Ask a Korean! News: Be a Mexican, Lose Your Baby

This is just shocking.

A few days before her daughter Rosa’s first birthday, Monica Castro and the girl’s father had a violent argument in the trailer they all shared near Lubbock, Tex. Ms. Castro fled, leaving her daughter behind.

Ms. Castro, a fourth-generation American citizen, went to the local Border Patrol station. She said she would give the agents there information about the girl’s father, a Mexican in the country illegally, in exchange for help recovering her daughter.

Ms. Castro lived up to her side of the deal. But the federal government ended up deporting little Rosa, an American citizen, along with her father, Omar Gallardo. Ms. Castro would not see her daughter again for three years.

...

The agents themselves have rejected the assertion that they may have acted a little rashly.

Holding Mr. Gallardo and the girl overnight, long enough for an American court to sort things out, would have involved “a tremendous amount of money,” Gregory L. Kurupas, the agent in charge of the Lubbock and Amarillo stations at the time, testified in a 2006 deposition.

Asked to quantify the daunting sum, Agent Kurupas replied, “Well over $200 plus.”

Family Fight, Border Patrol Raid, Baby Deported [New York Times]

The Fifth Circuit court's opinion on this case can be read here. It is actually short (16 pages) and easily understandable; the Korean encourages everyone to read it. In fact, reading the actual opinion reveals another outrageous nugget of fact that the New York Times did not make clear -- the border patrol agents admitted that they knew the baby girl was a U.S. citizen. (See opinion at 14.) The Korean will spare everyone from a discussion on Federal Tort Claims Act jurisprudence, except only to say that (i) Judge Stewart in dissent has it exactly right, and (ii) the least the majority should have done is to do with concurring Judge Dennis did and give an explanation about how the discretionary function exception actually applies.

One of the biggest reasons to oppose harsh immigration laws is that such laws always end up infringing the rights of legal U.S. citizens -- and this is a clear example of such danger. Just one more day would have been enough to sort things out and avoid a separation of three years between a mother and a child. Even the worst criminal in America (who does not even have to be an American citizen!) gets days and days of court proceedings, at the expense of American taxpayers, to make sure his rights are not violated. The rights of a mother, a lawful American citizen who was on the brink of losing her baby, was at stake. The mother did all she could do legally, hiring a lawyer to file for a restraining order within hours. But her rights did not matter. The border patrol knew that the baby girl was an American citizen, but sent her out of America. Her rights did not matter either. Why? Because "we're getting rid of illegals, dey takin' er jerbs!"

When a law (or a particular implementation of a law) deprives of Americans the same rights afforded to a mass murderer, it is time to rethink that law.

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 46. Deli Spice

First, a public service announcement -- This review will be available on Library Mixer. The Korean's Library Mixer reviews will also have additional thoughts from the Korean about the band's individual albums and songs that will not be featured in this particularly series on AAK!. To join Library Mixer, check out this link.

[Series Index]

46.  Deli Spice [델리 스파이스]

Years of Activity:  1997-present? (Last album at 2006, with no announced plans for additional albums.)

Members:
Kim Min-Gyu [김민규] - Vocal
Yoon Joon-Ho [윤준호] - Bass, guitar
Choi Jae-Hyeok [최재혁] - Drum

Oh In-Rok [오인록] - Drum (former)
Yang Yong-Joon [양용준] - Keyboard (former)
Lee Seung-Gi [이승기] - Keyboard (former)

Discography:
Deli Spice (1997)
Welcome to the Deli House (1999)
Sad But True ... [슬프지만 진실...] (2000)
Drrrr! (2001)
Espresso (2003)
Bom Bom (2006)

In 15 Words or Less:  Pioneer of modern rock in Korea.

Representative Song:  Always Keep the Engine Running [항상 엔진을 켜둘께], from Drrr!

