Confucianism and Korea - Part II: What is Confucianism?

[Series Index]

Part I of this series is essentially a big series of caveats, but the Korean cannot put enough caveats in a topic as big and sophisticated as Confucianism. So here are some more.

Really Big Caveats

First of all, the Korean's Chinese skill is very rudimentary. So pretty much all of his knowledge about Confucianism came through reading the Chinese texts with Korean annotations. Translating one language to another is hard enough; translating something that had been translated once already is fraught with danger. The Korean tried to include as many original quotes in Chinese as possible to make clear what he is talking about, and he welcomes any correction or amplification on any point. Since this series is about Korea, crucial concepts and the name of important books will be written out in Korean pronunciations of Chinese scripts. (For example, 大學 is Daehak, not Daxue. 仁 is In, not Ren.)

Second, the Korean will make a lot of comparisons between Confucianism and Christianity in this series. This is done because among English speakers, Christianity is the only philosophical system whose scale is comparable to Confucianism -- they both have had many internal controversies and highly convoluted relationship with history for a very long time. Really, nothing else comes close. But the Korean would strongly caution not to mistake the crutches for the legs. The similarities between Confucianism and Christianity stop at the point when we discuss the actual philosophy instead of the way people interact with the philosophy. (And even prior to that point they are not exactly the same.)

It is particularly important not to over-connect Confucian concepts with Christian concepts just because they sound similar. For example 天 is often translated to be "heaven," which sounds awfully like the Christian god. But the two concepts are very, very different. The Korean will try his best to give the broad construction of Confucianism. Confucian concepts have to be understood within that context, not in any other context.

With those caveats, let us jump right ahead.

What are the Central Tenets of Confucianism?

If Confucianism must be reduced to a single sentence at the risk of gross generalization, it is this: one must achieve 仁 (in) through constant study and rituals.

What is in? Some scholars translated in as "authoritative conduct." The Korean's preferred translation would be "virtue". When a person achieves in, he becomes a 君子 (goonja) - an "exemplary person." From the way goonja is described in Confucian tomes, he sounds like a demigod of some sort. For example, a person suggests to Confucius that the mourning the death of parents should be shortened to one year, because the requisite three years is too long. This seems to make perfect sense, because the mourning that Confucius required was not simply feeling sad. Confucian mourning involved building a shack next to the parents' grave, eat nothing but the wild plants around the area, wear clothes made of hemp (not warm and extremely scratchy,) tend the grave and wail before the grave every day. For THREE years. Why would anyone do this?

The Master replies:

夫君子之居喪, 食旨不甘, 聞樂不樂, 居處不安, 故不爲也.

When a goonja is in mourning,

he eats food but cannot taste,

hears music but cannot enjoy,

inhabits his house but cannot get comfortable

-- that is why he does not do so [shorten the mourning to a year]

[論語 17.21]

In other words, goonja is this incredible person who mourns for three years not because he thinks it is the right thing to do, but because he has no other choice -- because he is set in the way of in, one of whose component is filial piety.

But goonja is not a demigod like a Catholic saint or a Buddha who achieved nirvana. In fact, goonja is almost the exact opposite of those two concepts, which involve some level of detachment from the material world. In contrast, goonja is the most worldly person possible because with in, goonja knows how the world works. (In other words, he knows 天道 - the "heavenly way.") While achieving in and becoming a goonja take a huge amount of work, the world comes naturally to a person who achieved the goonja status.

More after the jump.

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

Are Koreans Prone to Conspiracy Theories?

Dear Korean,

Why are Koreans so prone to believing conspiracy theories? I have spent a lot of time in developing countries, and while all have different cultures, one thing they had in common was their propensity to believe bizarre conspiracy theories. While Korea is a wealthy country, it still seems their thinking has not caught up with their wallets. Their propensity toward conspiracy theories is very much a developing world way of thinking. Sure, you find conspiracy theories in the West, but mostly from college freshmen and pot heads.

Asianequation



Dear Asianequation,

It is true that conspiracy theories are rife in Korea, and they play a major role in Korean public life. One needs to look no farther than the Mad Cow scare that gripped the country two years ago. While there were legitimate kernels of truth about America's lax regulation against Mad Cow Disease (for example, not accounting for cross-infection until April of 2009,) those kernels were popcorned into utterly crazy ideas that the U.S. is out to kill Koreans with infected meat in the name of profit. More recently, certain South Korean political groups claimed that the South Korean government was falsely accusing North Korea for the attack by manufacturing the critical piece of evidence (which is Korean lettering discovered on a piece of the exploded torpedo shell) in order to gain advantage in the upcoming regional elections. In fact, the political groups that made those wild charges ended up gaining in the regional elections.

Why is this happening? First, try answering the following question:

Q. Which one of the below events did not happen in Korea in the last 50 years?

a. President ordered a prominent opposing politician to be kidnapped while the politician was traveling in Japan, to be dropped into the sea between Korea and Japan from a boat with a dead weight tied to his ankles. The politician barely survives because the Japanese coast guard gave the boat a chase.
b. The United States CIA bugged and eavesdropped on Blue House, the presidential residence of Korea.
c. Paratroopers attacked peacefully marching citizens of a certain city, eventually killing more than 600 people in the process. No one outside of the city heard of the massacre for days, because the dictatorship cut off the phone lines of the city and embargoed every television, radio and newspaper in Korea.
d. A prominent politician who fought against dictatorship all his life agrees to merge his party with two other parties that were heirs to the dictatorship, with a secret written promise to amend the constitution so that would change Korea's political system into English-style proportionally representative parliament.

The answer is: e. All of the above happened in Korea in the last 50 years. And these are just four examples of all the incredible things that happened in Korean politics.

 Prominent opposition politician Kim Dae-Jung gives press conference

after surviving from being kidnapped. Notice his busted lips.

In fact, Asianequation hit the nail on the head -- that the people of developing countries are prone to believing conspiracy theories. This is not because the people in developing countries are stupid; it is because insane stuff like the examples above tends to happen in developing countries. If one crazy thing can happen, why not another crazy thing? The fact that governments have little transparency only makes this worse.

And again, the key thing to remember about Korea is that it escaped being a developing country in no less than 20 years, possibly less. Heck, the Korean is only 29, but he remembers when Korea was a developing country. It is Korean people's towering achievement that Korea moved from a war-torn hellhole into a gleaming postmodern country in just 60 years or so. But it is too much to expect that Korea shed every aspect of a developing country in that process. This is particularly true in politics, where the lowest common elements of the society often reveal themselves.

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

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 41. Yoo Seung-Joon

[Read more reviews from the Korean from the Library Mixer. To join, click here.]

