Ask a Korean! News: "Journalism" in North Korea (Part II)

[Series Index]

This is a continuation of Mr. Joo Seong-Ha's discussion about "journalism" in North Korea. Below is the translated article.

*                    *                     * 

The previous post explained the types of North Korean newspapers and the lives of North Korean reporters. This post will discuss how Rodong Shinmun is organized and edited.

Rodong Shinmun has six pages per issue, which is the only North Korean newspapers to do so. Other papers have four pages. Since newspapers are folded and opened, usually they increase or decrease by four pages. A regular South Korean newspaper nowadays usually have 32 pages, sometimes going to 28 pages or 36 pages depending on the amount of advertisements it has to carry. But the six pages of Rodong Shinmun is essentially three sheets of newspaper-sized paper. So the two sheets of paper are connected, but the last sheet of paper comes out as an insert. North Korean people also refer to the first four pages as "main paper," and the fifth and sixth pages as "insert."

Newspapers around the world carry the most important news of the day on the front page. But the front page of a North Korean newspaper carries stories about the current status or deification of Kim Jong-Il, making it the least readable page. North Koreans simply glance over the front page, and turn it over. Day after day, the contents of that page rarely change. In the 1990s when I was living in North Korea, the front page usually carried a story of Kim Jong-Il visiting a military base. Even a collection of years' worth of newspapers rarely sees any change in the pictures and the stories on the front page.

The front page usually carries a picture of an expressionless Kim Jong-Il, standing with soldiers stiff with tension. In the second page, there are pictures of Kim Jong-Il smiling while examining the different parts of the base guided by high ranking officers, pictures of soldiers putting on a performance before Kim Jong-Il, pictures of Kim Jong-Il visiting the mess hall, appearing to be satisfied while holding a cucumber or herbs. Of course, North Korean people are fully aware of the common knowledge that the vegetables at the mess hall are not available all the time -- they are collected at the battalion level to make Kim Jong-Il happy, and the officers take them back after Kim Jong-Il leaves.

North Koreans have been seeing this same picture for over a decade.

Kim Jong-Il's visit, reported on Rodong Shinmun

The stories on the front page usually discuss that on so-and-so day, Kim Jong-Il gave an on-site instruction for such-and-such base of the People's Army, accompanied by so-and-so, giving an address about such-and-such that inspired the troops, etc. -- and the stories are the same all the time. Even the course of Kim Jong-Il's visit is the same: first, pay respect at Kim Il-Sung's memorial, then climb up the fortress, then visit the mess hall and then watch an "impromptu" performance at the hospital beds, then concluded with gifts of binoculars and automatic guns and a group picture. I saw this every year for five years before I defected.

Therefore, North Korean people rarely care about the front and second pages. Even the third page covers the stories of the mercy and virtue from the party and the leader, and the loyal subjects who did certain things to repay the mercy, etc. -- all stories about which North Koreans do not care. The most popular pages for North Koreans are the fifth page covering South Korea, and the sixth page covering international affairs. On this topic, I will elaborate further in the next post.

The text on Rodong Shinmun is written horizontally, and Chinese characters or English alphabets are rarely used. The paper is 40.5 cm horizontally, 54.5 cm vertically. Compared to a South Korean paper, it is longer horizontally by 1 cm. It has eight columns, which make it appear a little cramped compared to South Korean newspapers which usually use seven columns. It uses eight point Myeongjo font, which is very small. But when it refers to either the names or quotes of Kim Il-Sung or Kim Jong-Il, a different font is used to make them more noticeable. This stylistic rule is common to all newspapers and magazines of North Korea.

North Korean newspapers, including Rodong Shinmun, have no section for advertisement in an attempt to repudiate commercialism. Because of that, all six pages are completely filled with news articles. Considering the smallness of the font and the fact that the entire page is filled with articles, Rodong Shinmun would be about the same as a 12-page South Korean newspaper in terms of the amount of stories. However, the local Pyongyang Shinmun occasionally carries a notice that a certain store is selling a certain product. Of course, if you asked a North Korean reporter, he would absolutely deny that the story is an advertisement, and insist that it is an informational service for the people.

It does not appear that a North Korean newspaper will carry an ad any time soon, as Kim Jong-Il himself severely dislikes advertisements. In a meeting with the heads of South Korean media held in August 2000, Kim Jong-Il said: "I really like KBS TV because it has no commercial. I only watch KBS [among South Korean TV stations.] I also like NHK [Japanese TV station] because it doesn't have any ads, it has good coverage on international affairs, and its programs are gentleman-like and conservative. But I am not even sure if the Chinese CCTV and Russian TV are officially run, because they are such a mess. There should be a TV station that presents the national voice, without the ads ... I respect NHK and BBC."

Because of Kim Jong-Il's preference, anyone who dared to put on an advertisement would immediately face a burial. And of course, no one would even try without wanting to wager his life. Considering that, Rodong Shinmun might be the most expensive paper in the world on which to advertise.

As an aside, in the same meeting with South Korean media chiefs, Kim Jong-Il drew attention by praising the North Korean media: "North Korean media may not be as quick as South Korean ones, but they do not fall behind South Korean ones when it comes to accuracy. We are far more accurate." I don't know if he truly believes that North Korean newspapers are accurate -- but it will be strange if he truly believes that. Kim Jong-Il also said he reads all North Korea-related news in South Korean newspapers, and even said that he is enjoying a serial novel being carried on Seoul Shinmun.

