"Take it out to your country..." 13-year-old Leah, who was mean-spirited, cried [Report file]

Small earrings on the giblets band.

Mobile phone case with BTS picture.

13-year-old Lia (pseudonym) is very interested in fashion.

Lia was born in Mongolia and came to Korea with her Mongolian parents when she was 6 years old.

At the time of entry, I had one younger brother, who was two years old, and while I was staying in Korea, I had two more younger brothers.

All four people, including Lia, are administratively undocumented 'undocumented immigrant children'.

Lia's third and fourth younger sisters are 'domestic-born' among 'undocumented immigrant children', while Lia and the second younger brother are also called 'middle entry' cases because they were not born in Korea.

"Hello."

A tone that seems to be somewhere in puberty. The first impression of Leah that I met with my mother seemed to fit the expression that she was a bit 'tough'.

It wasn't that I was wary of reporters because I had already agreed to the interview, but I thought that I wouldn't be able to easily tell my heart. Half worried that I might make a mistake while asking a question, and half worried that I might not be able to do the interview properly. That's how the interview started.

The conversation started with light material. When asked which one is more comfortable, Korean or Mongolian, Lia answered 'cheekly', saying, "Both are very similar." It wasn't Leah's mother. Unlike Lia, she could not speak Korean at all. I had trouble hearing as well as speaking. 'Chic' Lia acted as her mother's interpreter as if familiar.

Originally, this interview was conducted to understand the treatment status of undocumented migrant children.

(The interview was held at Green Hospital, a private public hospital in Jungnang-gu, Seoul. The mother and daughter are receiving some hospital expenses through the hospital's medical expense support project for undocumented immigrant children.) So, questions to ask mothers, if their children are seriously ill They asked if they had any experiences and how they dealt with them when they were ill.

Lia forwarded the reporter's question to her mother, and her mother's answer back to the reporter.

This time I asked Leah.

A question we often ask our students is whether school is fun or how well they get along with their friends.

Lia replied, "To be honest, I don't have any friends at Korean school."

However, he said that even if he doesn't have many Korean friends, he doesn't feel uncomfortable.

It's different from my Korean friends, and I know it myself, so I don't care too much and pass it on.

Then I asked if he had ever been disadvantaged or had a bad experience because he was from Mongolia.

Leah opened her mouth this time as if nothing had happened.

“If an old woman is a foreigner… go to the centipede… go away.”

Hearing Leah's words, he paused for a moment.

It's because the naughty teenage girl suddenly cried.

I didn't expect that she would cry because I saw her interpreting and talking about her painful experiences 'coolly' next to her mother.

"In third grade."

4 years ago, I guess I wasn't used to Korean yet.

As usual, I was playing with my Mongolian friends at the playground, when an old woman approached me.

The old woman, who had never seen her face, spat out abusive language towards Leah and her friends, telling them to leave their country if they were Mongolians.

Lia said that she cried with her friends that day and thought, "Why did you have to say such harsh things to us?"

Leah's mother was sitting next to her during her interview.

When the daughter's eyes suddenly turned red while answering a reporter's question, the mother looked bewildered.

I couldn't understand my mother's Mongolian language, but it seemed like I was asking what she had said to Leah.

Leah, who was crying, did not tell her mother much.

After a while, he simply spoke a few short Mongolian words.

"I couldn't tell Mom and Dad. Because Mom and Dad are hurt..."

She is a young girl who still bursts into tears when she brings up her work four years ago, but at the same time, she grew up early because she had to decide what to say to her parents and what not to say.

Mom looked at Leah like that.

I don't know if there were any feelings shared between mother and daughter, even without words.

Although being discriminated against is the scariest thing, Lia said confidently, "All people are the same, so I don't think there is any reason to discriminate."

As I came back from the interview, I thought about Leah's 'crudeness' again.

Maybe it was a small shield that Leah and her family had prepared so that they wouldn't get hurt.

Lia already knows Korea more deeply than her parents.

It's not only because I'm good at languages, it's because I grew up seeing the real face of 'hate' hidden in various parts of our society from a young age.

Lia said that she likes BTS just like her peers.

He eats tteokbokki well, but he especially likes spicy tteokbokki.

Leah's favorite subject is 'Korean language in which if you read carefully, you can understand it, so that you can answer questions right away'.

The daily discrimination and hate experienced by undocumented immigrant children, including Lia, was also reported on SBS 8 News.

(Report: Kim A-young, Bae Jun-woo, Producer: Kim Do-kyun, Producer: D Contents Planning Department)