[Series Index]

41. Yoo Seung-Joon [유승준]

Years of Activity:  1997-2002 (Active in China from 2002-present)

Discography:
West Side (1997)
For Sale 1998 V2 (1998)
Now or Never (1999)
Over and Over (1999)
Summit Revival (2000)
Infinity (2001)
Permission: Promise of Jun [승낙 - Promise of Jun] (2006)
Rebirth of YSJ (2007)

Representative Song:  Nanana from For Sale 1998 V2

나나나

Nanana

기억하고 있니 어릴 적 예쁜 꿈들을

Do you remember those pretty dreams when you were young

모두 다 이룰 수 있을 것 같던 시간들

The times when everything seemed possible

소망을 꿈꾸며 주문을 외었지

We dreamed hope and recited a spell

시간이 지나고 세상에 지쳐 갈때쯤

As the time passed and by the time I got tired from the world

꿈은 그저 꿈일 뿐인걸 알게 됐지만

I learned that dream is just a dream

어릴적 주문을 아직 노래 하네

But I still sing the spell from my childhood

언제나 힘들고 지칠 때 날 일으켜 주던 꿈이 가득한 이 노랠 했어

I sang this song full of dreams that picked me up whenever I was in pain and fatigue

나나나나 나나나나 나나나나 나나나나

Nananana nananana nananana nananana

어두워진 가리워진 나의 길을 밝혀주는 이 노래를 함께 해봐

Sing this song with me that illuminates my darkened hidden way

[Rap]

난 그냥 되는 되는데로 살았었지

I just lived as the life took me

간섭받기 싫어 그냥 피했던 거지

Didn't want to be told what to do, just avoided everything

내일의 두려움도 필요없어

Didn't need to fear tomorrow either

그런 막막함이 내 시간만 좀먹었었어

Being at a loss like that ate away my time

그러다 내 어릴적 꿈을 보았었지

Then I saw the dream from my childhood

거친 바람속 내 어릴 적 노랠 들었지

In the roaring wind, heard my childhood song

그래 이건 아니었어 용서할 수 없어

That's right, this isn't it, this is unforgivable

다시 나를 살린 이 노래를 불렀었지

Sang this song that made me live again

어느샌가 내게 찾아온 사랑을 위해

For the love that came to me without even me noticing

그렇게도 나를 애태운 그대를 위해

For you who worried so much for me like that

영원을 꿈꾸며 주문을 외웠지

I recited the spell dreaming of eternity

피해갈 수 없는 현실에 지쳐갈 때쯤

As I got tired from the inevitable reality

무거워져 가는 걸음에 힘겨울 때면

When I feel pain from the steps that become heavier

어릴 적 주문을 노래하곤 했지

I would sing the spell from when I was young

언제나 힘들고 지칠 때 날 일으켜 주던 꿈이 가득한 이 노랠 했어

I sang this song full of dreams that picked me up whenever I was in pain and fatigue

나나나나 나나나나 나나나나 나나나나

Nananana nananana nananana nananana

어두워진 가리워진 나의 길을 밝혀주는 이 노래를 함께 해봐

Sing this song with me that illuminates my darkened hidden way

[Rap]

자꾸만 어긋나 버리고 퇴색해 버리는 내 꿈을 지키고 싶었어 이루고 싶었어

I wanted to protect my dream, achieve my dream that was going the wrong way, fading away

누구도 가식의 가면을 버리지 않으리 끝끝내 발버둥 칠때에 또 감추려 할때에

Nobody will take off their mask of hypocrisy as they struggle and hide to the bitter end

하늘에 새긴 내 어린 꿈들이 내 귓가에 들려준 이 노래 내 순수의 노래

This song that my childhood dreams in the sky sang into my ears, the song of my innocence

키 작은 아이의 함성과 내 사랑이 내게 들려준 이 노래 지켜갈 이 노래

This song that a shout from short kid and my love sang into me, the song that I will protect

언제나 힘들고 지칠 때 날 일으켜 주던 꿈이 가득한 이 노랠 했어

I sang this song full of dreams that picked me up whenever I was in pain and fatigue

나나나나 나나나나 나나나나 나나나나

Nananana nananana nananana nananana

초라하게 변해버린 나의 꿈을 밝혀주는 이 노래를 함께 해봐

Sing this song with me that illuminates my shriveled dream

Translation Note:  Some lines ended up being very inelegant, although the underlying song is not particularly elegant at any rate. As always, suggestions are welcome.

In 15 Words or Less:  Pioneering rapper whose career ended up in the monstrous bowels of Korean society.

Maybe he should have been ranked higher because...  Serving as Exhibit A of the sickness of Korean society might be more influential than one might think.

Maybe he should have been ranked lower because...  The flash he demonstrated early in his career was already getting old by 2002.

Why is this artist important?
Yoo Seung-Joon -- also known as his American name, Steve Yoo -- is in many ways a pioneering figure in Korean pop culture. Like Solid, Yoo was a Korean American artist who brought in elements of American pop culture -- in his case, rap. And not just any rap; the aggressive, authority-defying, "thug life" kind of rap prevalent in American rap at the time. His first hit song was about liking older women (horror of horrors!) The music video for Nanana took it a step further, displaying Yoo in all possible variations of thug-life style power play in Korea -- best fighter in class, romantic liaison with a female teacher, etc. Of course, by the standards of today (both in U.S. and in Korea,) Yoo's attempt at defiance of authority is at best cute, at worst laughable. But heck, the first airplane by the Wright Brothers was also pretty laughable in isolation. What matters is that the attempt happened, paving the way for others.

But those who are well-versed in K-pop history would know that his music is not the thing for which Yoo is remembered in Korea. Yoo's high-flying career met a fiery death in 2002 in a manner he probably never expected.

Until that point, Yoo was arguably the biggest star in K-pop. Yoo's brand of brash rap was as big a hit as it was back in U.S. His good looks and unthreatening exoticism from being a Korean American acted as a magnet for screaming fan girls, arguably the engine of K-pop. In a way, Yoo was LeBron James of his day -- his dominance was that strong. But Yoo's fall, whose cause was also essentially a public relations mistake, was far deeper and irredeemable than James'.

In 2002, as Korean American pop artists increasingly appeared in K-pop scene, the question of mandatory draft reared its head. If a Korean American (loosely defined) is a Korean citizen with American permanent residency, he is eligible for draft if he earns money from Korea. There were some cases in which small-fry Korean American pop artists did certain things to avoid being drafted, which raised suspicion on Korean American artists generally.

