I still dont really get the issue. Yes its much less likely that any korean would be from the north, but there absolutely are defectors from the north that live in the west. This is just like people calling themselves “american”… Like bro just properly state the name of your home country, then people wont have to ask you.
Yes, defectors exist, but they’re so vanishingly few that it makes no sense to ask. Average defectors are something like 1-2k/year, and by comparison, about 16-17k S. Koreans immigrate to the US every year. So the chance that the person you’re talking to is from N. Korea is incredibly small, not only do very few people actually escape N. Korea, they likely largely stay in S. Korea, where they speak the language.
“Korea” is the proper name for both countries, the “North” and “South” descriptor comes from other countries to disambiguate them. The official name for S. Korea is “Republic of Korea,” and the official name for N. Korea is “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” So if you’re wanting people to fully state the country they’re from, you’d probably be more confused because both countries’ official names include “Republic of Korea.” But you’ll likely never talk to someone from N. Korea, so the whole question is moot. If they say they’re from “Korea,” 99.9% of the time they’ll be from South Korea, and if you live outside of S. Korea, it’s probably like 99.999%.
A certain demographic being rare/small does not strip them of their right to existence in peoples minds, i get where you are coming from, but there is also zero hurt being done by asking this. There might not be super much of a point in asking, but looking at someone like they are a moron for asking it, is completely unjustified.
It’s not just that they’re rare, but that it’s literally illegal due to UN sanctions for N. Koreans to emigrate (resolution 2397 in 2017), not to mention severe restrictions by the N. Korean regime itself. Just asking if someone is from N. Korea in any country that follows UN resolutions could get that person deported if someone overhears.
As long as you qualify for refugee status this does not apply. I dont know what is required to qualify for that, but i assume its not impossible, considering the kind of place north korea is.
Certainly. But that just means it’s that much less likely that you’ll actually meet someone who qualifies (they’ll have to flee N. Korea first, the official channels won’t work).
nope. PhD student. I did not sit down and ask the story but it was known because it was such a thing. Don’t know if he was a baby on a raft or had a harrowing escape story or what.
You know im sorta wishing now I would have tried to get the story. I mean we had like half a dozen other koreans and no one seemed to treat him differently but he was not especially outgoing and that is even for a korean student who were not the most outgoing to begin with and lets face it. PhD students are not necessarily the most outgoing of the popluation at large. At the time it was just woa, but you know otherwise he seemed no different than any others. He did smoke which I did not think about it at the time as many PhD students smoked but it was not prevelent in the korean students. At least the ones I knew which is a not a super large set.
Eh, Koreans have a pretty high rate of smoking (this site claims >40% of adult men), so you’re probably just getting sampling bias if most you know don’t smoke. My SO’s friends are all anti-smoking for religious reasons, but when we visited Korea, a lot of people smoked. A lot of people in Asia smoke, it’s nuts.
But yeah, Koreans tend to stick with other Koreans. My in-laws are quite racist against non-Koreans (I get a pass), and while the younger generations are better about it, they still tend to stick with other Koreans. I had a lot of international friends growing up (Vietnamese, Japanese, Taiwanese, etc), but none of them were Korean, despite having a pretty big Korean population where I grew up. I had a good working relationship with one in college when I was dating my SO (he was super good at StarCraft, that’s not just a meme), and I helped him edit his essays.
? The 1-2k figure is total people defecting from N. Korea every year. This isn’t immigration, it’s people running away from N. Korea. The 16-17k figure is just S. Koreans going to the US (doesn’t include other countries).
The actual numbers of people in a given country have a much bigger gap. For S. Korea, it’s like 2.5M in the US alone (about 7-8M worldwide), whereas for N. Korea, it’s like 100-150k worldwide (mostly in China and Russia). If we take that on face value, it’s like 70x more S. Koreans vs N. Koreans worldwide outside their native countries, and if you exclude Russia and China, it’s probably well over 1000x.
i remember when i was 8 one of my friends told me he was american and i asked whether he was from north or south and i was so proud bc i knew there were two of them and he looked at me like i was a fucking moron
They might not be confused, but if you’re not from the US, they’ll be wrong (spoiler: America is a continent, usually broken down into North, Central, and South America (and Latin America, for hispanic countries and Brazil. Other subcategorisations of “America” the continent might exist))
I’m American and also know the continents are called that and also don’t always want to be called American. But that’s the standard and what everyone uses to refer to us, until I meet some pedant who thinks they’re clever and trying to prove some kind of point as if I didn’t know or as if I chose that word myself.
I still dont really get the issue. Yes its much less likely that any korean would be from the north, but there absolutely are defectors from the north that live in the west. This is just like people calling themselves “american”… Like bro just properly state the name of your home country, then people wont have to ask you.
Yes, defectors exist, but they’re so vanishingly few that it makes no sense to ask. Average defectors are something like 1-2k/year, and by comparison, about 16-17k S. Koreans immigrate to the US every year. So the chance that the person you’re talking to is from N. Korea is incredibly small, not only do very few people actually escape N. Korea, they likely largely stay in S. Korea, where they speak the language.