This post was heavy on Kim Jong-Il, but I had no choice -- North Korean media is so strictly based on Kim Jong-Il's orders that without referring to Kim Jong-Il, there is no way to explain North Korean media. Once we glean the media philosophy of Kim Jong-Il, we can easily resolve the curiosity about why North Korean media behaves a certain way. Then how would North Korean people receive the North Korean newspapers so thoroughly observant of Kim Jong-Il's preference? That is the story for the next post.

김정일이 재미있게 보는 남한신문은? [North Korea Real Talk]

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

The Korean gave a podcast interview for Korea Economic Institute. You can listen to it here.

Today, TK Learned:

... that it is beginning to get awfully cold.

• Korea stands ready for a potential currency crisis. [Financial Times]
• Japan is doing a lot better than you think. [Naked Capitalism]
• But China might be doing worse than you think. [China Law Blog]
• Read this if you are even thinking about getting into law:  “I thought about being a lawyer. You know, Dad, I really love you. But basically you help big companies that did it get off the hook.” [Above the Law]
• You will be surprised to find which cities are the fastest growing cities in the world. [Foreign Policy]
• Here is late Prof. Derrick Bell's interest convergence theory in action: the OWS protesters are mostly white, formerly middle class folks who never really cared about inequality until they themselves began receiving the short end of it. The poorest 10% (which is overwhelmingly comprised of minorities) will benefit from whatever OWS gets, but only to the extent the 89% is satisfied. [New York Times]

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

Grand Bargain with North Korea Will Not Look Like This

The good folks at Bulletin of Atomic Scientists alerted the Korean to this article, Time for a Grand Bargain in North East Asia, by Professor Walter C. Clemens. This is a timely piece, as the talks between U.S. and North Korea held earlier in Geneva ended again with a whimper. Prof. Clemens, expert in diplomatic negotiation tactics with former communist countries, believes that there is a bargaining room for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. The outline for his proposed grand bargain contains these points:

● Diplomatic relations should be established between the United States and Democratic People's Republic of Korea and between the Republic of Korea and the North.

● A peace treaty ending the Korean War should be signed by Washington (for the UN), Seoul, Pyongyang, and Beijing.

● Area countries should reaffirm that all of Korea is a nuclear-free zone; the International Atomic Energy Agency should verify dismantlement of nuclear weapons; and all parties should renew their commitments to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

● The United States should agree to supply fuel oil and electric power facilities to the North equal to those pledged in the 1994 Agreed Framework. All parties should agree to build a pipeline that brings Siberian oil and gas to both Koreas on terms advantageous to each country -- an idea approved by the North's Kim Jong-il and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last summer.

● North Korea should permit direct foreign investment and business operations and reaffirm the property rights of all enterprises the South establishes in the North.

● All parties (including Japan and Russia) should agree to share their resources and know-how with the North and to facilitate its participation in international trade and banking organizations.

● The North and South should agree to reduce all branches of their armed forces by 50 percent in stages from 2011 to 2015.

● The UN and the US and its partners should end all sanctions against the North.

● Both Koreas should agree to a demilitarized zone in the waters near their border, in which neither bases nor maneuvers are permitted. The South would retain the five islands it was awarded in 1953, but fishermen from the North and South could operate in the West Sea up to the waters under Chinese jurisdiction.

The Korean is loath to criticize someone who clearly has better expertise than he. Prof. Clemens has been studying negotiating with communist countries since the 1950s. He has an impressive number of publications, including a book that deals with negotiation tactics with North Korea. In contrast, the Korean is just a guy who reads a lot of news. So please take the Korean's position for what it's worth:  I think this proposed grand bargain is delusional, and based on a fundamentally incorrect understanding of North Korea.

(More after the jump.)

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

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 24. Lee Seung-Hwan

[Series Index]

24. Lee Seung-Hwan [이승환]

Years of Activity: 1989-present

Discography:
B.C. 603 (1989)
Always (1991)
My Story (1993)
Human (1995)
Cycle (1997)
The War in Life (1999)
Egg (2001)
Karma (2004)
Hwantastic (2006)
Dreamizer (2010)

Representative Song:  For a Thousand Days [천일동안], from Human

천일동안
For a Thousand Days

천일동안 난 우리의 사랑이 영원할거라 믿어왔었던거죠
For a thousand days, I believed that our love will be eternal
어리석게도 그런줄로만 알고 있었죠
Foolishly, that's how I thought
헤어지자는 말은 참을 수 있었지만
I could endure your goodbye, but
당신의 행복을 빌어줄 내 모습이
I, who will wish for your happiness,
낯설어 보이진 않을런지
Might appear strange to you

그 천일동안 알고 있었나요
For those thousand days, did you know
많이 웃고 또 많이 울던 당신을 항상
That you, who laughed a lot and cried a lot, were always
지켜주던 감사해하던 너무 사랑했던 나를
Protected, appreciated and loved too much by me
보고 싶겠죠
You will be missed
천일이 훨씬 지난 후에라도 역시 그럴테죠
And it will be that way long after a thousand days
난 괜찮아요
I will be fine
당신이 내 곁에 있어줬잖아요
Because you were by my side

그 천일동안 알고 있었나요
For those thousand days, did you know
많이 웃고 또 많이 울던 당신을 항상
That you, who laughed a lot and cried a lot, were always
지켜주던 감사해하던 너무 사랑했던 나를
Protected, appreciated and loved too much by me
보고 싶겠죠
You will be missed
천일이 훨씬 지난 후에라도 역시 그럴테죠
And it will be that way long after a thousand days
잊지마요 우리사랑 아름다운 이름들을
Please don't forget our love, those beautiful names

그 천일동안 힘들었었나요
For those thousand days, was it hard for you
혹시 내가 당신을 아프게 했었나요
Did I perchance cause you pain
용서해요 그랬다면 마지막 일거니까요
Forgive me, if I did that, that will be the last time
난 자유롭죠 그 날 이후로
I am free since that day
다만 그냥 당신이 궁금할 뿐이죠
I only am curious about you
다음 세상에서라도 우리 다시는 만나지마요
Even in the next world, may we never meet.