Yoo was already raising suspicion before 2002. Although on stage he would engage in rigorous choreography, he managed to get a Level 4 in his draft physical with a stated cause of herniated disk, which would assign him to administrative duties for his military service. But at least he was going, people thought -- and Yoo publicly stated that he would serve his "holy duty of national defense." He was scheduled to report for duty in April 2002.

Until he didn't. In January 2002, the news that Yoo acquired U.S. citizenship and would not serve his military duty as a result broke -- and Korean society roiled into rage in a scale that no one (and certainly not Yoo himself) could have anticipated. What Yoo, who grew up in Southern California since age 13, never quite grasped was how seriously Korean men took their years of service. Truth is, few men in Korea want to serve the duty for 2.5 years, pissing away their precious youth. Few ever enjoy the military, alternately filled with bullshit and boredom. But they nonetheless report for duty, because they have to. They grit their teeth and tolerate the bullshit, because they have to. And when they see someone who is not pulling his weight? Then all hell breaks loose.

Yoo bore the full brunt of that hell. This was early days of high-speed Internet in Korea, where news spread fast and reactions were instantaneous. The keyboard warriors went to work, screaming and howling about Yoo's betrayal. The powers that be at the time did not yet have the ability to discern what was legitimate public opinion and what was malicious trolling -- which might not have mattered in Yoo's case after all, since they likely would have been pissed off all the same. Yoo lied about serving in the military. All other concerns were secondary.

Korea's Ministry of Justice considered him to be a draft-dodger, a criminal. As a criminal, Ministry of Justice declared, Yoo would not be able to enter Korea ever again. Yoo tried to explain somehow, blaming that it was his management company that made the decision. But at the end of the day, there was no way to escape the fact that he acquired U.S. citizenship to evade his military duty. He was allowed into Korea only once since then -- in 2003, to attend his father-in-law's funeral. Since then, Yoo has been active in China.

Yoo's musical contribution in K-pop was significant, but the social impact growing out of his disastrous mistake ended up overshadowing everything. Because of Yoo, Koreans began to have a national conversation on topics that were not discussed before. What was the value of military service? How is the precise relation between Koreans and Korean Americans? Considering that one of the major themes of the 2002 presidential election of Korea was that the losing candidate's son suspiciously did not serve his military duty, a case can be made that Yoo Seung-Joon's influence may have been greater than anyone else on this list -- a meaningless consolation to a truly talented musician whose life was broken by his own country.

Interesting Trivia:  Yoo's style, like the style of American rappers that he emulated, elicited a lot of hostility from other rappers. In 1998, a prominent rapper Kim Jin-Pyo rapped, obviously aiming at Yoo: 

혹시 그거 아냐? 여기는 미국 아냐
You know something? This isn't America.
얼어죽을 East Side, West Side  외치지만 말고
Stop saying freakin' "East Side, West Side"
제대로 좀 해봐 몇 년 후에 깡통 매봐
And do something real. Or wear a can a few years later. [="go bankrupt and become a beggar."]
그럼 두고두고 땅을 치고 후회할 테니 그럴 테니 하하하하
Then you will regret it for the rest of your life, that's right, hahahaha.

These lines may as well be the most prescient lines ever written in K-pop history.

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

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 30. Sinawi

[Read more reviews from the Korean from the Library Mixer. To join, click here.] 

[Series Index]


30.  Sinawi [시나위]

Also Romanized as:  Sinawe

Years of Activity:  1986-present (last album in 2006)

Members:

Current Members
Shin Dae-Cheol [신대철] - Guitar
Lee Gyeong-Han [이경한] - Bass
Lee Dong-Yeop [이동엽] - Drum
Kang Han [강한] - Vocal

Former Members
Kang Jong-Su [강종수] - Drum
Kim Min-Gi [김민기] - Drum [TK note: NOT the same Kim Min-Gi who is ranked 31 in this list]
Kim Jong-Hyu [김종휴] - Drum
Shin Dong-Hyeon [신동현] - Drum
Oh Gyeong-Hwan [오경환] - Drum
Kim Geyong-Won [김경원] - Bass
Kim Yeong-Jin [김영진] - Bass
Dalparan [달파란] - Bass
Park Yeong-Bae [박영배] - Bass
Seo Taiji [서태지] - Bass
An Joon-Seop [안준섭] - Bass
Moda - Bass
Kim Hyeong-Joon -[김형준] - Keyboard
Kim Bada [김바다] - Vocal
Kim Seong-Heon [김성헌] - Vocal
Kim Yong [김용] - Vocal
Kim Jong-Seo [김종서] - Vocal
Sohn Seong-Hoon [손성훈] - Vocal
Lee Byeong-Moon [이병문] - Vocal
Im Jae-Beom [임재범] - Vocal
Jeon Chang-Gyu [전창규] - Vocal

Discography:
Heavy Metal Sinawe (1986)
Down and Up (1987)
Freeman (1988)
Four (1990)
Sinawi 5 [시나위 5] (1995)
Blue Baby (1997)
Psychedelos (1998)
Sinawe Vol. 8 (2001)
Reason of Dead Bugs (2006)

Representative Song:  Turn Up the Radio [크게 라디오를 켜고] from Heavy Metal Sinawe

크게 라디오를 켜고
Turn Up the Radio

피곤이 몰아치는 기나긴 오후지나
Past the long long afternoon where the fatigue rushes in
집으로 달려가는 마음은 어떠한가
How is a heart that races homeward
지하철 기다리며 들리는 음악은
The music heard while waiting for the subway
지루한 하루건너 내일을 생각하네
Skips the boring day and thinks of tomorrow
대문을 활짝열고 노래를 불러보니
Opened up the front door and tried singing
어느새 피곤마저 사라져 버렸네
Before I knew it, even the fatigue vanished
크게 라디오를 켜고 함께 따라해요
Turn up the radio and let's all follow the song
크게 라디오를 켜고 함께 노래해요
Turn up the radio and let's all sing along

두눈을 감고서는 잠들려 했을때
When I tried to close my eyes and go to sleep
옆집서 들려오는 조그만 음악소리
The little sound of music coming from the house next door
소리를 듣고싶어 라디오 켜보니
Turned on the radio to hear the sound
뜨거운 리듬속에 마음을 빼았겼네
And I lost my heart in the heated rhythm
자리에 일어나서 노래를 불러보니
Got out of the bed and tried singing
어느새 시간마저 지나가 버렸네
Before I knew it, even the time passed by
크게 라디오를 켜고 함께 따라해요
Turn up the radio and let's all follow the song
크게 라디오를 켜고 함께 노래해요
Turn up the radio and let's all sing along

아침을 알려주는 자명종 소리마저
Even the sound of the alarm clock announcing the morning
쌓여진 졸음만은 어쩔수 없어라
Can do anything to the piled-up sleep
두손에 잡혀지는 라디오 켜보고
Turn on the radio that comes to my hand
하품과 기지개를 마음껏 해보세
And let's yawn and stretch all we want
방문을 활짝열고 노래를 불러보니
Opened up the room door and tried singing
어느새 졸음마저 사라져 버렸네
Before I knew it, even the sleep vanished
크게 라디오를 켜고 함께 따라해요
Turn up the radio and let's all follow the song
크게 라디오를 켜고 함께 노래해요
Turn up the radio and let's all sing along

Translation note:  Is there a more elegant translation for 어느새?

