hankyoreh

Korean name Minsu)

By Choi Woo-ri, staff reporter

It was May 29, 2013, at the annex to the Seoul Immigration Office, when Lama Dawa Pasang (38, Korean name Minsu), a Tibetan refugee and a citizen of Nepal, showed up for an interview to become a naturalized South Korean citizen.

When Minsu entered the room for the interview, he noticed a South Korean flag hanging from the wall. He put his hand over his heart and sung the first stanza of the South Korean national anthem. He also read a statement avowing his desire to become a South Korean citizen. This was an easy test for Minsu, who came to South Korea in 1998.

The interviewer asked Minsu if he knew the name of the island in the East Sea and about the meaning of Independence Movement Day on Mar. 1 and National Foundation Day on Oct. 3.

But in Jan. 2014, Minsu got an unexpected call from the citizenship and refugee department of the Ministry of Justice. They asked if he had ever been in the courtroom.

In the winter of 2010, Minsu became a victim of a redevelopment project. Since 2008, Minsu had been operating Potalla, a Nepalese and Tibetan restaurant located in front of the Myeongdong Cathedral in downtown Seoul, with his South Korean wife Lee Geun-hye, 35, whom he had married in 2006. But just after the couple went to all the trouble of setting up the restaurant, the city announced that the building would be demolished as part of a city beautification project.

In Sep. 2011, Minsu was arrested and charged with obstructing justice for blocking the entrance of the cranes and disobeying an order to disperse. On Feb. 28, 2014, the Supreme Court confirmed that he would have to pay a fine of KRW 5 million (US$4,726).

In the end, Minsu’s application for citizenship was denied. Notification of the rejection, issued in the name of the Minister of Justice, was delivered to his house in March. The Ministry explained that Minsu could not be given citizenship not only because of his criminal record but also because of his inappropriate conduct. One of the conditions for becoming a South Korean citizen according to the Nationality Act is “orderly conduct.”

It was this requirement that the National Human Rights Commission of Korea was addressing when it sent a message to the Minister of Justice in 2012. “Denying a request for naturalization because of a criminal record is a violation of the right to equality. Specific standards need to be added to the clause about ‘orderly conduct’ in order to eliminate discrimination in the process of naturalization,” the commission said.

When a Hankyoreh reporter met Minsu at his restaurant - which was relocated to Gwancheol neighborhood in Seoul’s Jongno district - on the afternoon of Apr. 2, he was dejected about the notification he had received from the Ministry of Justice.

“I worked on construction sites, and at a water parsley farm before reopening the restaurant. Korea has taught me many things, and I have been happy. Korea has also taken many things from me and has hurt me. All I’m doing is living here,” Minsu said.

Minsu was the inspiration for Kamil, the main character in the novel “Namaste” written by Park Bum-sin. Just like the character in the novel, the real-life Minsu is worn out. He said that he has not been able to take a single day off as he works to pay off a bank loan. He is the head of a household with three kids and a mother-in-law with weak legs. There are many days when he works so late that he doesn’t even get to see his three children, who are three, four, and seven years old.

“I really want to ask if there is some reason why I can’t live in Korea,” Minsu said. “To be honest, even doing this interview with you right now makes me afraid that something bad is going to happen to me again. Korea is a society in which people who put up a fight are labeled as being rebellious, after all.”

Foreigners in South Korea who are sentenced to pay a fine are categorized as being eligible for deportation, and their ultimate fate is decided according to their sojourn status.

Minsu wants to change his family name from Lama - which means high priest or chief in Tibetan - to Lee, his wife’s family name. He had no choice but to give his children his wife’s family name, and he doesn’t want to have to change their name now.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]