Translation note:  The Korean is having a hard time finding an elegant English equivalent for 헤어지다 and 이별. Any suggestion?

In 15 words or less:  One of the twin peaks of Korean ballads of the 1990s.

Maybe he should be ranked higher because...  In the 1990s, "ballad" was as big as boy/girl bands are today. Lee was at the top of that trend.

Maybe he should be ranked lower because...  The ballad era faded away, and Lee did not leave any lasting imprints.

Why is this artist important?
This series previously mentioned the prevalence of "ballad" -- sappy soft rocks with a clear rise-climax-denouement structure a la My Heart Will Go On -- in Korea of the late 1980s-early 1990s. However, for a K-pop fan who has not lived in Korea in that time period, the dominance of ballad was difficult to capture. You think it's bad now with boy/girl group blaring dance music that all sound the same? Replace that dance music with Celine Dion-esque soft rock, and that was Korean pop music scene of late 1980s-early 1990s. (The only thing that held ballad back from total annihilation of all other music is the burgeoning trend of generic dance music -- which would become the mainstream in the 2000s.)

It must be said that ballad was, for the most part, just as dumb as the dance numbers that dominated the next decade. The entire selling point was the saccharine, tear-jerking lyrics delivered in a predictably dramatic tune. If Korean drama could take a musical form, it would be ballad. (It is, therefore, not a surprise that ballad is heavily featured in the soundtracks of Korean dramas!) And much like the boy/girl band music of today, much of the ballad from the 1980s/90s is completely forgettable.

But not Lee Seung-Hwan. Along with another artist to be ranked on this later, Lee formed the two greatest peaks of ballad artists. As a gifted singer/songwriter, his lyrics are understated, but the songs are delivered with utmost sincerity. He was also renowned for his explosive live performances. Although he could not completely get away from the "ballad singer" label applied to him by virtue of his massive success in that genre, Lee continuously explored and experimented with new and different types of music. As a fitting representative for one of the most significant musical trend in Korean pop music, Lee Seung-Hwan deserves his spot here.

Interesting trivia:  Lee Seung-Hwan is one of the few Korean pop artists who have their own record label.

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

Today, TK Learned:

... that yawning could dislocate your jaw. Almost happened twice today.

• IBM Korea is making an effort to hire LGBT candidates. [The Economist]
• According to World Bank, Korea is 8th easiest place to do business in the world. [World Bank: Doing Business]
• African American sellers on eBay get 20% less for the same product. [Chris Blattman]
• Japanese is not an imprecise language at all, and other observations about translating Murakami. [The Atlantic]
• Camera maker Olympus is involved in some suspicious payments, and Japanese corporate governance is awful. [The Economist]
• People who speak languages without a future tense tend to save more. Would be interested to know if Korean is considered a language with or without a future tense. (It's kind of both.) [PRI's The World]
• Small business will not save the economy. Just ask Italy and Greece. [Think Progress]

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

Can Non-Koreans be Korean Actors?

Dear Korean,

I have been doing some acting and modeling in Brazil, China, Thailand, etc. for some time now. I love acting and I'm planning in going to Korea to get a degree on acting there. How is the acting bussiness for Westerners in Korea? I know that Koreans are a little bit racist towards skin colour and some other things, so I think this could be a barrier for entering the business.

The Working Actor

Dear Working Actor,

Although it is true that Koreans can be racist, that is hardly a barrier for a non-Korean to get into acting. In fact, Korea's racism often helps a non-Korean find an acting/modeling job, provided that the said non-Korean is (or appears to be) white. Especially when it comes to modeling/acting for advertisements, the field is wide open for attractive non-Koreans.

Of course, whether or not this trend is
a good thing is a completely separate discussion.
(source)

If you can somehow get yourself to speak Korean fluently, you will have absolutely no problem finding gigs as an actor. After all, Korean dramas and movies occasionally feature non-Koreans, and decent-looking non-Koreans who can speak Korean fluently are hard to find. When the Korean was younger, there were exactly four non-Korean actors who ever showed up on TV -- two women and two men, playing every single role that required a white person in a Korean drama.

(If you are curious, the two men were Robert Holley and Charm Lee [born as Bernhard Quandt], and the two women were Ida Daussy and .... blanking on the other woman's name. She was older than Daussy. Does anyone remember?)

Of course, it is highly unlikely that a non-Korean will be a top star in Korean acting scene. In all likelihood, a non-Korean actor will be typecast into a minor role. It might be enough to make a living, but stardom is improbable. But there is at least one case where a non-Korean character was cast as a lead for a big-budget Korean drama. Tamra, the Island depicts a story of a British sailor who gets shipwrecked in Jeju island in the 17th century. The role of "William" the sailor was played by Pierre Deporte (also known as Hwang Chan-Bin), a French actor who cannot look more different from Koreans:

If you really need help, Deporte is the guy on the right.
(source)

Deporte's selling point, again, was his fluent Korean, acquired through his Korean stepmother. Although the show was unfortunately cancelled in the middle of the season, it had enough niche support for a DVD edition that contained additional episodes. So there is at least one precedent for a non-Korean actor to be a legitimate star in a Korean drama. Given that it took Asian Americans more than a century of living in America before there was a TV show about us (and a cringe-worthy one at that,) the Korean would say Korea is actually making a decent progress.