In 15 words or less:  Greatest heavy metal band in K-pop history.

Maybe they should be ranked higher because...  Is there any other band that has three former members who ended up being on this list?

Maybe they should be ranked lower because...  Was there ever a time when Sinawi even grazed the public consciousness with its music?

Why is this band important?
It goes without saying that Korean pop music was imported from outside of Korea at some point or another. But on some level, it is not terribly surprising that certain types of pop music succeeded in Korea better than others. Trot has a certain level of smiling melancholy that connects with the pathos of Korea's traditional music. Same with folk rock/ballad, with their maudlin calm. Even rap is vaguely reminiscent of pansori, in which a single performer stands on the stage and alternately narrates and sings.

In this sense, among pop music genre, heavy metal may have been (and may still be) the most foreign music to Korean ears. There is simply no precedent for screaming into the mic and ear-piercing tunes. And the men in leather pants, with their flowing long mane swinging on the stage!

Which makes the presence of Sinawi in Korea's pop music history all the more remarkable. I mean, just watch this video:

Can you imagine ANY Korean you know rocking out like that with that kind of hair, clothes and makeup?

Sinawi is remarkable because of its relentless pursuit of the rock orthodoxy. It utterly dedicated itself to rock and heavy metal, popularity be damned. Although Sinawi never got anywhere near the top of the charts, it quite literally opened up a new frontier in Korean pop music. The universal language of rock was alive in Korea, and Sinawi provided a meaningful starting point of heavier rock sound in Korean pop music.

Another remarkable thing about Sinawi is its current and former rosters read like "Who's Who of Korea's Rock Legends," many of whom unsurprisingly make this list. Dalparan is the stage name for Kang Gi-Yeong, the bassist and leader of Pipi Band. Kim Jong-Seo pursued a solo career after Sinawi and became a de facto face of Korean rock. And as described further below, former bassist Jeong Hyeon-Cheol got kind of famous also.

Interesting trivia 1:  Shin Dae-Chul, guitarist and the leader of Sinawi, is the son of Shin Joong-Hyeon, Korea's "godfather of rock."

Interesting trivia 2:  Kim Jong-Seo was slated to be Sinawi's original vocal. But only one week before Sinawi's debut concert, Kim disappeared. Kim reappeared one day before the concert, but the band had already fired him. Kim Jong-Seo would come back to rejoin the band for Sinawi's fourth album, which became much more pop-oriented under Kim's influence. Kim then had a falling out with Shin Dae-Chul, who wanted more orthodox rock. Sinawi disbanded and would go into a five-year hiatus until Shin could reorganize the band with entirely new members.

Interesting trivia 3:  Also joining for Sinawi's fourth album was a 17-year-old high school dropout bassist named Jeong Hyeon-Cheol -- who later would take on the stage name Seo Taiji. Seo recalls his days at Sinawi as the time when he really learned music. Officially, Seo was pushed into a solo career after Sinawi disbanded after the fourth album. Seo was closer to Kim Jong-Seo, and was not particularly inclined to stay with Shin's insistence at orthodox rock. According to an unconfirmed rumor, the final straw for Seo was when Shin told his bassist -- 13 years junior -- to go out and buy cigarettes for him. Seo, reportedly, took the money and never returned.

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

SXSW: Notes from Seoulsonic

This year, SXSW has two official Korea-themed showcases: K-Pop Night Out and Seoulsonic. Although K-Pop Night Out was a highly successful event, Seoulsonic is a more mature show, as it is hosting its fourth annual U.S. tour. This year's lineup was:  Smacksoft, Big Phony, Glen Check, Rock 'n Roll Radio, Love X Stereo and No Brain. Not a single dog in that lineup.

- The venue was slightly small, but chic. The stage was set up in the outdoor yard, which allowed for a relaxed atmosphere. The crowd topped out at around 120. 

- The audience was an interesting group: at least 80 percent of the audience was not Korean, and the percentage is likely to be higher if one disregarded the staff for the bands and other Korean artists who were not performing at Seoulsonic in attendance. Many of the non-Korean audience spoke excellent Korean. The last time I have seen this many non-Koreans speaking such comfortable Korean was at an event for diplomatic staff and foreign policy graduate students at Washington D.C. 

Most importantly, a large part of the crowd already knew everything about the bands that were performing. These guys were fans, not someone who simply wandered in during SXSW. Before the show, I chatted with a couple of young folks who were planning to move to Korea within this year to teach English and write about Korea's indie scene. Another person recognized my Drunken Tiger cap, took a picture of it and tweeted to MFBTY (who promptly retweeted.) These fans are going to be the future of international K-Pop.

(More after the jump.) 

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

The Sewol Tragedy: Part II - Causes and Contributing Factors

[Series Index]

[NOTE:  I finished writing the first draft of this post on April 30, 2014. Since then, additional facts have been uncovered. I will periodically update this post as I learn new, relevant facts.]

The Sewol. The ferry company's logo ("Chonghaejin") is also visible.
(source)

The sinking of the Sewol is a terrible disaster that was entirely preventable. Instead, a confluence of numerous circumstances, people and their decisions resulted in the senseless destruction of more than 300 lives, overwhelming majority of whom were young high school students, about to enter the prime of their lives.

What caused the sinking of Sewol? What contributed to those deaths? The best way to answer these questions is to sort out the actions of the important parties involved at important junctures.

In this accident, there are three significant actors:

• The captain and the crew, who was immediately responsible for the ship and the passengers;
• Cheonghaejin Marine Co., the ferry company in charge of maintaining and operating the ship, and; 
• The government, which played a dual role of the regulator and the rescuer. 

There are four significant segments of time:

1. Before the accident; 
2. Between when the Sewol set sail and when it began to list; 
3. Approximately 40 minutes between when the ship began to list, and 
4. After the rescue efforts began. 