항상 엔진을 켜둘께

Always Keep the Engine Running

휴일을 앞둔 밤에

Night before the weekend

아무도 없는 새벽

Early morning with no one around

도로를 질주해서 바닷가에

Dash down the road, to the beach

아직은 어두운 하늘

Sky is yet dark

천평궁은 빛나고

Libra is shining

차안으로 스며드는 찬 공기들

Cold air seeps into the car

기다릴게

I'll be waiting

언제라도 출발할 수 있도록

So we can leave no matter when

항상 엔진을 켜둘께

I'll always keep the engine running

너와 만난 시간보다  많은 시간이 흐르고

After more time than the time I spent with you passed

그 바닷가에 다시 또 찾아와 만약 그대가 온다면

I visit that beach again, and if you come too,

항상 듣던 스미스를 들으며

Listening to Smith that we always listened to,

저 멀리로 떠나자

 Let's run far far away.

기다릴게

I'll be waiting

언제라도 출발할 수 있도록

So we can leave no matter when

항상 엔진을 켜둘께

I'll always keep the engine running

기다릴게

I'll be waiting

언제라도 출발할 수 있도록

So we can leave no matter when

항상 엔진을 켜둘께
I'll always keep the engine running

돌아오지 않더라도

Even if you don't return

난 여기에 서 있겠지

I will probably stand here

아마 엔진을 켜둔채

Probably leaving the engine running

기다릴게

I'll be waiting

언제라도 출발할 수 있도록

So we can leave no matter when

항상 엔진을 켜둘께

I'll always keep the engine running 

돌아오지 않더라도

Even if you don't return

난 여기에 서 있겠지

I will probably stand here

아마 엔진을 켜둔채

Probably leaving the engine running

Translation Note:  For those of you who don't know, Smith is an American band from 1960s.

Maybe they should be ranked higher because...  Korean representative for one of the most prevalent genre of music in the world -- which includes such enduring, iconic stars as U2 and R.E.M. -- could go a little higher.

Maybe they should be ranked lower because...  It is not clear if more daring songs of Deli Spice ever had much impact on the public. Can a band be influential if people only listened to the softer songs of its album? Plus, Korea's indie scene is only so big.

Why is this band important?

By the late 1990s, Korea's pop music culture was in a highly partisan mood. The commercialization of K-pop was well under way, filling the television with cheap dance music and banal soft rock. Responding to this mainstream trend, the counterculture demanded genealogical and doctrinal purity, deliberately taking the decibel of hard core rock to unprecedented heights.

Deli Spice presented the third way. Its music is sophisticated without being pretentious. It is elaborate without being unapproachable. Its lyrics are mostly about love and affection, but at times slightly disturbing lyrics would be carried on a light tune. (For example, Laika was Sent to Space [우주로 보내진 라이카] on Esperesso describes how the first space dog Laika slowly dies without air in a confined space.)

While such music (dubbed by some as "modern rock") has always been around in the world pop for a long time -- U2 and R.E.M. have been around for ages -- Deli Spice is likely the first band in Korea that made this type of alternative rock popular among regular music fans. The fact that Deli Spice made indie music of Korea veer away from its self-destructive tendencies makes it one of the more significant bands in K-pop history.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.

How to Hold Jesa

Dear Korean,

I came across your blog while doing a search for 제사 procedures. I can't seem to find anything in detail in English, and the Korean is way over my head. We are coming up on the 4th year since my mother passed. In the past, we have done the ceremony at a local temple that set everything up for us and we just paid and attended the ceremony. This year though, we have moved and there is no temple near us. I am thinking we are going to have to do it at home, but have no idea how or what I even need to do!

Any tips as far as food-wise, table settings, and anything else that we're supposed to do?

Thanks,

Alicia

P.S. I am the only child - and a girl by the way. It would just be me and my husband doing the ceremony.

Dear Alicia,

First off, a quick explanation on what jesa (제사) is -- jesa is a memorial ceremony for the dead. In fact, there are many different types of jesa, because technically it is a general term for memorial ceremonies of all types. The types include: myoje (묘제), held at the grave; sije (시제), held every season; charye (차례), held on major holidays like Lunar New Year's Day and Chuseok, etc. But currently when Korean people speak of jesa, they are mostly talking about gijesa (기제사) -- the kind held once a year, on the day the person passed away.