“Korea” is the proper name for both countries, the “North” and “South” descriptor comes from other countries to disambiguate them. The official name for S. Korea is “Republic of Korea,” and the official name for N. Korea is “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” So if you’re wanting people to fully state the country they’re from, you’d probably be more confused because both countries’ official names include “Republic of Korea.” But you’ll likely never talk to someone from N. Korea, so the whole question is moot. If they say they’re from “Korea,” 99.9% of the time they’ll be from South Korea, and if you live outside of S. Korea, it’s probably like 99.999%.
A certain demographic being rare/small does not strip them of their right to existence in peoples minds, i get where you are coming from, but there is also zero hurt being done by asking this. There might not be super much of a point in asking, but looking at someone like they are a moron for asking it, is completely unjustified.
I’m guessing people from South Korea get a little mad being asked this all the time.
It’s not just that they’re rare, but that it’s literally illegal due to UN sanctions for N. Koreans to emigrate (resolution 2397 in 2017), not to mention severe restrictions by the N. Korean regime itself. Just asking if someone is from N. Korea in any country that follows UN resolutions could get that person deported if someone overhears.
As long as you qualify for refugee status this does not apply. I dont know what is required to qualify for that, but i assume its not impossible, considering the kind of place north korea is.
I think “being from North Korea” qualifies immediately for refugee status.
Certainly. But that just means it’s that much less likely that you’ll actually meet someone who qualifies (they’ll have to flee N. Korea first, the official channels won’t work).
Ive known a dozen koreans (if you include briefly meeting family then more) and one was indeed born in the north.
Were they super old? As in, they were born there before the war?
Because actually meeting someone from N. Korea is incredibly rare, unless you’re in China or something (S. Koreans pretty much never immigrate there).
nope. PhD student. I did not sit down and ask the story but it was known because it was such a thing. Don’t know if he was a baby on a raft or had a harrowing escape story or what.
Interesting. That’s a pretty rare opportunity, assuming you’re not in Russia or China (and even then, it’s still fairly uncommon).
You know im sorta wishing now I would have tried to get the story. I mean we had like half a dozen other koreans and no one seemed to treat him differently but he was not especially outgoing and that is even for a korean student who were not the most outgoing to begin with and lets face it. PhD students are not necessarily the most outgoing of the popluation at large. At the time it was just woa, but you know otherwise he seemed no different than any others. He did smoke which I did not think about it at the time as many PhD students smoked but it was not prevelent in the korean students. At least the ones I knew which is a not a super large set.
Eh, Koreans have a pretty high rate of smoking (this site claims >40% of adult men), so you’re probably just getting sampling bias if most you know don’t smoke. My SO’s friends are all anti-smoking for religious reasons, but when we visited Korea, a lot of people smoked. A lot of people in Asia smoke, it’s nuts.
But yeah, Koreans tend to stick with other Koreans. My in-laws are quite racist against non-Koreans (I get a pass), and while the younger generations are better about it, they still tend to stick with other Koreans. I had a lot of international friends growing up (Vietnamese, Japanese, Taiwanese, etc), but none of them were Korean, despite having a pretty big Korean population where I grew up. I had a good working relationship with one in college when I was dating my SO (he was super good at StarCraft, that’s not just a meme), and I helped him edit his essays.
I will say most koreans I have known are religious (and christian curiously) and come to think of it I don’t recall this guy ever mentioning religion.
TIL “increadibly small” is greater than 1/20…
? The 1-2k figure is total people defecting from N. Korea every year. This isn’t immigration, it’s people running away from N. Korea. The 16-17k figure is just S. Koreans going to the US (doesn’t include other countries).
The actual numbers of people in a given country have a much bigger gap. For S. Korea, it’s like 2.5M in the US alone (about 7-8M worldwide), whereas for N. Korea, it’s like 100-150k worldwide (mostly in China and Russia). If we take that on face value, it’s like 70x more S. Koreans vs N. Koreans worldwide outside their native countries, and if you exclude Russia and China, it’s probably well over 1000x.
Nobody will be confused if you tell them you’re American
i remember when i was 8 one of my friends told me he was american and i asked whether he was from north or south and i was so proud bc i knew there were two of them and he looked at me like i was a fucking moron
They might not be confused, but if you’re not from the US, they’ll be wrong (spoiler: America is a continent, usually broken down into North, Central, and South America (and Latin America, for hispanic countries and Brazil. Other subcategorisations of “America” the continent might exist))
I’m Canadian. We know America is the entire continent. We still don’t want to be called Americans. The US can keep that.
I’m American and also know the continents are called that and also don’t always want to be called American. But that’s the standard and what everyone uses to refer to us, until I meet some pedant who thinks they’re clever and trying to prove some kind of point as if I didn’t know or as if I chose that word myself.
The only purpose of central America is to pretend that Mexico isn’t in northern America.