When we examine how these three actors behaved in the four segments of time, we begin to have an understanding of what could have prevented this tragedy.

THE ACTORS

The Crew

There were 33 crew members on the Sewol. Out of the 33, 15 were the senior crew members who were in charge of steering and operating the ship (as opposed to, say, manning the snack bar or providing customer service.) The 15 include: 69-year-old Captain Lee Jun-seok [이준석], two First Mates, one Second Mate, one Third Mate, three Helmsmen, three Engineers and four Assistant Engineers. The other 18 were junior crew members, which included stewards, an event planner and custodians. All 15 senior crew members were in the bridge when the ship began sinking; all 15 survived. Out of the 29, 20 crew members survived--a rate vastly superior to the survival rate of the entire ship (174 out of 476) or that of the Danwon High School students (75 out of 325). Currently, seven out of the 15 senior crew members are under arrest pending investigation.

Because the 15 senior crew members bore the responsibility for the steering and operation of the ship, this post will only focus on them. When I refer to "the Crew" from this point on, I am referring to the 15 senior crew members.

The Company

Cheonghaejin [청해진] Marine Co. (alternately romanized as "Chonghaejin") is the largest coastline ferry company in Korea. Cheonghaejin was established in 1999; its name is for the famous historical seaside fortress in the southwestern part of Korea. Cheonghaejin operates three lines with four ships, and operates the water taxi on the Han River in Seoul.

The distinction of being the largest coastline ferry company in Korea is less impressive than it sounds. In terms of efficiency, passenger ferry is no match for high speed rails and low cost airlines. Thus, Korea's coastline ferry companies tend to be small, and the profit margin thin. Cheonghaejin was a small-ish mid-size company that has been losing money for the last several years.

The Incheon-Jeju line, however, was a moneymaker for Cheonghaejin. Cheonghaejin has a monopoly on the Incheon-Jeju line, for which it operated two ships: the Omahana and the Sewol. Cheonghaejin made significant investment to create the monopoly. Even as Cheonghaejin was losing money, it had spent more than $14 million in purchasing and modifying the Sewol in 2012. With two ships, Cheonghaejin was able to set sail five times a week, absorbing all demand for the line and freezing out other ferry companies.

The line was particularly lucrative because Jeju, a large island, consistently required supplies from the mainland. Although both the Omahana and the Sewol were passenger ships, they were also able to carry trucks and container cargoes. Doing so came with an additional price advantage: because the two ships were technically passenger ferries, they were exempt from the fees that the Jeju seaport charged on cargo ships. Essentially, Cheonghaejin was making up the decreased demand in passenger ferry by doubling as a bootleg cargo carrier.

Cheonghaejin's revenue from 2008 to 2013.
Unit = KRW 1M (~US$1,000).
Blue line represents income from passengers; red line represents same from freight.
(source)

Cheonghaejin is ultimately owned by 73-year-old Yoo Byeong-eon. In addition to overseeing a small corporate empire, Yoo's day job included being a pastor for a Christianity-derivative cult called the Saviorists [구원파]. (I previously covered the Saviorist cult in this blog. For those living in New York: they are the creepy Asian people in orange t-shirts talking about "Bible Crusade.") Currently, Yoo and his cronies are under investigation for embezzlement and bribery.

The Government

President Park Geun-hye's administration is entering its second full year. The previous administration was led by President Lee Myeong-bak, who was also a conservative like his successor. In the area of economic policies, President Lee was the most neoliberal president that Korea has ever had. Like America's Republican presidents after which he modeled himself, President Lee pushed for lower taxes, privitization and deregulation. The Park administration was content to keep the trend going.

Outgoing President Lee Myeong-bak,
congratulating the newly elected Park Geun-hye after the 2012 election.
(source)

During her presidential campaign, one of Park's signature themes was public safety. After Park took office, one of her first notable moves was to change the name of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security to the Ministry of Security and Public Administration--so as to convey the message that public safety takes priority in the Ministry's mission.

After the jump, how these three actors before, during and after the sinking of the Sewol.

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

Nominees for the Best Post of AAK! -- First Five Years

Here are all the AAK! posts nominated by the readers for the five year anniversary extravaganza:

- Korea-Japan Relation Saga, Part III – WWII  (Feb. 23, 2007)
- Open Letter to Non-Asian People (Aug. 22, 2007)
- Korean Language Lessons - Particle I (Classificational Particles) (Nov. 26, 2007)
- The Ultimate Korean Looks List – How to Pick Koreans from Other Asians Just by Looking at Them (Sept. 8, 2008)
- How Dare You Call Me by My Name! (Nov. 11, 2008)
- Lesson in Cultural Gap through an Exercise of Translation (Dec. 9, 2008)
- Fan Death is Real (Jan. 7, 2009)
- Protests in Korea (May 15, 2009)
- Dog – It’s What’s for Dinner (Aug. 30, 2009)
- 2PM, Jaebeom, and Korea's Internet Culture (Dec. 4, 2009)
- The Korean's English Acquisition, and the Best Method to Master a Foreign Language, Guaranteed (Jan. 14, 2010)
- Why is StarCraft Popular in Korea? (Feb. 19, 2010)
- How to Hold Jesa (Sept. 19, 2010)
- Still More about Korean Names! (Oct. 26, 2010)
- Confucianism and Korea - Part II: What is Confucianism? (Jan. 6, 2011)
- Ask a Korean! News: North Korean Riot in 1998 (Jan. 26, 2011)
- God Loves Tiger Moms (Mar. 1, 2011)
- A Retrospective on Identity: State of a Gyopo at Age 30 (Mar. 18, 2011)
- Why You Should Never Listen to Asian American "Writers" of Angst (May 9, 2011)
- Another Person's Room (Aug. 11, 2011)
- Language Split Personalities? (Sept. 13, 2011)

The Korean is very happy to see that there was not too much over-representation of the more recent posts. Thank you all for the nominations. The voting is open until the 11:59 p.m. (EST) of October 20, 2011.

If you are a relatively new reader to the blog, you could use this as a guide for exploring older posts that other people liked. As always, thank you for reading!

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

Mongolian Spank Marks

Dear Korean,

A friend mentioned that many Korean children are born with a blue birthmark located at the base of the spine. He said it was from a genetic trait from Mongolian invaders centuries before. Is this true?

Unsigned

Dear Anonymous Coward,

No, it is a myth. In fact, it is a very good example of how two pieces of truth meld into a highly believable piece of falsehood.

Here is the piece of truth number 1: Korea did suffer extensively from Mongolian invasion in the 13th century -- so much so that much of Korean traditional culture as it survives today has a strong Mongolian influence. (For example, the red dots placed on the bride's cheeks in a traditional Korean wedding, like the picture.)

