Koreans in The Philippines - Influence On Philippine Society

Influence On Philippine Society

Korean expatriates provide a significant stimulus to the local economy; they are estimated to spend between US$800 and $1000 per month, making an aggregate contribution of over $1 billion per year in consumer spending. The Korean community in the Philippines had little influence on Philippine society until the late 1980s, when the Korean wave (the increasing popularity of South Korean television and pop music) started. Koreans' sense of fashion has also begun to influence Filipinos. However they continue to be seen as a closed group by Filipinos. Stereotypes abound on both sides: Koreans are the target of snide remarks by Filipinos for their poor English, and Filipino workers' complain of Korean managers' pushiness and short tempers, while Koreans complain of Filipinos' lack of punctuality, as well as corruption and abuse in government agencies. Furthermore, Filipinos in general perceive South Korean migration to their country as something of an oddity, as it goes against the pattern more familiar to their own experience, that of people from poorer countries migrating to more developed ones. However, the popularity of Korean television shows has served to create something of a bridge between the two communities.

The increasing prevalence of South Korean men in sex tourism to the Philippines has resulted in the birth of an estimated 10,000 children of mixed Korean and Filipino descent to unwed Filipina mothers. According to the Cebu-based Kopino Foundation, a charitable organisation started by a local Korean businessman, the largest concentration can be found in Quezon City in Metro Manila. 85 to 90% of the mothers work as bar girls or in brothels with foreign clients. As their fathers are not married to their mothers, they are unable to obtain South Korean citizenship, similar to the situation of the 50,000 Amerasians (children of Filipina women and American soldiers) as well the numerous children of Japanese sex tourists. Colloquially referred to as Kopinos (Korean language: 코피노), or Korinoy in Filipino slang, as recently as 2003 they were believed to number fewer than 1,000; another 9,000 were born from 2003 to 2008. As a result, Filipinos' perception of Korean men has taken a turn for the worse. In response, South Korean NGOs such as the Daejeon Migrant Workers Support Center, as well as locally established NGOs like the Kopino Children Center, have begun to establish branch offices in the Philippines to provide social services to the children and their mothers.

In the first half of 2010, South Koreans accounted for 25% of all foreign visitors to the Philippines, ahead of the second-place Americans at 19%. As recently as 1992, the annual number of South Korean visitors arriving in the Philippines was a mere 26,000; however, that expanded over seven times to roughly 180,000 by 1997, and then to 303,867 by 2003. Tourism arrivals continued to grow rapidly, to 570,000 in 2006, meaning that South Korean tourists formed a larger group than American tourists for the first time, and then to 650,000 by 2008. By 2011, their numbers had risen to over 925,000, and there were expectations that the figure would break one million for the first time in 2012. The rise in the number of tourists was reflected in the increasing number of flights between the two countries. In 2007, Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, and Philippine Airlines each offered one daily flight between Manila and Seoul. By 2012, there were an average of twenty-three daily flights between various destinations in the two countries.