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WANGTA is a curious word in Korea. It denotes a person who is isolated from the
group - an outcast. It has a counterpart in Japanese, "LIJIME". Both WANGTA and
LIJIME have negative connotations. Anybody branded such seems to be wearing
a scarlet letter. So who is a WANGTA? How does somebody become one? To start
off, Korean society is a tight-knit society governed by confucianism. Thus,
though it is democratic, and though it values freedom of expression, it expects
its citizens to conform to the mainstream values. Purity of race is one of these
values. Anybody who "swims against the tide" in this respect, such as a person
who intermarries a foreigner from a race so different from the Korean stock, for
instance to a Caucasian, is generally treated as a WANGTA. The offsprings may be
isolated too: often they feel left out in school, and in extreme cases, become
victims of violence by their peers. But of course, it's not a universal rule. As Korean
society is becoming cosmopolitan, becoming more tolerant of foreign culture,
WANGTAs are getting rare.
But a person can bring unto himself the label of WANGTA too, not by violating cultural norms, but by his personal attitudes. A person, by his arrogance, can be ostracized. To be excommunicado can be a lonely thing, and some of these WANGTAs even commit suicide out of sheer loneliness. We hear of these tragedies in the news often.
Indeed, belonging to a group, being accepted by ones peers, meeting others
expectations, are highly valued in Korean society.
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