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

Ask a Korean! Wiki: What is Your Fantasy I Am A Singer Lineup?

The Korean is a huge fan of a Korean reality show called Survival: I am a Singer [나는 가수다]. The premise of the show is simple yet irresistible. Seven well-known singers compete for two weeks, sometimes with a song of their choice, other times with a song designated to them. The singers (or their staff) arrange the songs, stage effects and generally put on a show. At the end of each show, 500 audience members -- who are selected with an even distribution in age groups, so that the audience is not dominated by screaming fangirls -- vote the top three singers. After adding up the two week tally, the last place is taken off the show and the new singer comes on.

Needless to say, the show has been a massive hit -- which made the Korean realize:  it will be just a matter of time before Hollywood catches on. Sooner or later, there will be an American copy of I am a Singer on network television, because that's what American television people do. (Of course, this is not to say only American television people shamelessly copy TV show ideas.)

If the trend is inevitable, why not join it? Surely there must be a Hollywood intern scouring the Internet right now, looking for new show ideas. Perhaps this post can push the American version of the show in a manner that we want. So here is a fun little exercise: what would be your dream lineup of I am a Singer USA? Be sure to remember that you are not simply indulging in your wildest dream, but actually trying to come up with a reasonable lineup for a sustainable show. To that end, consider these formulas that the actual show has been following:

• The singers should be one of three things: (1) a former superduperstar who has been out of the limelight for a few years; (2) a very talented artist who has a niche appeal but not known to broad mainstream audience; (3) up-and-coming young artist who is talented but not very well known. In other words, these type of people cannot be on the show: (a) artists who are currently at a very high level in terms of public appeal (e.g. Lady Gaga); (b) untalented pretty puppets (e.g. Justin Bieber).
• There should be diversity in musical genre. The very first lineup of I am a Singer featured: R&B/Reggae singer, two soft rock singers with very distinctive voices, a rock band, two "classical" R&B singers and a dance/pop singer. The current lineup features a hair rocker, alternative rock band, three soft rock singers, a rapper and an old time diva who sings everything.
• There should be diversity in age and career, to include old time legends as well as younger generation.
• There should be diversity in musical stature. You cannot fill the show with seven hyper-legends, because that lineup is not sustainable. The lineup must include top-tier, mid-tier and indie stars.
• Be mindful of the budget. I am a Singer might be the most expensive show program in Korean television history, because each of the singers commands high premium. The show was made possible only because Korea's version of iTunes bankrolled the show, out of the expectation that the songs from the show (which will be owned by the bankrolling company) will sell extremely well online. They were correct. But even still, the budget is not unlimited.

The Korean will add one more requirement: since we are trying to envision a sustainable show, create a two-deep lineup. In other words, come up with the "starting" lineup of seven artists, and have a backup lineup of seven artists.

With these caveats in mind, create your own lineup! The Korean's proposed lineup is after the jump.

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

Five Year Anniversary Special: Top 10 AAK! Posts

Dear readers,

Today, Ask a Korean! is five years old.

The Korean really could have never envisioned how far this blog would go. It was meant to be a hobby to kill the ample leftover time as a law student. AAK!'s visitor count hovered at two digits per day for a long time. A question would come maybe twice a week.

Now, AAK! receives thousands of visitors every day -- around 2,500 to 3,000 unique visits and 4,500 to 6,000 pageviews, to be exact. The total visitor count for the last five years is over 1.7 million, and increasing every day. The questions hit the Korean's inbox every two to three hours. Through the blog, the Korean came to meet incredible people with incredible stories. Each time there is a major news coming out of Korea, the visitor count spikes up -- which means people think of what this humble blog has to say when there is something important about Korea. That is such a great form of compliment that the Korean is just at a loss for words. Thank you everyone, for visiting and reading.

For the fifth anniversary, the Korean wants you, the readers, to indulge him a little bit. Please tell the Korean in the comment section about how you found AAK!, how long you have been reading it, and why you keep coming back if you do.

Now, without much further ado, here is the list of top 10 posts in AAK! history, based on the number of pageviews:

1. Korean men.
2. "Oppa"
3. How to tell who is Korean.
4. Why StarCraft is popular in Korea.
5. "Fan Death"
6. Dog meat.
7. How the Korean learned English.
8. Gays in Korea.
9. Korea's racism against African Americans.
10. Plastic surgery in Korea.

This list probably represents the broader interest in Korea from the English-speaking crowd. Now, here is the list of top 10 posts in AAK! history that you, the readers, selected:

1. How the Korean learned English
2. "Fan Death"
3. Gyopo identity
4. Letter to Non-Asians
5. Dog meat
6. How to tell who is Korean.
7. Particles in Korean grammar
8. Why you shouldn't use first names in Korea.
9. Language split personality
10. Dollimja

There you have it. This list means a lot more to the Korean, because they are the posts that the real live readers cared to vote on. Again, thank you so much, for everything.

Here's to another great five years!

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

Today, TK Learned:

... that he loves learning about insider trading law.

• Michelle Rhee had ups and downs as a D.C. Chancellor of Education. [Washington Post]
• High housing cost leads to decline in fertility. Very applicable to Korea. [The Economist]
• Why do people still think Groupon is a multi-billion dollar business? How is it different from the junk mail that you throw out of your mailbox every day? [New York Times]
• You would think people would favor distributive justice during a recession, but the opposite is true. [Marginal Revolution]
• Illegal immigrants are leaving Alabama and Georgia, crops are rotting in the field, but unemployment is still high. But dey took our jerbs, right? [The Economist]
• Technical proficiency first, creativity second: "Once you learn the technique, then you can be a creative cook ... [y]ou have no choice as a professional chef:  you have to repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat until it becomes part of yourself:" [New York Times]
  
• Urban Dictionary has a definition of "oppa". [Urban Dictionary]

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

Ask a Korean! Wiki: How is Korea different from Korean dramas?

