Who gets to be called 'us' in modern Korea?

I recently had to serve as the MC for an important event, placed on stage in front of a large crowd of important Korean people.

As we began, everyone was asked to stand, face the Korean flag, and sing the national anthem.

With hundreds of eyes on me, I was faced with a question: Do I put my hand on my heart like every other Korean in the room?

Or does my foreignness exclude me from that?

I had but seconds to decide.

It wasn't really about etiquette.

It was about whether I was expected to perform belonging or acknowledge exclusion.

Korean people will often jokingly remark that I’m more Korean than them.

It happens so often that I’m sure anyone with a reasonable grasp of Korean will have experienced it, too.

It happens when I’m wearing my Korean football top, drinking sanghwacha, lecturing on Korean history and culture, and so on.

They say it in jest but also with feeling and respect.

And it’s okay because we both know that what they say is not really true.

It’s like when a tourist stumbles through ordering a coffee and the owners smile and compliment them on speaking Korean s ...