Piece of truth number 2: a little more than 80 percent of Korean babies have a blue birthmark right called "Mongolian Fleck". Usually it's a single dark blue dot in a size of a quarter on the buttcheek, but it could be larger. The birthmark usually fades away after a few years, and completely disappears by early teens.

But this is the part of confusion that created the myth -- the name "Mongolian". The name came about because it just so happened that the German biologist who first named the phenomenon simply decided to call it that way in 1885. This led to the false impression that Mongolian Fleck is something that only happens among Mongolians. Then the next step for a confused Korean mind is -- hey, didn't we get invaded by Mongolians long time ago? It must be the mark of that invasion!

Of course, that's not true. Mongolian Fleck frequently appears among Africans, Turks, Spaniards, and Native Americans as well. It has nothing to do with a specific people or a country. Korean babies had Mongolian Flecks before and after the Mongolian invasion.

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

Actress Choe Jinsil, 40, Found Dead at Her House in Apparent Suicide

Choi Jinsil, perhaps the most successful Korean actress ever, was found dead in her house in an apparent suicide. She apparently hung herself, and was discovered by her brother Choi Jinyoung, himself an actor.

I am in utter shock, and so is the entire Korea, evidenced by the fact that the news of her death is posted higher in all Korean online newspaper than such important news as the news of North Korean preparing to fire another missile, or the news of U.S. Senate passing the bailout plan.

Here is my tribute to Choi Jinsil, hastily written.

-----------------------------------------------------

Choi debuted in 1988 as a 20 year old fresh face, and was an instant hit. Every drama, every movie, and every commercial she appeared was turned into gold. By the mid 90s, she fetched $100,000 per each commercial she appeared -- an incredible sum, given that at that point the highest paid professional athletes in Korea would be paid around $100,000 a year. She was so popular that a female voice actress who could mimic her voice for the purpose of radio commercials earned more than any other voice actress in Korea.

But to truly appreciate her career, one needs to see the general arc of Korean actresses' careers. Pretty faces are dime a dozen in Korea. Some of them can even act. But as they get older and lose their natural beauty, they generally cannot reinvent their persona into a longer career. This is true in Hollywood, but the decline in Korea is significantly worse, especially when there are relatively few dramas or movies where women are anything more than pretty ornaments.

But not Choi Jinsil. She was like Madonna in a way -- she may have started her career as a pretty young thing, but she transformed into a serious artist through her career. And the true reason why she was a hit above and beyond anyone began to show: she had spontaneous energy which was channeled into a very sincere acting. Her characters were always hopeful, and never discouraged no matter what the circumstances. Choi's brand of unrelenting hope was never melodramatic or phony, as Korean dramas often are, because she projected positivity with such conviction and sincerity.

Yet the low points of her personal life were as low as the high points of her career were high. In 1994 her manager was murdered by her driver, and she took the witness stand in a highly publicized trial. She married a star baseball player in 2000, only to separate in 2002 and officially divorced in 2004 following episodes of domestic violence; she had to pay her husband in exchange for his relinquishing custody of their two children. Adding insult to injury, she was sued for $3 million by the company that hired her as a spokeswoman, on the basis that her mismanagement of private life caused damage to the value of the company. Her career was left for dead.

Despite all this, she plugged on. Her acting now added a dimension of tenacity for life, which resonated with the unglamourous yet unrelenting spirit of Korean ajummas. Gradually, her star rose again. She became an inspiration for divorced women, who were not seen kindly in the Korean society although they were increasing in number. She dared to change her children last name into her own, drawing the ire of traditionalists.

She possessed beauty that is so rarely seen on television: the female beauty that does not rely on youth or make up. The type of beauty we would find in our mothers and grandmothers, perhaps. The inner glow of hope that survived all the years of hardship.

And that is why I am particularly saddened. I had really wished to see this woman happy, finally living her life trouble-free. I wanted to continue playing the roles of Korean everywoman well into her golden ages, perhaps as Julie Andrews does for Americans now. In the current media culture that glorifies early death, the beauty of fine aging is underappreciated. But if any woman in Korea could show that the beauty of aging into her 60s, 70s and beyond, in my mind, it was going to be Choi Jinsil.

Instead, it appears that her actual will to live was quite apart from all the characters that she had played. To this, I can only express sorrow and regret.

p.s. I am aware of other issues associated with this tragedy, such as the recent string of celebrity suicides in Korea and the vicious gossips on the Internet that sometimes claim lives. But I will deal with them another time. Right now I'm just not in the mood to rationally analyze those things -- I don't even feel like writing in third person, lest what I wrote would not sound serious.

It's Hard Out Here for a Pimpin' Korean

Dear Korean,

I have met many Koreans who are originally from Korea, as well as many who were born in the United States. Why does it seem like the Koreans born in the United States are overwhelmingly likely to turn into hard-thuggin' gangsta wannabes, even if they grow up in nice neighborhoods?

Mike

Dear Mike,

Honestly, I met more hard-thuggin' gangsta wannabe white kids from nice neighborhoods than Koreans. But yes, I do agree that proportionally, there is a greater proportion of KA kids who thug out KP ("Korean Pride.") Why is that?

The currently going theory starts from the fact that one way for the mainstream society to weaken the minorities is to depict them as strange and dumb, or--to combine strange and dumb together--feminine. This phenomenon happened consistently with each of the minority races in the U.S. If you look at the Jim Crow arts from the early 20th century, you would notice that denigrating depiction of a black woman is pretty rare. Women are not really denigrated because, well, they're really never a threat. (So Rosa Parks was doubly upsetting to the racists. She's awesome.)

It's a very curious phenomenon that occurs even to this day: it's always, ALWAYS a minority woman who becomes the first one to appear in mainstream TV shows or movies. (Unfortunately, the first Korean woman was Margaret Cho. Not that I don't like her, but it would have been nicer if it were Yunjin Kim.) The Korean's favorite example: the "yellow" Power Ranger from 1994.

Of course black folks are the ones who had to endure this shit for the longest, so they were the first to come up with the solution to this: ridiculously crazy overcompensation! So they grab their biggest guns and their overrated testicles to show the world "we got some black MEN here, crackas!!" All the black rappers' lines about being killahs, soldiers, wariers, or backhand-slappin' pimps are basically this. And they made a fortune out of it! Black people are great.