Dear Korean,

I was born and raised in France, growing up we had a lot of TV shows from the United States, and although they were fictions they somewhat gave me a good idea of how people lived in the United States. The first time I came to the US, I was actually surprised of how "accurate" they were and since I have been living in the US for many years, I still think that these shows were a good introduction to the US way of life.

So the question is: Are Korean Dramas a good introduction to Korean culture?

Celine T.

Of course, it is always a tricky thing to glean a country by the way it is depicted in a TV show. For example, although the Korean has visited the beaches of America many times over, he has never seen this type of thing...

In slow motion, too.
(source)

... ever happening. Nope, the lifeguards usually wear shorts and sometimes a shirt. And in case of an emergency, they usually run as fast as they can, not in slow motion.

But all jokes aside, TV shows often do provide a clue about a given country is like, particularly for those who have hardly any idea about that country. If you knew absolutely nothing about Korea, you will know at least something about Korea after having watched a Korean drama, however distorted and out of perspective that knowledge may be. However, the trouble for the Korean is -- he learned about Korea by being born there, and he never watches Korean dramas.

So the Korean will tweak the question a bit, and ask for the readers' input here. Do you watch Korean drama? Have you visited Korea? If your answer is yes to both, how was Korea similar to, or different from, what you observed in Korean dramas? The Korean is really looking forward to the answers for this one.

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

Live Chat - 10/18/2011

Live Chat -- Tonight at 10 p.m. EST

We haven't done this in a while, so let's chat! Simply come to the blog at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Talk to you later!

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

Today, TK Learned:

... that he is well past the age when he could comfortably eat an entire Chipotle burrito.

• Libertarians have a startling tendency to apologize for autocracy. [Salon]
• What does moral absolutism look like? Make sure to read the underlying article by Prof. Jeremy Waldron. [Opinio Juris]
• Ivy League is Indian students' safety school. [New York Times]
• The Korean always knew that Korea's minimum wage was low, but it's pretty stark when represented as a graph comparing against other countries. [Financial Times]
• Although this author focuses more on looking for the outliers, the overall trend is clear:  excellent working memory and deliberate practice are usually required for greatness. [Scientific American]
• Did the union make flight attendants less attractive? One thing to consider -- Korea's airlines are also highly unionized, but their flight attendants far, far surpasses those of American flight attendants in term of attractiveness. [USA Today]

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

Ask a Korean! News: Presidential Speech on KORUS FTA

As you might have heard, Korea and United States entered into a free trade agreement on October 12, 2011. This is the largest free trade agreement for the United States since the North American Free Trade Agreement came into force in 1994.

The Korean is mostly left-leaning in his politics, which means he is not a fan of Korea's current president Lee Myung-Bak. However, the Korean is not so small to acknowledge that President Lee gave a great speech before the U.S. Congress -- which was received by 45 instances of applause. Please do read the entire speech, which essentially captures how the Korean feels about his two homes, United States and Korea. The two countries are friends, and they both need each other.

But then again, everyone is a critic. The Korean also liked Professor Robert Kelly's essay on what President Lee should have said before the Congress. Please also take a look at that post as well.

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

Ask a Korean! News: "Journalism" in North Korea (Part I)

[Series Index]

The ever-awesome Mr. Joo Seong-Ha began running a series about "journalism" in North Korea, particularly with respect to the official newspaper, Rodong Shinmun. Below is the translation.

*                       *                      *

In North Korea, journalists are usually depicted as the party's "trumpeteer," holding down the forefront of the ideological battle line -- because it is the media and the journalists who work for it that are directly in charge of the brainwashing education, such as deification of Kim Jong-Il's family line or popular propaganda, which forms a significant pillar for maintaining the North Korean system.

One can glean the importance that North Korea places on ideology from the definition of the "Strong and Prosperous Nation" [강성대국], which it had been working to achieve for the last decade. North Korea's definition of a "Strong and Prosperous Nation" is a nation that achieved ideological strength, military strength and economic strength. North Korea argues that it already achieved ideological strength and military strength. Therefore, it has achieved the status of a Strong and Prosperous Nation as soon as the economy revives enough to achieve the economic strength. 

The Strong and Prosperous Nation theory appeared in 1998, and there was a controversy at that time also. I was still living in North Korea at the time. The North Korean people quietly spoke among themselves: "It makes sense to talk about economic or military strength, but ideological strength is some kind of a wordplay." At any rate, the fact that ideological strength comes first in the definition of a Strong and Prosperous Nation is a great example of how much North Korea values ideology.

Fittingly, the organization of Rodong Shinmun is rather unique. Rodong Shinmun has 15 departments: editorial,  party history education, revolution education, party life [TK: not that kind of "party"], popular front, industry, agriculture, society/culture, science/education, South Korea, foreign cooperation, international, reporting, photo reporting, and foreign correspondents. Among them, four departments -- party history education, revolution education, party life and popular front -- serve the role of politics department in a typical South Korean newspaper. This shows how much North Korea values ideological propaganda.

In a South Korean newspaper, society department usually takes up the most number of journalists. Sports also have a large place, as there are separate sports newspapers and broadcast media has separate sports news programs. But in Rodong Shinmun, there are no separate departments for society, culture or sports. Among the 15 departments, society/culture department handles society, culture and sports. Other North Korean newspapers follow a similar pattern.

