Is there national/ethnic discrimination against Asians in U.S. graduate school admissions and in university faculty hiring

There is quite a bit of academic research on university entry and race, mostly in US universities, so if you are interested in learning about racial discrimination in academia, this would be a good place to start. The phenomenon of discrimination against Asians in academia is well-known and has been identified regularly over the past twenty to thirty years, both in academic literature (e.g., Tsuang 1989, Wu 1995, Wong and Halgin 2011, Kim et al 2011) and in the press (see e.g., The Economist 2015). The Asian-American Coalition for Education claim that there is widespread discrimination against Asians in academia, particularly in the elite Ivy-league schools, and they provide references to a number of articles and books discussing this issue.

This issue has been studied in quite a bit of detail by the economist Thomas Sowell in the context of his research on affirmative action (an overview of his ideas on the subject is here and his recent book on the economics and politics of race is here). Sowell argues that affirmative action leads to discrimination against Asian applicants, as a consequence of this group having a higher proportion of applicants with high grades/skills. Since Asians are the "model minority", Sowell argues that the use of affirmative action in academia tends to involve a raising of the bar for entry for this group, in order to try to avoid their "overrepresentation".

Anyway, this is a big subject, and a lot has been written on it. Some users on this site may be able to give their own anecdotal experiences, but I recommend you examine this broader literature. The links I have provided will get you started, but there is also plenty more on the topic.

UPDATE: There is presently a major lawsuit against Harvard University for alleged discrimination against Asian applicants. It is alleged that Harvard admission staff have systematically down-rated Asian applicants on their "personality" in order to achieve racial balancing, consistent with the university's goal of racial diversity. @BlueRoses: If this is a topic that interests you, I cannot think of a better example than for you to watch how this legal case plays out.

I have been a faculty member in the US in mathematics for over 10 years, and involved with graduate admissions a few times. Based on my observations, there is no significant discrimination against Koreans or Asians/Asians-Americans for graduate admissions, or for hiring procedures. Implicit bias is a thing, but academics for the most part work guard against it, and as there are many highly successful East Asian mathematicians, I don't think there is so much implicit bias against East Asians in mathematics anyway.

That said, if you are applying as an international student, then diversity initiatives may produce an affect similar to reverse discrimination for graduate admissions (this is not an issue for faculty hiring). Specifically, some schools may try to aim to admit X number of domestic students and Y number of international students. (At my mid-size public university, we typically admit fewer international students because of language concerns for TA assignments, though it sounds like that would not be a concern in your case. Additionally, while you may be officially applying as an international students, since you've been in the US so long and are going to college in the US, a search committee which differentiates domestic and international applicants may treat you essentially like a domestic student anyway.)

Then some schools, may try to admit most Z students from East Asian countries, so that they can also admit Y-Z students from other regions. Because of the large numbers of strong applicants from China and Korea, this means you may be facing more competition for a spot than if you were from Antarctica. In practice, this just means it may be somewhat harder for you to get into an elite school, but if you're a strong applicant you should still be able to get into top schools.

This is more of a comment, but it fits better in the answer format, so here goes.

An attitude such as you described your father as having might seem outrageous on the face of it. However, if we remember that it is coming from his reality, perhaps it can be more constructive for you, for him, and for your relationship, if you allow yourself to absorb his attitude, without debate, and without adopting it for yourself, but with curiosity and empathy.

Can you ask him in a gentle, interested, non-confrontational way what his experiences with discrimination have been? If things are polarized between you on the issue of Is discrimination against our ethnic group real or imagined?, then he might feel suspicious when you try to interview him. It might be helpful to let him know why you're interested. (Maybe -- "Knowledge is power. I want to know more about what discrimination looks like, sounds like, smells like, feels like.")

If he's able to see that you would like to learn from his experiences, so that you can go to college with your eyes open, and with a healthy skepticism, you two may have an easier time finding common ground.