Can’t Sing the National Anthem? No S Korea Passport

choi

In-Soo Nam, Can’t Sing the National Anthem? No Passport For You. China Real Time, Oct 17, 2014
blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/10/17/cant-sing-the-national-anthem-no-passport-for-you/
(“Should you have to prove you can sing the national anthem of a country if you want it to make you a citizen?  In the US the answer is no, but in South Korea it’s a clear yes. * * * Applicants for citizenship have to sing the first of four verses of the Korean national anthem and aren’t allowed to read the words. Although Ms Choi [the Chinese applicant] failed this time, she can apply for naturalization again at a later date”)

Note:
(a) There was a South Korean male singer with the same screen name NAM In-Soo  南 仁樹.
(b) “Aegukga was written by Korean classical composer AHN Eak-tai 安 益泰 in the mid-1930s but the origins of its lyrics–praising Korea’s lands and waters as well as pledging loyalty–are unknown.”

Aegukga  愛國歌
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegukga
(national anthem of South Korea; section 3 Lyrics)
(c) “Some 20,000 foreigners apply to become Korean annually and about 60% of them pass the test, said another official at the ministry.”

I thought the number was high. Then I got the statistics for Taiwan: In 2012, 5,597 foreigners (“外籍” according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Interior 內政部) were naturalized 歸化 and became citizens. In the same year, more people from Mainland (“大陸籍”), Hong Kong and Macau immigrated (“入籍”). Mostly through marriage, in both categories.  The law 法源依據 and government agency 移民主管機關 differ for the two categories: 大陸地區與台灣地區人民關係條例（兩岸人民關係條例 for short） and 陸委會 (respectively) apply to Mainlanders, whereas 國籍法 and 外交部 to foreigners.