The New York Times love affair with South Korea continues as another article about Korean society is published this past weekend. This time they investigate the recent increase in births of biracial children born of mixed marriages, who are known as “Kosians,” a mix of Korean and Asian. This is the result of an increasing number of Korean men marrying other Asian women.
That is only about 1 percent of the approximately 12 million children in South Korea under the age of 19. But if marriages to foreigners continue to increase at their current rate — they accounted for 11 percent of all marriages here last year — more than one in nine children could be of mixed background by 2020, demographic researchers say.
The article brings up the same theme from a previous New York Times article about how South Korea is dealing with race. The first article was about the influx of foreigners that now reside in South Korea and this one is about the increasing population of mixed children. Based on these articles, you would think that South Korea is the only Asian country dealing with race issues. It begs the question, is South Korea really that unique from other countries or is South Korea’s challenges that much more pronounced? What is going on in South Korea is healthy and a natural evolution of globalization and it will challenge their beliefs on homogeneity. For Korea’s sake, I hope they embrace diversity and lead the Asian countries in embracing diversity.
Hines Ward is one of those athletes we should come to admire because he really is a role model. Charles Barkley famously said that he’s no role model, but thank goodness we have guys like Hines Ward who’s using his fame and fortune to help others. The Hines Ward story gained national attention when the wide receiver won his first Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Soon after the Super Bowl, he traveled with his Korean mother to South Korea to bring awareness to the difficulties and discrimination that biracial children encounter, as he’s the son of a Korean mother and an African-American father.
The New York Times wrote about Hines Ward’s recent efforts when he gathered biracial children from Korea for a dinner.
“It’s a great culture,” said Ward, who was born in Seoul to a Korean mother and an African-American soldier father, and was raised mainly in Georgia by his mother. “I love everything about it. But there’s a dark side to that culture. And me, I’m just trying to shed a light on that dark side and make Korea a better place than it already is.”
Ward’s message: never be ashamed; embrace the opportunity to be part of two cultures.
For all you Korean drama peeps, get ready because Daniel Henney made his big premiere on U.S. television in CBS’ new medical drama, “Three Rivers,” on Sunday night as Dr. David Lee. So far it’s been a great year for Daniel Henney as he’s made 2009 the year he introduces himself to Hollywood. He made his big Hollywood movie debut earlier this year when he played Agent Zero in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” Now he plays an organ transplant surgeon and very interestingly, the George Clooney type who womanizes and breaks ladies’ hearts. Actually, it’s more than interesting because an Asian man is playing the romantic type.
Maybe Hollywood is really diversifying? If you watched John Cho in FlashForward, he’s in an interracial relationship with an African-American women and now we’ve got Daniel Henney acting as the womanizer. Let’s hope these two new shows are successful! It’s been a great fall season for Korean-American actors with Daniel Henney now joining a growing list of actors who have regular televisions shows: John Cho, Ken Jeong, C.S. Lee, Tim Kang, and Sanrda Oh.
So who is Daniel Henney? Model-turned-actor Daniel Henney is now a household name in South Korea after starring as Dr. Henry Kim in the popular miniseries “My Lovely Samsoon.” Henney was also recently seen in this summer’s blockbuster hit “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” in which he plays the character Agent Zero.
Henney starred in the television series “Spring Waltz,” by acclaimed director SukHo Yoon and then went on to star in his first feature film “Seducing Mr. Robin.” His second film, “My Father,” won multiple awards in South Korea and was actually the first time in that country’s history that a foreigner swept all the major cinema awards in the Best New Actor category.
Henney has also appeared in the Off-Broadway production of “Death of a Salesman.”
He was born in Carson City, Mich., to a Korean-American mother and a British-American father. He studied Business Communications at Albion College and Alma College and as an avid sports enthusiast, played college basketball throughout his college years. He is also musically active and has been the lead vocal and guitarist for an underground rock band, Avarice, for two years. Currently, he lives in Seoul, South Korea and Los Angeles and his birth date is Nov. 28.
What’s Three Rivers all about? THREE RIVERS is a medical drama starring Alex O’Loughlin (“Moonlight,” upcoming CBS Films “The Back-Up Plan”) that goes inside the emotionally complex lives of organ donors, the recipients and the surgeons at the preeminent transplant hospital in the country, where every moment counts. However, dealing with donor families in their darkest hour and managing the fears and concerns of apprehensive recipients takes much more than just a sharp scalpel. Leading the elite team is Dr. Andy Yablonski, the highly-skilled workaholic lead organ transplant surgeon, whose good-natured personality and sarcastic wit makes him popular with his patients and colleagues. His co-workers include Dr. Miranda Foster, a surgical fellow with a rebellious streak and fiery temper who strives to live up to her deceased father’s excellent surgical reputation; Dr. David Lee, a womanizing surgical resident who’s broken as many hearts as he’s replaced; Ryan Abbott, the inexperienced new transplant coordinator who arranges the intricately choreographed process of quickly and carefully transporting organs from donor to patient; Dr. Sophia Jordon, the dedicated head of surgery who has no patience for anyone who hasn’t sacrificed as much as she has for the job; and Pam Acosta, Andy’s no-nonsense operating assistant and best friend. In this high stakes arena, in which every case is a race against the clock, these tenacious surgeons and medical professionals are the last hope for their patients.
Nonexistent romance, financial strain and language barriers are key factors that make life difficult for immigrants who are married to Koreans and also reside in rural South Korea. The long-term strength of these families is becoming increasingly important as they populate more of South Korea.
According to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, nearly 50 percent of the population below age 19 in South Korea’s rural regions will soon become biracial due to the quickly growing number of interracial marriages in the farming and fishing community.
A report released Thursday said that the ratio of multiracial children stood at 1.3 to 2.5 percent in 2005, but the figure is expected to rise to the 24.5 to 49 percent range by 2020.
With most rural-born Koreans wanting to move to metropolitan cities for better education and white-collar jobs, the country’s farms are now becoming fast populated by offspring of mothers from Vietnam, China, the Philippines and Mongolia. Read more>
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