Jesa is very, very important in Korean culture. It is one of the few traditional ceremonies that Korean people still follow faithfully, often without regards to particular religion. For example, one of the reasons why Catholicism was able to make inroads with Korea faster than Protestantism is that Korean Catholics are allowed to hold jesa, per decree from Pope Pius XII in 1939. (Protestants of Korea held out longer -- while majority of Protestants in Korea do not hold jesa, a significant number still holds jesa or a modified form of one.) In fact, in a family life jesa is as important as a birthday. After all, it only makes sense that if there is a birthday, there also is a deathday.

The Korean will describe a model way of jesa below, be mindful that this ceremony is both highly adaptive and geography specific. Each family of different regions of Korea holds things with different food and different order. In fact, the Korean had to pause about whether this would be applicable to Alicia at all, because she mentioned that her jesa was held at a temple -- which could mean that her mother was a Buddhist, who have slightly different procedures.  Also, because of the convenience of modern Koreans, certain things are abbreviated. But for the sake of everyone who might be interested in a model jesa, here is one model that is fairly common.

Logistics of Jesa

First of all, who is honored by jesa? As of today, the common practice is to hold jesa (i.e. gijesa, the "deathday") for up to your (paternal) grandparents. The ancestors beyond the grandparents level are honored through the other kinds of jesa, namely the ones held on major holidays, etc. If both of one's parents passed away, a single jesa is held for both of them together, on the jesa day of the father. (You will soon notice that much of this process is pretty sexist, but that's how traditions generally are.)

Who holds a jesa? The oldest male heir does. For a jesa for parents, the oldest male heir is the oldest son. For a jesa for grandparents, assuming there is no surviving male child of the grandparents, the oldest male heir is the oldest male child of the oldest male child of the grandparents. So for example, if the Korean Parents were to pass away, the Korean -- the oldest male child of the Korean Parents -- would hold the jesa for the Korean Parents. The Korean Grandfather has already passed away, and his jesa is held by one of the Korean Uncles, who is the oldest male child among the five that the Korean Grandfather had. If the Korean Uncle passes away, the grandfather-jesa duties would go to the oldest son of the Korean Uncle, i.e. the Korean Cousin. Just to trace back a little bit further, just for fun -- the Korean Grandfather was the last child among the three brothers, so the jesa for the Korean Great-Grandfather is held at the Korean Father's Cousin's house -- who is the oldest son of the Korean Grandfather's oldest brother.

Alicia's parents apparently passed away without a son, so technically her parents do not receive a jesa because only men are allowed to hold jesa. This is one of the major reasons why having a son in traditional Korea was such a huge deal. But in modern Korea, especially in cases when parents die without a son, daughters with their husbands hold jesa nonetheless.

When exactly is the date and the time of the jesa? The correct answer is "the earliest possible time on the day the person passed away," which means the midnight of the date of death. (A common threat in Korea is "Today is your jesa day," i.e. today is the day you die.) Practically, this means that people actually gather for jesa on the day before the date of death, so that jesa may begin exactly at 12 midnight of the next day. One tricky part is that because Korea traditionally has used a lunar calendar, jesa date is also traditionally determined by lunar calendar as well -- which means it changes from year to year on a solar calendar. But in modern Korea, following only the solar calendar is acceptable.

Be sure to be dressed properly. No need to go crazy with traditional garbs, but men generally wear a suit and women wear conservative dresses. 

More after the jump.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com

Partly as a side gig and partly as a hobby, the Korean is in the process of translating an American law textbook into Korean. One thing that the Korean noticed is that English sentences -- at least the kinds that are used in law textbooks -- are generally longer than Korean ones. Relatedly, English sentences have a lot of embedding structures that, when turned into Korean, make a sentence really tiresome to read. Also, there are many instances in which the same English word has to be translated into two or more different Korean words, to ensure that the translation does not sound forced.

Calling all amateur translators -- what bedevils you as you translate English to Korean, or vice versa?

