a few individuals who decided to take refuge), the second included war brides of Filipino soldiers who fought on the side of the UN Forces in the Korean War, the third phase began with the growth of South Korea’s economy to outsource their operations, the fifth phase began recently in the 2000s with an increase in the number of students with growing influence by various Korean associations with mainstream Philippine society (entrepreneurs, KIA, tourism).

Further study shows that what draws South Koreans to the Philippines is pretty much a cheap place to live and receive English lessons. Additional factors include the fact that Philippines is just a very beautiful place to live with its warm climate and in my opinion has the best beaches in the world.

Tourism
An issue I wanted to bring up with Koreans touring the Philippines is reports of their lack of respect of Filipino culture and traditions. Instead of trying to embrace and understand Filipino culture, these South Korean tourists bring Korea with them. From my own personal experiences with touring to different countries, I was always taught to understand that country’s culture and etiquette as a means to not offend the natives of that country. From the Asia Sentinel article, it seems that these Korean tourists/migrants are not even putting any effort in trying to learn about Filipinos with the rise of Mini-Korean communities, Korean internet cafes, groceries/restaurants, salons, spas, and churches. After reading this article, it made me realize that these Korean tourists are behaving like the stereotypical American tourists who are often described as rude, loud, and ignorant to the culture of the country they are visiting.

Further investigation by Jet Damazo shows that Philippines is not even benefiting from Korean tourists with local Philippine operators being shut down by Korean travel agencies. In addition, there was an investigation launched in Davao City on Korean business practices , claiming that there was illegal business transactions and dodging visa regulations. According to Michael Ha, one of the reasons that Korean men visit the Philippines is the attraction to the red-light districts or sex tourism. This resulted in an estimated 10,000 children of mixed Filipino and Korean descent to unwed Pinays, who refuse to have abortions or take contraceptives due to Filipino society’s discouragements. This report was back in 2008 with plans for outreach program. Although this report is from last year it is news to me and relates to the negative perception of Filipinas as seen from Alec Baldwin’s statements made this past May.

Human Trafficking
In recent news, fourteen Filipinas were rescued by the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment (Tfair) from suspected Korean human traffickers in the northern province of Nueva Ecija. According to the Vice President Noil De Castro, these woman were found training for work as dancers/entertainers in a house located at Seville St., Primavera Homes, Aduas Norte, Cabantuan City, Nueva Ecija. The four Korean men arrested used a travel tour agency, Yoojin Travel and Tours Gen. Services Corp. as a front for their legal activities. Further investigation by Tfair show that the group started operating in the Philippines back in May and have already illegally deployed three Filipina entertainers to Korea. What’s even more worse about this news is that it is one of the many number of human trafficking cases in the Philippines which have doubled in the first half of 2009.
Source: 14 Filipina workers rescued from Korean traffickers

News like this made me want to bring up this topic and my reasons for giving this post the title of Koreans leaving a bad impression on Filipinos. As a Pinoy who has not been back home to the Philippines in 8 years, this news concerns me and makes me question the motives of Koreans who visit our country. What is even more important is the fact that our fellow Pinoys who are open to welcome these tourists are not even given some respect in their own country. For those of you who are concerned with the issues of human trafficking in the Philippines or human rights issues please go to Human Rights Philippines.

Afterthoughts
What I am concerned about from these sources is that is our beloved Philippines becoming an equivalent to certain Asian nations known for sex tourism and a place to conduct illegal business? Also, should Philippines remind these Korean tourists/migrants that they are just visitors and that they should respect our culture and tradition? For me, I believe they should because it is something that we expect of from a group of educated people from an economically stable country. Also, I believe that many of these Korean tourists not all are not properly representing South Korea from their inappropriate behavior and lack of respect to our brothers in sisters in the Philippines. This actually goes for any tourist who visits a foreign country because they as a people have the responsibility as representatives of their homeland to act properly and accordingly as “visitors” to countries like Philippines. I know I have gone in depth in this post but it is an issue that many of us Pinoys should now and be concerned of. In addition, this is not a negative post about Koreans but I do hope I get my point across to many of them that they should respect our people and our country when they are visiting because we Pinoys are not people you should underestimate.