What KAs (and all Asian American males, for that matter) suffer through is not all that different. Name me one, just fucking ONE unquestionably manly Asian actor that would make you go "damn, that's a real man who throws it DOWN and gets ALL the bitches!" (Note: as much as I love them, martial artists don't count. They really fall into that "strange" category among the strange, the dumb, or the feminine. This might have changed if Bruce Lee lived longer. What a tragedy.) As a Korean man, all you ever are on TV is some castrated male while your women are snapped up by honkies. Wouldn't that make you want to scream "thug life!" and empty the clip? Don't be lookin' fo' me, the Korean is out to get some guns. (Or a machine gun-firing sentry robot. See the post below.)

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Ask away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Ask a Korean! News: Adoption Day

The Korean knows that many Korean adoptees and adoptive parents read this blog. As their questions pile up, the Korean is planning on a big series on adoption -- hopefully coming out in the next few months. (Still have to finish the Confucianism series and want to have one other series before getting to the adoption series.)

Consider this a bit of a preview: May 11 in Korea was the sixth annual Adoption Day, established to raise awareness on issues about adoption in and from Korea. And here is one major point to know about adoption in Korea: it must be understood within the context of Korean society, and in particular how it treats its women. For the most part, the birth mothers did not "give up" their children -- even if they put their children up for adoption, in most cases they did not want to. The translated article below gives a glimpse of the birth mothers' experience.

*               *              *

"A child is not some thing you can give up. I never gave up; the circumstances did."

On Adoption Day, May 11, the cry of the mothers who had to send away their child to the arms of another because of insurmountable circumstances brought tears to the eyes of the audience gathered at Social Welfare Fund Center at Seoul. In the first "Event for Single Mom" hosted by KoRoot, an organization that assists international adoptees, and Korean Association of Families with Unmarried Mothers, two mothers who sent their children to international adoption shared their heart-wrenching story.

Ms. Kim (37) said, "I gave birth to my daughter by myself in 1999, at age 24. I signed the papers giving up my parental rights and put my daughter in the adoption agency," and said as she sobbed, "At first I did not feel the motherly love, but once I saw the face of my daughter I could not bear to send her away. I begged the agency to return my daughter, but they refused because I signed away my rights and I had no way to earn money." She said, "I wanted to raise my own daughter somehow, but I had nothing and had no place to live together. I did not give up my child because I wanted to," and said, "I thought I was going insane after I sent away my daughter. I started drinking although I never really drank before; I did all kinds of things."

Ms. Kim said, "I am here because I hope my words will help other unmarried mothers," and urged, "the government should take the lead in creating an environment in which a mother can raise a child on her own, then pursue adoption if that fails."

Ms. Noh Geum-Ju (52) had her son, her son who was born in 1976 when she was 18, adopted to the United States against her will; she met her son 29 years later in 2005. She mustered the courage to speak as well. Ms. Noh said, "My husband was a gambling addict; I had barely given birth and could not even breast-feed yet, but my husband made me go to the blood bank to sell my blood," and said, "I ran away from home for about 20 days to teach my husband a lesson, but his other family sent the child away to the adoption agency."

She said, "I hate those words, 'give up the child.' I did not give up my child; others did." She wiped her tears as she said, "Regardless, I could not protect my son as his mother. I am a sinner. I have lived with the mindset that I deserve any stoning I get." She insisted, "Right now the young unmarried mothers may be at a loss, but I want them to never lose heart and protect the child with their own hands," and said, "Our society must build the frame in which mothers can raise their child on their own. Please stop pointing fingers."

Ms. Noh added, "the name 'Adoption Day' should be changed into 'Adoptee Day' -- the name sounds like it is encouraging adoption," and added, "the mother's heart cries out like an unending stream whenever she hears the word 'adoption.' I hope the government will be more sensitive to that."

자식 입양보낸 모성의 절규 “버린 거 아니에요” [Dong-A Ilbo]

*                   *                  *

The Korean will save his thoughts until later, but he just want to add a caveat here: if you want to discuss, PLEASE think about how you come across. Adoption issue is very, very, very, very, very, very, very sensitive to everyone involved. Please feel free to discuss, but if you are not capable of discussing a difficult issue with the requisite rhetorical sensitivity, shut up and let others talk.

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

When Korea's E-Sports was at the Brink of Death

Dear Korean,

I heard there was a huge scandal regarding E-sports about 2-3 years ago. From what I've heard, the scale of the scandal was so big that it almost put an end to the E-Sports itself. Would you be willing to explain what exactly happened back then? How did the Koreans react to the scandal?

Avid gamer

It has been more than three years since the Korean wrote the post about the popularity of Starcraft in Korea. Incredibly, it is still one of the most frequently read posts of this blog. Consider this post to be a sequel: how illegal gambling and match-fixing nearly destroyed the world's first professional e-sports league in Korea.

First, a quick review on how Starcraft became a professional sport in Korea. Starcraft was released in 1998. For a game released at that time, Starcraft had an ambitious Internet-based multi-player gameplay. This was ambitious because, at the time, it was not clear who would be able to take advantage of this multi-player design. Remember that 15 years ago, only a small portion of the world's population had Internet, and most of those who did have Internet relied on dial-up connection through the phone lines, utterly inadequate for online gaming.

(source)

Korea, however, recognized the potential of the Internet early on, and began a massive public investment in installing a fiber-optic cable network throughout the country. The result was that, by the end of 20th century, Korea had a national broadband network that boasted the fastest Internet in the world by a wide margin. Using the unparalleled Internet infrastructure, Koreans begin playing Starcraft, the best Internet-based multi-player game available. The rest is history: Korea is the forefront of the worldwide e-sports, with televised video games and professional gamers with rock star-like status.

(The lesson: government is good, and it should be in the business of picking winners and losers. If Korean government did not take the initiative in the late 1990s to invest a fortune in installing fiber-optic cables, but waited instead for private companies to build their own, would Korea be a major player in the high-tech industry that it is today? Would Korea have created, seemingly out of thin air, professional e-sports leagues, an entire new multi-million dollar market that can only grow in importance in the age of the Internet? If you say yes, the Korean has some Ron Paul presidential memorabilia to sell to you.)

Starcraft began becoming professional around 2000. Independent Starcraft tournaments began sprouting up, and cable televisions in Korea would broadcast the matches. In fact, in many cases the cable TV stations were the ones hosting the tournaments, with a prize money funded by its sponsors in exchange for advertisement placements. Soon, a pattern emerged: Korea's Starcraft leagues and players operated somewhat like professional golf--a collection of different tournaments, with varying levels of competition, prize money, and prestige.

For the next several years, the popularity of professional Starcraft leagues would grow exponentially. Then came 2007.

(More after the jump.)