The Korean was listening to this segment of NPR this morning about the Tea Party's victory. And he could not help but think how similar Tea Party is to candlelight protesters of Korea two years ago -- especially with respect to both movements' reliance on the Internet and their self-regard as a leaderless, social-networking type of movement.

About a year ago, the Korean theorized that the problems in Korean politics might be acting as a preview to the problems in American politics. The Korean is increasingly convinced that the theory might hold water.

Ask a Korean! News: Are Korean Students Like American Students of 100 Years Ago?

Mitch Albom of Tuesdays with Morrie fame apparently thinks so. A sample:

South Koreans treat school like a full-time job plus a full-time marriage. They put in day hours and night hours, followed by weekend hours. It is not uncommon to see children in school uniforms walking home late at night. It is not uncommon to see them studying through weekends. There is private English education on top of the public education. Families split apart to improve a child's training. You hear stories about schooling that runs from sunrise past sunset, with breakfast, lunch and dinner being served in the building.

What you don't hear is cheerleading squads. What you don't hear is spring break trips to Cancún. What you don't hear is classes to boost self-esteem, to celebrate an ethnic group, to explore the arts. What you don't hear is "Glee" or "High School Musical" or other coolness-driven entertainment fantasies about high school fashion, sex, talent or jockdom.

...

There is an obsession with getting ahead here that begins with the classroom and permeates the adult workplace, where rigid hours and meager vacation days are the norm. The attitude mimics one you heard among American immigrants in the early 20th Century: "If you don't do well in school, you won't get to college, if you don't get to college you won't get a god job, and if you don't get a good job, you'll be a loser."

There is no shame in that lecture here. It is not viewed as corny or clichéd. It is part of the national pride, if not the national obsession.

How are American kids going to copy that? We're not disciplined enough, we're not hungry enough, and, most importantly, either parents don't say it enough, or if they do, kids ignore them.

...

Which, by the way, doesn't mean Korean kids are happier. It may be quite the opposite. Everywhere I went, I encountered teenagers in love with my book "Tuesdays With Morrie," because the teacher in it showed compassion and encouraged humanity, not just grades. Many kids told me, "I wish in my life I would meet a Morrie."

...

Our kids laugh more, play more sports, express themselves more openly. The kids here are serious beyond compare, and they are driven to succeed. I'm not sure which system I'd prefer, but I know they are apples and oranges, and the length of a school year is only a tiny difference.

Korea's kids just like ours, 100 years ago [Detroit Free Press, via Marmot's Hole]

It is very easy to find many, many faults to Albom's column. Albom's self-professed expertise in Korea amounts to all of one week visit to Korea. Accordingly, in the course of making this point, Albom filled the column with trite charcterizations of Korean culture. ("Gee whiz, Korean language has honorifics! How exotic!") The biggest fault is the headline. The column's headline is provocative, but the column itself makes no attempt to actually make the connection between Korea's students and America's students of 100 years ago. In fact, the Korean has to wonder why that headline was even necessary, given that the headline, standing alone, seems to suggest that Korea of today holds something good that America used to hold. But one of Albom's points is that Korea and the U.S. are apples and oranges, and America's attempt to emulate Korean educational system piecemeal is naive.

But the Korean does think that Albom's true main point, although poorly articulated, is worth considering:  that fixing America's educational system cannot be limited to nibbling around the margins of the system. Instead, it will take a holistic look at the major forces that fuel and animate the system, and direct such forces to the way we want them to go.

In fact, that is a point similar to the one that Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson makes:

"Reforms" have disappointed for two reasons. ... The larger cause of failure is almost unmentionable: shrunken student motivation. Students, after all, have to do the work. If they aren't motivated, even capable teachers may fail.

Motivation comes from many sources: curiosity and ambition; parental expectations; the desire to get into a "good" college; inspiring or intimidating teachers; peer pressure. The unstated assumption of much school "reform" is that if students aren't motivated, it's mainly the fault of schools and teachers. The reality is that, as high schools have become more inclusive (in 1950, 40 percent of 17-year-olds had dropped out, compared with about 25 percent today) and adolescent culture has strengthened, the authority of teachers and schools has eroded. That applies more to high schools than to elementary schools, helping explain why early achievement gains evaporate.

