Thai K-Pop fans join boycott against traveling to Korea due to stricter immigration standards

  • Thai K-Pop fans join boycott against traveling to Korea due to stricter immigration standards


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    Article: "I'm no longer a K-Pop fan" reasons Thai fans are boycotting tourism in Korea


    Source: KBS via Naver


    [+332, -58] No need to pay any attention to or respond to this matter. Our immigration agents are doing a great job.


    [+172, -15] There are 140,000 illegal Thai aliens in our country. They need to understand our perspective on this too. If they keep trying to turn this into a problem, they're just going to force police to deport all the Thais already here right now.


    [+85, -10] The immigration office is doing a fine job. Let's keep it up~ fighting!


    [+62, -4] Then don't be a K-Pop fan? Do you think we'll be scared of that or something? Why wouldn't our country be doing something about all of the illegal aliens here? Especially when they're bringing drugs in too?


    [+41, -10] So why are you overstaying illegally then?


    [+15, -0] Did we ever ask you to be K-pop fans? You probably only became a fan because of Lisa~ please just take Lisa back with you~


    [+13, -2] Pretty sure there are more Koreans who visit Thailand for vacation than the other way around. I wonder which country has more to lose if you boycott us like this?


    [+9, -0] I'm sad that this is happening to them but the Thai government needs to take responsibility of the illegal aliens negatively affecting these other countries


    [+8, -0] Stop and think for a second how many illegal aliens that we've had to deal with from Thailand that we've had no choice but to get stricter with admissions? Shouldn't you be telling your own people to do better? I understand that being held to such stricter standards would make me angry too but our country is not the only one with strict standards. The US is even stricter. Even celebrities have to deal with delays and anxiety because of how strict they are. Please look at this issue from an objective view.


    [+4, -0] Out of the population of illegal aliens in our country, 78% of them are Thai. That means only 2 out of 10 tourists are here on vacation and the remaining 8 stay to do illegal jobs.


    [+4, -0] That's okay, you don't have to come. Imagine how many illegal aliens we've had to deal with that we're now asking you guys not to come. Think of what you've done for it to have gotten to this point.


    [+4, -0] I understand that illegal aliens are an issue but I have seen especially harsher treatment against Thai people while traveling by plane myself. I've even seen some Thai people crying on the plane back... It's a complex issue because even the innocent people are being treated like this~~


    http://netizenbuzz.bl0gspot.com/2023/11/thai-k-pop-fans-join-boycott-against.html

  • "illegal aliens" makes it sound as if Thai people are some forbidden extra-terrestrials that have landed on planet Earth.

    This is actually a common term in English.


    Alien is used for a foreign national - and they can be legal or illegal. See Sting crooning about it:


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  • "illegal aliens" makes it sound as if Thai people are some forbidden extra-terrestrials that have landed on planet Earth.


    Perhaps, it is just a weird translation.

    I've heard that the Korean word for "foreigner" also means "alien"

    illegal alien is a term used in legal documents.

  • "illegal aliens" makes it sound as if Thai people are some forbidden extra-terrestrials that have landed on planet Earth.


    Perhaps, it is just a weird translation.

    I've heard that the Korean word for "foreigner" also means "alien"

    alien | Etymology, origin and meaning of alien by etymonline
    ALIEN Meaning: "strange, foreign," from Old French alien "strange, foreign;" as a noun, "an alien, stranger,… See origin and meaning of alien.
    www.etymonline.com


    Quote

    "foreigner, citizen of a foreign land," early 14c., from alien (adj.) or from noun use of the adjective in French and Latin. In the science fiction sense "being from another planet," from 1953



    Historically has been used for foreigners, somehow Extraterrestrial Alien took over the word and what the mass population thinks when they hear the word is ET.


    But that is a "new" cultural phenomenon. Maybe blame Hollywood.

  • This is actually a common term in English.


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    illegal alien is a term used in legal documents.

    well... English is my third language...


    and I thought Sting was singing "I'm a little alien" in that one part of the song lol

  • The Korean media were being racist and misleading. Thai tourists did not have a problem with "strict" standard but insult and discrimination. Korean officer created bullshit bar specially for Thai tourists to reject them. Rejected tourists shared following absurd questions to send them home

    - Why do you have so much cash despite your low salary? (Perhaps, because she saved up for 2 years for this trip?)

    - Why do you not remember the address number of your friend's home? (Did not allow the person to summon the friend to confirm.)

    - The hotel you booked, how many trees are there in front of it?

    - Why do you come to Korea so many times?


    Some shared the officer just detained them for hours without asking much before telling them to go home, as if just to make them suffer more.


    Thai netz also express that to blame the Thai wholly for illegal immigration is discrimination. They are so many illegal Thai laborers only because they are many illegal Korean employers. It takes 2 to tango. (The Thai chooses to be illegal labor because they cannot pass TOPIK. TOPIK level 4 is requirement to be legal laborer.)


    Some make up conspiracy theory that Korean officer just deport Thai tourists as cover up. If they are truly strict with their jobs, why are they still so many illegal immigrants? Most rejected are simply innocent tourists. Those officers take bribe from Korean employers to turn blind eyes to real illegal laborers and deport actual tourists to pretend they have been working diligently.

  • Not surprised, Korea has the mentality of never admitting to their mistakes ever. Every time I see societal issues brought up, they always either justify or do the "well other people do worse" excuse. This girl had all the required documents, and they still didn't let her in. Yes, I am aware that most illegal immigration is first done legally then the visa is overstayed. But that doesn't mean you can turn people away with no legit reason.

  • this makes no sense, cuz if she was planning to come with a legit visa and overstay it then she wouldn't visit multiple times. This girl (according to this question) has come to S.K several times and gone back home. So their reason for denying her makes no sense.

    There's a kind of logic for this one though that is a common enough question in many immigration checks in many countries.


    The suspicion sometimes is, if a traveller is making many short trips to a particular country, there's a possibility they are engaging in some kind of business or work. Not just travel.

  • I just checked and Thai nationals have visa free entry in SK, if they are really going as tourists stricter immigration control shouldn't affect tourism

  • Many things are true at once: Thai nationals ARE breaking the law and overstaying to work or using tourist visa to make business trips. The details came out and these Thai tourists complaining why they were rejected but hide the fact that they aren’t really ‘tourists’.


    There have been cases in the Thai media and most Thai people understand the strict immigration check and don’t mind it. When I visited last year, they also asked so many questions but if you are really there as a tourist, you have all the info., they won’t be suspicious. I saw a young Thai woman denied entry because she couldn’t answer any of their questions and was there to “meet her boyfriend”.


    Also, Thai people don’t need a “visa” but we need to file a “K-ETA” which is basically an electronic visa and there has been sooooooo many scams link to this. Fake representative agencies charging hundreds for a 10 dollar fee etc.! The SK Govt can do better to prevent and fix these K-ETA scams.


    Having said that, sure some Koreans look down on Thai people and discriminate. But it is not everyone.

    Edited once, last by Yinye ().

  • [+4, -0] Out of the population of illegal aliens in our country, 78% of them are Thai. That means only 2 out of 10 tourists are here on vacation and the remaining 8 stay to do illegal jobs.


    This totally doesnt make any sense 😑

    Math + logic failed

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