&#91LETTERS TO THE EDITOR&#93'Foreigner' can alienate in this case

Referring to the article "Lining up to become Koreans," (February 18, 2003), I see how naturalized Korean citizens can still feel alienated from society. Despite the fact that they are now Koreans, your article calls them foreigners.

The article says:

"A growing number of foreigners are becoming naturalized in Korea, according to the Ministry of Justice. A foreigner first became a naturalized Korean in 1957. In recent years the trend has grown. Just more than 100 were naturalized in 1996, 278 in 2000 and 661 in 2001. The number jumped to 2,359 last year."

Perhaps you should have referred to the naturalized Koreans as "citizens of foreign nationalities" to describe their legal status before they obtained Korean citizenship. This is not too different from what you say, but it might ease concerns about generalizing new Koreans as "foreigners."

by Todd M. Curro