Motivation is weak because more students (of all races and economic classes, let it be added) don't like school, don't work hard and don't do well. In a 2008 survey of public high school teachers, 21 percent judged student absenteeism a serious problem; 29 percent cited "student apathy."

School reform's meager results [Washington Post]

The Korean does think that there are many tangible things of Korean educational system from that American educational system can emulate, including longer school hours. (To be sure, this is not an exhortation that American education system to become exactly like Korean educational system, which has plenty of faults of its own.) But as Albom and Samuelson point out, ultimately it will take a change of attitude to truly achieve reform. The Korean thinks such change is possible, but only over a long period of time following a series of reforms toward a consistent direction. But that's a topic for another day.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 47. Solid

[Series Index]

47.  Solid [솔리드]

Years of Activity:  1993-1997

Members: 

Lee Joon [이준] - Rap
Kim Johan [김조한] - Vocal
Jeong Jae-Yoon [정재윤] - Vocal

Discography:

Regular Albums

Solid Vol. 1 (1993)
Dream [꿈] (1995)
Light Camera Action! (1996)
Solidate (1997)

Special Albums

Solid Live (1996)
Solid to be Unlimited Solid (1999) - compilation

In 15 Words or Less:  The herald of R&B in Korea.

Representative Song:  Holding the End of This Night [이 밤의 끝을 잡고], from Dream

이 밤의 끝을 잡고

Holding onto the End of This Night

다신 널 볼 수 없겠지

I will never be able to see you again

나의 입술이 너의 하얀 어깨를 감싸 안으며

My lips hugged your white shoulders

그렇게 우린 이 밤의 끝을 잡고 사랑했지만

Although we loved like this, holding onto the end of this night

마지막 입맞춤이 아쉬움에 떨려도

The last kiss might tremble in longing

빈손으로 온 내게 세상이 준 선물은

To me, who arrived with empty hands, the gift the world gave me

너란 걸 알기에 참아야겠지

Was you, I know, so I must endure

내 맘 아프지 않게

So my heart does not break

그 누구보다 더 행복하게 살아야 해

You must live happier than anyone else

모든 걸 잊고

Forgetting everything

이 밤의 끝을 잡고 있는 나의 사랑이 더 이상 초라하지 않게

So my love holding onto the end of this night does not become more pathetic than it is now

나를 위해 울지마 난 괜찮아

Don't cry for me, I am ok.

[Narration]

그래 어쩌면

Yes, perhaps

우린 오랜전부터 우리의 사랑에 어쩔수 없는 이별이 찾아 올지도 모른다고 생각했어

We since long ago have thought the inevitable separation will come to our love

하지만 울지마

But don't cry

이밤의 끝은 내가 잡고 있을테니

I will hold onto the end of this night

넌 그렇게 언제나 웃으면서 살아야 돼

You must live on, always smiling like that

제발 울지말고 나를 위해 웃어줘

Please don't cry, smile for me

제발

Please

마지막 입맞춤이 아쉬움에 떨려도

The last kiss might tremble in longing

빈손으로 온 내게 세상이 준 선물은

To me, who arrived with empty hands, the gift the world gave me

너란 걸 알기에 참아야겠지

Was you, I know, so I must endure

내 맘 아프지 않게

So my heart does not break

그 누구보다 더 행복하게 살아야 해

You must live happier than anyone else

모든 걸 잊고

Forgetting everything

이 밤의 끝을 잡고 있는 나의 사랑이 더 이상 초라하지 않게

So my love holding onto the end of this night does not become more pathetic than it is now

나를 위해 울지마 난 괜찮아

Don't cry for me, I am okay.

