At a middle school in Seoul’s Guro District, where many students come from immigrant backgrounds, Seoul Education Superintendent Chung Geun-sik joins teachers, parents and students in a campaign against hate. One student’s placard reads, “Even if we are different, that’s where true friendship begins — so let’s welcome each other all the more.” (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — As far-right groups staged another anti-China rally near Daerim Station in southwestern Seoul, students at a nearby middle school responded with a counter-message: “Stop hate, start respect.”
Dozens of teenagers held placards reading “Schools should be free of hate” and “Together in diversity” as they marched through their neighborhood, which is home to one of the city’s largest Chinese and Korean-Chinese communities. More than half the students at their school are from immigrant backgrounds, and in some nearby schools the proportion exceeds 70 percent.
The rallies, which began in the tourist district of Myeong-dong, have increasingly targeted areas with large Chinese populations. On Thursday evening, students said they were baffled by the hostility. “We play and study together like everyone else,” said Joo, 15, a third-year student. “I don’t understand why adults need to protest against my friends.”
Teachers and principals warned that the demonstrations risk inflicting psychological harm on children. “Schools are where hate and discrimination show up first — but they are also where hope for overcoming them begins,” the principal said. Local educators urged tighter cooperation among city authorities, police and education offices to keep rallies away from schools.
Seoul Education Superintendent Chung Keun-sik joined the students, likening the rhetoric of the protesters to early forms of fascism. “The kind of ethnic hatred that led to the tragedy of Nazism must never be repeated here,” he said, pledging to work with police and lawmakers to bar hate rallies near schools.
For many residents, the controversy has underscored a generational divide. “Our kids know instinctively that welcoming difference means welcoming their own future,” said one elementary school principal. “It’s the adults who need to catch up.”
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
