If I could go to Seoul this weekend I would totally go here:http://global.seoul.go.kr/webzine/2012_june/sub01.html It’s the Seoul Town Meeting at the Global Culture & Tourism Center. The link was posted as a resource at the recently created Facebook group: “Action Against MBC and Their Racist, Biased Reporting.” MBC is a major television network in Korea that aired the above video: ” The Shocking Reality About Relationships with Foreigners”. While freedom of speech is all well and good, this program presents itself as journalism. If I had submitted this to college professors as an assignment I’d get an F on ethics, reporting, and accuracy. The video essentially depicts foreigners in Korea as immoral, lustful people who try to sleep with as many Korean women as possible while having no respect for them. Foreigners are shown leaving pregnant girls behind, stealing money from Korean women and spreading HIV (foreign teachers at least are required to go through an AIDS test if they want to teach here). Equally offensive about this video is the portrayal of Korean women as desperate individuals who crave the attention of foreign men. The Facebook group in protest of this racially demeaning video currently has over 8,000 members with a petition going around to ask for an apology from MBC. I wonder what kind of protest and outrage this has caused for the Korean community. Moreover, I wonder what kind of dialogue will emerge at the town meeting when foreign couples, perhaps even mixed couples and Koreans will have a chance to meet and discuss this topic. Korea is still a very homogenous society and the choice to air this kind of material by a major news network, with the specific label of journalism might further hinder relations between Koreans and the foreigners who are simply trying to make a decent living here.