나의 가슴으로 너와 함께 나누었던 이 밤을 간직한 채

Keeping this night that my heart shared with you

잠시 널 묻어야 하겠지

I must bury you for the moment

나의 눈물이 널 붙잡고 있지만

My tears are holding you now but

니가 힘들지 않게 웃으며 보내야 겠지

I must send you away with a smile so that you no longer feel pain

내 맘 아프지 않게 그 누구보다 더 행복하게

So my heart does not break, be happier than everyone

모든 걸 잊고

Forgetting everything

 이밤의 끝을 잡고 있는 나의 사랑이 더 이상 초라하지 않게

So my love holding onto the end of this night does not become more pathetic than it is now

나를 위해 울지마 난 괜찮아

Don't cry for me, I am okay.

Translation Note:  Does anyone have a better suggestion for 아쉬움 and 초라하다? Also, the sentence construction in English became decidedly inelegant and unpoetic -- the Korean welcomes suggestions.

Maybe they should have been ranked higher because...  Being the granddaddy of a major style like R&B could count for more.

Maybe they should have been ranked lower because...  They had a relatively short run.

Why is this band important?

American pop music always had a strong influence over Korean pop music from the very beginning. Most major trends in K-pop -- the advent of rock n'roll in Korea, for example -- had a precursor trend in the United States that occurred a few years earlier, which was later trickled into Korea and adjusted to fit the local sensibilities. But beginning in mid-1990s, the flow became much, much more accelerated. Solid was riding the beginning of that wave. The three members of Solid were Korean Americans from California, and arguably the ones who started off the steady stream of Korean Americans who hit it big in Korean pop music scene -- a major trend in K-pop in its own right.

A few K-pop artists tried out R&B prior to Solid's appearance, but none was as committed to the genre as Solid was. With good voice and considerable (albeit not necessarily overwhelming) talent, Solid managed to popularize R&B as a genre in Korea. Strictly speaking, Solid's music was OK, but not exactly earth-shattering. But they had enough talent and the "it" factor to popularize a wholly new kind of music in Korea -- the kind will go on to forming a major branch (or perhaps sub-branch) of K-pop, paving the way for more talented musicians to pursue the genre and transform it to reflect Korean sensibilities. (For example, Brown Eyes.) While no R&B artist in Korea may properly be called "world-class" at this time, the day when a world-class Korean R&B artist emerges does not seem to be too far off, considering the globally increasing popularity and likewise increasing quality of K-pop. And when that day does come, that artist will have Solid to thank.

Interesting Trivia:
Both Kim Johan and Jeong Jae-Yoon married women three years older around the same time.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.

In another step toward the Arizona's anti-immigration law's inevitable demise, the Third Circuit restated the proposition that should have been obvious:  state laws attempting to regulate immigration are preempted by federal immigration laws. While the opinion is not 100 percent congruent with what the Korean wanted, it nonetheless is a gem. The court curtly characterizes one argument by the city that enacted illegal immigration ordinances as "disingenuous" -- the closest a court will ever come to calling someone a liar (at p. 130).

If you are not particularly inclined to read the 188-page opinion, Above the Law has a quick-hitting summary.

The Third Circuit Respects Supremacy -- A Lesson Arizona Will Soon Learn [Above the Law]

Absolutely, absolutely FASCINATING racial data crunching from Gizmodo. Just go read it.

The Real 'Stuff White People Like’ [Gizmodo]

A profile of Korean woman who obtained her driver's license at her 960th try, on the New York Times. A sample:

This diminutive woman, now known nationwide as “Grandma Cha Sa-soon,” has achieved a record that causes people here to first shake their heads with astonishment and then smile: She failed her driver’s test hundreds of times but never gave up. Finally, she got her license — on her 960th try.

For three years starting in April 2005, she took the test once a day five days a week. After that, her pace slowed, to about twice a week. But she never quit.

Hers is a fame based not only on sheer doggedness, a quality held in high esteem by Koreans, but also on the universal human sympathy for a monumental — and in her case, cheerful — loser.