This organization is closely related to the way Rodong Shinmun publishes its papers. Rodong Shinmun prints six pages, organized as following: the front page carries latest news about Kim Jong-Il, deification education, foreign public opinion admiring Kim Jong-Il and editorial. The second page contains stories about the revolutionary heritage, material for educating the labor class and activities of the party workers. The third page also contains stories of Kim Jong-Il's deification and the loyal subjects who followed Kim. The fourth page finally contains short news about the national administration or economic workers, as well as human interest stories, cultural and sporting events. If the North Korean national team loses in an international match, the loss rarely makes the news. The fifth page is for South Korea and the sixth page is for international news.

The most important department of Rodong Shinmun is the editorial board. Only the journalists with the greatest ideological readiness and writing prowess are selected for the board. They usually carry the superlative titles like People's Reporter, Distinguished Reporter or Level 1 Reporter. Of course, it is also the case for a South Korean newspaper's editorial board to have excellent, veteran journalists. Rodong Shinmun's editorial board writes the standard arguments for the party's policies, op-ed and editorial, which are the stories on which Kim Jong-Il focuses the most.

The stories on the front page of Rodong Shinmun frequently come with a black box around it. The box signifies that Kim Jong-Il read the story and approved it before it went to print. People are required to study such stories.

The editorial board is popular because a journalist who writes a good story has a good chance to be promoted to a party officer, if he can grab Kim Jong-Il's attention. In North Korean newspapers, even the editorial carries the name of the writer. Unlike South Korean newspapers that usually print two or three editorials a day, there are many journalists on the editorial board of Rodong Shinmun that cannot even print one or two editorials bearing his name in a year. There are editorials where a choice of a single word took a month.

However, there are journalists who are considered even more important than the members of the editorial board -- the journalists who accompany Kim Jong-Il on his field inspections. A South Korean analogue would be a journalist in the politics department whose beat is the Blue House. In North Korea, such reporters are referred to as "The First Reporter."

Foreign correspondents are admired in South Korea, but even more so in North Korea where a travel abroad is itself a privilege. North Korea sends out foreign correspondents to countries with which it has amicable relations, such as China, Russia and other countries in the Middle East or Africa. But becoming a foreign correspondent in North Korea is not a meritocracy -- without extraordinary connections, a reporter is better off not even thinking about the possibility. Once abroad, the correspondent constantly focuses on the opportunities to earn dollars, because keeping the person who sent you out happy guarantees the longer stay abroad.

South Korean reporters have to propose newsworthy stories in their departments every morning. But in North  Korea, the Propaganda Bureau of the Labor Party gives an order to the newspapers and TV stations, and the department chiefs then order the reporters about what to write. For example, when June 25 -- anniversary for Korean War -- draws near, the party would order an "anti-America week." Then the officers of the newspaper make the reporters focus on writing stories that would stoke anti-American sentiments. Such campaign continues year-around, with themes like "honoring our leader" week or "socialist patriotism" week.

The North Korean media has more framed "teachings" and "remarks" hanging on the hallways and offices than almost any other place in North Korea. Here, "teachings" are quotes from Kim Il-Sung and "remarks" are quotes from Kim Jong-Il. Some of them are quite revealing, and not commonly seen in any other place: "Be the party's eternal helper, assistant and advisor," "Even if you want to take ten steps, take a single step if the party tells you to take a single step," "Reporters must not breathe on their own accord," etc. In other words, journalists are ordered to be the perfect puppet of the Labor Party.

In most countries of the world, the most important virtue for a journalist is the courage and conscience that do not bend to the power. But in North Korea, a journalist equals the Labor Party's propagandist worker.

北 노동신문 1면의 ‘검은테두리’에 숨겨진 비밀 [North Korea Real Talk]

(continued in Part 2)

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

Today, TK Learned:

... that this shameless gimmick item is also losing steam.

• If you steal a penny in Texas, you might be a felon. [Volokh Conspiracy]
• Judge Denny Chin thinks a lot about sentencing criminals. [New York Times]
• Denmark's welfare state is the fairest in the world. But Australia is close to Denmark while spending less than the OECD average on welfare. [Inside Story]
• If you translated a biography of Thai king, it is a bad idea to travel to Thailand. [The Faculty Lounge]
• Why would you volunteer for a strip search in prison? To use the computer. [SCOTUSblog]

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

Can Korea be Truly Creative? It Already Is.

The passing of Steve Jobs last week prompted a worldwide reflection of the incredible life and achievements of Jobs. Koreans joined in the reflection, filling online channels with tributes to and quotes from Jobs. For Koreans, however, the tributes to Jobs were not simply about the celebration of Jobs' legacy. Around the globe, and certainly in Korea, Steve Jobs has come to embody the concept of creativity itself, particularly in the context of modern economy. Therefore, Jobs' passing provided a moment of self-reflection about the frequent criticism of Korea, brought up by Koreans and Korea-observers alike: although Korean economy generates cutting-edge technological products, it is not truly creative like Apple, led by Jobs, is. Korea's hagiography of Steve Jobs following his death, in a large part, is a hagiography of creativity that it considers lacking.

I do not think it is healthy for Koreans to engage in such hagiography, for three reasons: (1) creativity is not, and must not be, the ultimate goal of a national economy; (2) creativity, depending on its type, can be vastly overrated and underrated at the same time; (3) creativity was not the only reason, or even the most dominant reason, why Apple and Steve Jobs were able to build their amazing achievement.

