<Breaknews Australia=Eddy Kim>
 ▲ According to the Australian Department of Health's report, there are 269 confirmed COVID-19 cases in NSW, 121 VIC, 94 QLD, 32 SA, 35 WA, 7 TAS, 3 ACT, and 1 NT were confirmed as of 12:00 p.m. (local time), 18/03/2020 © Breaknews Australia |
The pace in which COVID-19 is spreading in Australia is alarming. NSW’s in particular, as more than half of Australia's confirmed cases take place in the state where Sydney belongs. NSW state authorities are taking a serious look at the developments.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Australia, based on data compiled by health authorities, exceeded 550 immediately after Australian Prime Minister Morrison issued a four-stage travel warning and a ban on indoor gatherings of more than 100 people. It is also noteworthy that NSW has 267 out of the total confirmed people, showing a steep trend of infection, which is more than half of Australia's total confirmed cases.
In particular, NSW is known to have between 120,000 and 130,000 Korean residents. This is a significant 1.3 percent of the state's population.
Korean residents, who have been at the center of ethnic minorities in Australia for more than 50 years in the history of immigration, are facing a complete threat to their foundation of life due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commercial districts and Korean-run companies in the Korean community have collapsed and are currently under government protection.
"I've never been hit by such a direct blow, even in the 2008 global economic crisis," said P, a Sydney resident who has been emigrating for 37 years. "It's a pity that Koreans have no interests because of the special nature of immigrant life."
Another Korean resident, J, said, "It is true that unlike other countries' communities that unite in times of difficulty, Korean residents in Australia are not united. We live in Australia. It's not Korea. It is true that the development of our homeland brings us pride, but I think it is important that our voices, the voices of the Korean residents who live here, are heard and considered as this is where we live our lives," he said.
 ▲ The cover of the 50th year of Korean history in Australia. © Breaknews Australia |
What is the reason that our existing Korean-Australian residents, who wanted to overcome and escape the outdated limitations of Korean politics and culture through immigration, fail to do so?
Some long-time, senior Korean-Australian citizens are persuasive in their opinion that the current community is unable to succeed in changing their existing thoughts and ways of thinking that they brought with them from Korea as they continue to assume that they can depend on Korea as a crutch in hard times. They put forward that this is why there doesn’t seem to be any meaningful change in the mindsets of the Korean-Australian residents.
They say that the existing Korean community leaders in Australia rely and foster relations with the very politicians in Korea that the community in Australia has tried to escape. As a result the Korean-Australian community leaders don’t change from the outdated and unreliable cultural mind-sets that they tried to leave behind in Korea. This failure to separate themselves from Korean politics and culture has caused the community to be unable to begin to foster their own identities in Australia.
The unprecedented COVID-19 incident should be a medium for Korean-Australians to pay attention to whether they will be able to find their own way of thinking, and to realise that it is time for Korean-Australians to turn their attention to each other in difficult situations so that they may foster a new identity and sense of community in Australia.
The roots of the community of Korean residents in Australia seem to be weak. This is not to say that we must abandon Korean culture entirely but in order to create a solid Korean community in Australia we need to combine the strength of our home nation Korea with the strength of our resident nation Australia. It is in this way of forward and new thinking that we will be able to grow a strong Korean community in Australia.
Meanwhile, according to the Australian Department of Health's report, there are 269 confirmed COVID-19 cases in NSW, 121 VIC, 94 QLD, 32 SA, 35 WA, 7 TAS, 3 ACT, and 1 NT were confirmed as of 12:00 p.m. (local time), 18/03/2020 and 1 WA and 4 deaths were reported. There are also 43 confirmed cases of patients who have recovered from COVID-19.
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