At First She Didn’t Succeed, but She Tried and Tried Again (960 Times) [New York Times]

Ask a Korean! News: Gay Rights in Korea Today

Dong-A Ilbo had a good article summarizing the state of gay rights in Korea today, at the decade mark when Hong Seok-Cheon -- the first celebrity homosexual of Korea -- came out of the closet. Below is the translation:

A Decade Since Hong's Coming-Out -- Internet is the Freedom Zone for Homosexuality

Gaming Industry Changes the Banned Words

It has been a decade since Hong Seok-Cheon, a TV personality, came out of the closet in September 2000. While it is an undeniable reality that there remains feelings of aversion toward homosexuals, discrimination against homosexuals online, at least, has improved for the better. Starting this year, homosexuality-related words such as "gay" or "lesbians" that were not allowed to be used in online games have now escaped from the list of banned words. "The Guide to Wholesome Gaming Language," put out by Korea Creative Content Agency, deleted such homosexuality-related terms as "gay" from its list of banned words. But offline, namely in everyday life, it is true that homosexuality is still an awkward topic.

Homosexuality Terms are Unbarred

Since 2008, KCCA jointly with National Institute of Korean Language, publishes and distributes to gaming industry the Guide to Wholesome Gaming Language for the purpose of educating the teens who are the main users of online games. While chatting in the middle of the game or searching online, using the banned word either does not let the input go through, or appear on the screen after the banned word is automatically deleted.

The Guide, first distributed in January of last year provoked a gay discrimination controversy as it included "gay," "lesbian" and other terms indicating homosexuals, along with swear words, slangs and terms related to sexual intercourse. At the time, the human rights organizations for homosexuals claimed that "Banning words like "gay" and "lesbian" on games when those words are not demeaning expressions for homosexuals is discrimination against sexual minorities." KCCA accepted this point and revised the standard for selecting banned words, and in the process deleted 820 items including "gay," "lesbian" and "homo." KCCA explained, "After reviewing the list of banned words, we deleted all homosexuality-related terms because they were considered value-neutral expressions without themselves containing negative values."

Homosexuality Websites Do Well -- Some Note Too Little Regulation

Homosexuality issue may be freely searched within major domestic Internet portals such as Naver and Nate. A Naver representative said, "Our policy is not to set them as banned words unless there is a serious social problem with homosexuality," and added "But there could be restrictions if the words like "lesbian" or "gay" are searched in tandem with keywords for adult contents."

There are approximately 40 active websites and online communities geared toward homosexuals. Some sites have as many as 35,000 members. Each site allows free chatting with local gays, and shares maps of spas, DVD rooms and bars -- the so-called i-ban businesses -- that gays congregate. I-ban is a term that gays use to refer to themselves, as distinguished from il-ban. [TK: This is a pun. Il-ban means "general" or "normal", but it can also mean "class/group number one" (in a school.) I-ban means "class/group number two."]

But there are some undesirable side effects because of lax regulation online, as some sites display salacious material without setting log-in age limits. There are cases in which the initial screen of the site carries a photo invoking sexual intercourse, or just a few clicks leads to pictures of male genitalia and homosexual intercourse. Mr. Kim (Age 28), who recently came out of closet, said, "It is nice to easily search for information about gays, but some sites carry a lot of obscene pictures and movies that may lead to a wrong impression of homosexuality."

Still Cool Reception Offline

The views upon homosexuality offline is still averse. "Happy Together," a 1997 film by director Wong Kar-Wai depicting homosexuality was initially not permitted to be imported by the censors, and later opened a year later in 1998 after additional editing. Last year, "Between Friends," a Korean movie from last year depicting romance between gay youths experienced a rollercoaster ride until it opened, as the movie's trailer was judged "harmful" by Motion Picture Ratings Committee. "Life is Beautiful," a drama currently playing on SBS TV that features a homosexual couple as major characters, faced a boycott led by such conservative organizations as Korean Association of Church and Media and National Alliance Against Laws Allowing Homosexuality.

Dr. Namgung Ki, professor of psychiatry at Yonsei University School of Medicine said, "People feel extreme fear when they encounter a different set of values," and said, "There is a difference between online and offline because individual opinions are more freely expressed online, while people care more about others offline."

방송인 홍석천 커밍아웃 10년… 인터넷은 ‘동성애 해방구’ [Dong-A Ilbo]

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