In making these points, not for a second am I discounting the importance of creativity in a national economy. Creativity is one of the most important traits in human life. It is the driver that brings us the products that make people's lives easier, fuller, better. Apple is a wonderfully creative company because it has been able to envision such products better than any other company in the world. Only an idiot would dismiss the role of Jobs in making a moribund company (Apple in mid-1990s,) as well as himself, into a cultural icon. My points are only that Koreans' obsession with creativity is unhelpful, and that Apple is not a good model for Korean companies to emulate.

(More after the jump.)

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

Four Distinct Seasons. Only in Korea.

Dear Korean,

Did you know Korea has four seasons? This line seems to be part of the average Korean's repertoire of small-talk to use when-talking-with-foreigners. It might be becoming less common, but you certainly used to hear this a lot from Koreans - so much so, that I think it must be in the school textbooks somewhere. FWIW, I believe 'My country has four seasons' is something the Japanese like to say as well.

My question is 'Why?'. Why do Koreans feel the need to point this out? Is it because it's inculcated in school? If so, why is it taught in school? Is it Japanese influence (and why do the Japanese like to say this?)? Is it perhaps to distinguish themselves from other Asian countries with tropical climates? But then why use it on westerners all of whom come from countries with four seasons, and none of whom see anything remarkable or remark-worthy in the fact?

Bemused and baffled.

Although Korea is becoming increasingly cosmopolitan, there is still a great deal of clumsiness on the part of Koreans as a whole when they interact with non-Koreans. The "four seasons" talk is a classic example. Because a large number of Koreans simply have never interacted with a foreigner, they lack the necessary self-awareness of how they would sound from the perspective of the foreign listener.

(By the way, although the situation has vastly improved in recent years, this lack of self-awareness is present in Korean society at every level. One of the results stemming from such lack of self-awareness is the cringe-worthy "visit Korea" ads like this one.)

It also does not help that Koreans, in most cases, do not have the necessary English ability to convey subtle nuances. No Korean believes that Korea is the only country in the world that has four seasons. But when they speak in English, their tones often end up sounding like they do.

Four seasons on the road near Cheongju.
(source)

So when it comes to figuring out why Koreans need to point this out, clumsiness has a great deal to do with the answer. Koreans will grow out of it sooner or later, but as of now it may be somewhat annoying. However, that is only a part of the story, because a greater mystery remains: why seasons, of all things?

More after the jump.

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

Today, TK Learned:

... that as long as he avoided reading the obituaries, he could pretend that Steve Jobs was still alive.

• Koreans remember Steve Jobs. [Wall Street Journal]
• Former Gizmodo writer who was involved in the "Lost iPhone 4" story remembers Steve Jobs. [The Wirecutter]
• Americans "may look back on 2011 and see three events that undermine that story: the downgrade of America’s credit rating; the last flight of the space shuttle; and Mr. Jobs’s death." [The Economist]
• To the Korean, the more important death today was NYU law professor Derrick Bell, who pioneered critical race theory -- which forms the foundation of the Korean's race-consciousness. [New York Times]
• Asian economies have been "growing with equity", but in the last 30 years the income inequality has been growing. [East West Center]
• Is it wrong to think that North Korean spies' poison darts, made to look like a pen or a flashlight, look super cool? [Chosun Ilbo]
• Yahoo! Answers version of "Best of the Worst Questions" about Asians. Just a little taste of what the Korean goes through every day. [8Asians]
• If the Korean could ever write a letter like this in his legal career, he will die a happy man: "My client will not be bullied out of exercising his First Amendment right to make clear his belief that your client is a spoiled, brainless twit who is cheapening the political discourse in this country." [American Spectator]

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

Today, TK Learned:

... that Drunken Tiger is your best pal when you are working late.

• Want to keep up with daily headlines from Korean newspapers in English? Try this out. [KEI]
• Why can't U.S. and China just be friends? [East Asia Forum]
• The damn dirty hippies protesting Wall Street could learn a thing or two from the Tea Party: "... while they were quietly seething, the tea-party movement was showing America what democracy actually looks like, pushing their candidates forward and holding them accountable." [The Economist]
• Speaking of damn dirty hippies, the Maoists in China are praising them as proof that capitalism does not work. So good job, hippies. [New Yorker]
• The Korean has a pretty low opinion of the-whitest-of-white-shoe law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, but even he would not have thought that S&C lawyers would simply abandon its client on death row. But S&C did hire a former Solicitor General to fix its errors. [New York Times]
• Here is a "Super Person" -- a homecoming queen, 4.0 student, student government treasurer, and the kicker for the varsity football team. Surely, she is dead inside. (One advice for our Super Person -- please don't attend University of Colorado to play football.) [New York Times]
• Outsourcing has come to this: outsourcing wombs to surrogate mothers in India. [New York Times]
• Should we capitalize "black" or "white" when referring to ethnicity? The Korean says no. [DCentric]
• Next person who says Americans can work just as hard as illegal immigrants will get a print version of this article thrown into his face. "‎"Six hours was enough ... for the first wave of local workers to quit. Some simply never came back and gave no reason. Twenty-five of them said specifically, according to farm records, that the work was too hard." [New York Times]
• ... so let's put inmates to work instead of illegal immigrants! The drecks of our society must surely work harder than an average American, right? #facepalm [Marginal Revolution]

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

"Super People", and Celebration of Ignorance

Over the weekend, there was an interesting New York Times essay that discussed how there seems to be a new breed of hyper-impressive people. A sample:

A BROCHURE arrives in the mail announcing this year’s winners of a prestigious fellowship to study abroad. The recipients are allotted a full page each, with a photo and a thick paragraph chronicling their achievements. It’s a select group to begin with, but even so, there doesn’t seem to be anyone on this list who hasn’t mastered at least one musical instrument; helped build a school or hospital in some foreign land; excelled at a sport; attained fluency in two or more languages; had both a major and a minor, sometimes two, usually in unrelated fields (philosophy and molecular science, mathematics and medieval literature); and yet found time — how do they have any? — to enjoy such arduous hobbies as mountain biking and white-water kayaking.

Let’s call this species Super Person.

Super People [New York Times]

From there, the essay -- written by James Atlas, president of the publishing company Atlas & Co. -- progresses discursively. Atlas wonders if this is happening because of evolution and better availability of nutrition and other types of health-consciousness. He also wonders if "Super People" are a sign of growing income inequality in America such that the wealthy parents can invest in their children to an unprecedented degree. He further wonders if "Super People" phenomenon is to some degree an illusion, created by resume-padding instead of genuine commitment to achievements. But he finishes on a relatively positive note about "Super People".

The essay was an interesting read, but even more interesting read was the comments, which were overwhelmingly critical of the "Super People". Now, a whole bucket of salt is necessary when it comes to glean anything meaningful out of comments left on Internet message boards. The caveats should be familiar -- the samples are not representative, anonymous comments can be expressed more radically than the writer intended, and so on. But these concerns are partially mitigated by the fact that this is the crowd that reads the New York Times. They like reading news and commentary. They tend to be more educated and worldly. They tend to be in positions to shape opinions of those around them. And overwhelmingly, they disliked the idea of "Super People."

To be sure, many of the criticisms of "Super People" in the comments were very legitimate. It is perfectly legitimate to critique that trophy-collection does not necessarily contribute to building a sound character. (The Korean has consistently argued that education should be seen as a character building process, not a skill acquisition process.) It is completely fair to wonder if the "Super People's" achievements are an optical illusion, which did not leave much lasting impact on the person other than the line on her resume. And to the extent that those achievements are indeed genuine, it is deeply worrisome that America's income inequality deprives middle class and poor Americans from being able to invest in their children as much as wealthier Americans do.

But sort the hundreds of comments by "Readers' Recommendations," and a disturbing trend floats to the top: attacking the achievements themselves, and celebrating sloth and ignorance instead. Indeed, even the criticisms that appear facially legitimate have an undertone of contempt for more knowledge, more experience and more doing.

The prevalent image invoked by the phrase "celebrating ignorance" might be that of a rabid right-winger denying evolution or climate change. But this troubling trend of anti-intellectualism is an American trait that infects the entire American culture, including the presumably well-educated, left-leaning New York Times readers. Achievement-denial, in fact, has become the liberals' version of evolution-denial.

(More after the jump)

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

Today, TK Learned:

... that the sun is starting to set rather early.

• In 1970, 80 percent of the countries had conscription. In 2009, only 45 percent did, and many of the countries reduced the length of the service. [Volokh Conspiracy]
• Tasha / Yoon Mirae is selected as the 12th best new female emcee. [MTV Iggy]
• Texans generally are ok with giving in-state tuition to illegal immigrant students. [New York Times]
• Decent wines are now being produced in China, but there may be "wine racism". [Polish Wine Guide]
• What is in the proposed free trade agreement between Korea and U.S.? [Department of Commerce]
• Check out some great places near you. For Washington D.C., it's U Street. [American Planning Association]
• Deng Xiaoping is very important and very underrated. A must-read if you want to understand contemporary China. [The Nation]
• Why do they need a hungry muppet on Sesame Street when they already have Oscar who lives in a trashcan? [Reuters]
• Karaoke in Koreatown is looking for "fragile" and "EXTRA THIN" hostesses. [Jezebel]

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

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Korean Language Twitters and Blogs

Dear Korean,

Now that you have asked your readers about Korean-language radio stations, would you mind asking them about good Korean-language blogs and twitter accounts to follow? I'm not yet at the stage where I can listen to a radio show but I can manage a 140-character tweet, given enough time and a good dictionary.

Desperately Learning Korean

This question was received before the Korean began his own, all-Korean language twitter. Follow him at @askakorean. (Check out the recent tweets for a heated debate between the Korean and a law student from Korea regarding Korea's laws regarding sexual assaults.)

The Korean also follows a number of Korean-language blogs. Here are some Korean-language blogs from the Korean's feed list:

• 북한 RT [http://blog.donga.com/nambukstory/] - an absolute must-read blog on North Korea run by a North Korean defector who is now a journalist in South Korea. Frequently translated on AAK!
• 악식가의 미식일기 [http://foodi2.blog.me/] - hands down, the best blog that discusses Korean food and Korean food culture.
• Interpreting Compiler [http://interpiler.com/] - blog by a leading Korean tech journalist who is an unabashed fan of Apple products.
• 뉴욕의 쿠킹하는 사회주의자 [blog.naver.com/frankbyon] - personal blog by a Korean American who runs a restaurant in Brooklyn. Has good recipes with photos.

Readers, got anything?

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

Today, TK Learned:

... that the case law from the Supreme Court of Korea regarding sexual violence is deeply depressing.

• If you live in America, please take 25 minutes out to watch this lecture. And don't talk to police. [Volokh Conspiracy]
• Kobe is a great man, demands revenue sharing in Italy so that his presence will not disrupt the basketball scene there. [ESPN: Land O'Lakers]
• High-speed Internet is like excellent public hygiene. [New York Times]
• Passive voice is not a demon that needs to be eradicated. [Lingua Franca: Chronicle of Higher Education]
• Amanda Knox is not guilty. [Associated Press]
• In the prehistoric Internet, U.S. Postal Service attempted to monopolize email and charge people for it, just like regular mail. [Cato Institute]

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