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

#NotYourMascot, and Why You Should Care

Normally, I make it my practice to silently observe the discussion involving other social groups of America. The reason for this is simple: it is important for each social group to speak with its own voice. Even if I wanted to help, it is the better habit to refrain. I have seen too many cases in which good intentions were translated into stumbling, inartful words, setting back the agenda rather than advancing it. That was not going to be me.

Despite those reservations, I feel compelled to speak out in solidarity for the movement against having a racial slur, i.e. "Redskins," as the name of an NFL franchise. I feel the compulsion for two reasons. First, I am a sports fan and a resident of the Washington D.C. area, which makes the name of the local franchise more relevant than those living outside of the region who don't care about sports. Second, I am an Asian American, and I have been mired in the ill-advised hashtag campaign from a few weeks ago that distracted the national attention away from this important issue. Though I have been speaking out on the stupidity of the hashtag campaign, it is undeniable that I, too, contributed to the distraction.

How shall I express my solidarity with the campaign against "Redskins," without running afoul of my personal rule that I should not speak on behalf of others? Answer: I can speak about my own experience, which points toward the same result. Here is my attempt at doing so.

*               *               *

I am a first generation immigrant, having emigrated from Korea to Los Angeles area in 1997. I will not bore you with the sob stories about my adjustment into American life at age 16, since I have already done that in this space already. It would enough to say that, the first year of my American life was defined largely by loneliness. In Seoul, I lived in the same neighborhood throughout my childhood. I had a close group of friends who attended the same elementary school, same middle school and same high school. The move to U.S. was the first major move I remember--and it had to be across the Pacific, in a new land where no one wanted to talk to the new kid who spoke broken English.

(More after the jump)

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

Coach Leta Andrews and TrueHoop

It is because of American Tiger Moms like Leta Andrews that the Korean still has faith in America:

GRANBURY, Tex. — At 7:15 a.m. on Monday, the girls’ basketball team at Granbury High assembled for practice. As always, shirts had to be tucked in, hair pulled back. If a shoelace came untied, it meant running the bleachers. Questions had two acceptable answers: Yes ma’am and no ma’am.

Sure, Coach Leta Andrews had her lighter moments. She might show up at practice in a crazy wig; once she even wore a bikini. But joking around is not how she got her name on the local water tower for winning more basketball games than any high school coach in the country — 1,346 victories, an average of 27 a season, in her 49-year career.

...

“She’s a tough coach,” Jordan said. “She doesn’t let you slack off. Sometimes she makes us cry, but we know it’s for the good. I can’t picture high school without her.”

Former players stay in touch. In 1996, Andrews traveled to Atlanta to cheer on Amy Acuff, who had played for her championship team in Corpus Christi and was now competing in the Olympic high jump. Three years ago, shortly after having stents implanted in a blocked artery, Andrews drove eight hours to attend the funeral of Cerny’s mother.

Acuff, a four-time Olympian, said: “I think people often are afraid to discipline kids; they feel it is too harsh or that the kid won’t love you. But I think the root of respect and love is a person expecting and demanding that you be as good as you can be every single moment.”

Andrews longs for more diversity on her team and more gym rats, players who want to win as badly as she does. “Don’t run around like a chicken with your head cut off,” she scolded her offense Monday. But she is not ready to retire. The only win that is important, she said, is the next one.

“I’m not ready to turn this over to these younger coaches,” Andrews told her husband recently. “They just don’t demand enough.”

Texas Coach Demands Best, Has Record to Prove It [New York Times] (emphasis the Korean's).

After hearing so much whining about Tiger Mom's "emotional abuse," it was so nice to know there are still people in America who get it. But over at TrueHoop (one of the Korean's favorite blogs,) Henry Abbott had a different take.

More after the jump.

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

Baekseju, the "100 Year Wine"

Dear Korean,

What is the deal with 'bek sae ju'? I am told that drinking this 'hundred-year-wine' can help you live longer. Are there any actual health benefits to drinking this beverage? How did it get its reputation/name?

Andi

Dear Andi,

You inadvertently stumbled onto a highly interesting example of how a Korean product manages to recall Korea's tradition and repackage it for modern day customers.

First, the name. "Baek Se Ju" [백세주] literally means "100 year wine." The first reference to it came in a 17th century book called Jibong'yuseol [지봉유설], which was a type of encyclopedia, written by a scholar named Yi Su-Gwang [이수광]. The book tells the following tale about baekseju:

A traveler was walking by a road, when he saw a young man had an old man stood up with his pants sleeves rolled up, and was whipping the old man with a switch. The traveler became indignant with the young man's insolence, chastised: "How dare you lay your switch on this old man's leg!"

The young man replied: "This here is my precious only son, whom I had at age 80. And he is turning old like this because he did not drink this wine like I told him. So I am trying to teach him a lesson."

This is a cool story reflective of the kind of ironic humor commonly found in traditional Korea. But the real story is how the modern baekseju appeared in the market.

Baekseju is made by a company called Kooksoondang [국순당] Brewery Co., a company that focuses on brewing traditional wine. Before Kooksoondang decided to mass produce baekseju, the wine was no more than a moonshine recipe available only in small pockets of Korea. Importantly, although Kooksoondang made its baekseju based on the traditional recipe, it added plenty of its own adjustments to come up with what would sell in the broader market. The company put out the wine in the market in 1992, and advertised it with a nifty poster re-telling the story from Jibong'yuseol.

Notice the old man getting hit by a young man

(source)

The result was a huge success. In the early 1990s, there were pretty much only three types of alcohol available in Korean market -- beer, soju and whiskey. Baekseju was perfectly positioned to hit the market for people who wanted to drink but not get shitfaced. (For those who wanted something a bit stronger than baekseju, a popular alternative was quickly hatched -- "osipseju" ("50 year wine"), made by mixing soju and baekseju one-to-one.) The good-for-your-health was a nice narrative to accompany the product, enforcing the message that if you want to avoid hangover the next morning, go with baekseju. Thanks to baekseju, Kooksoondang grew 100 times in terms of revenue since 1992, and has now become the dominant market leader in traditional Korean wine of all kinds. One can fairly say that baekseju opened the door for the rediscovery of Korean traditional wine, although baekseju itself might not be particularly authentic.

Is baekseju actually good for your health? It might be possible -- it is not particularly strong (about 13 percent alcohol), and its ingredients do include many herbs used in traditional medicine. The company does claim that, based on its own experiments, baekseju is just as good as red wine in cancer prevention, and also protects the stomach lining. But at the end of the day, alcohol is alcohol -- it can only be so good for one's health. Instead of thinking too much about the supposed health benefits, one should drink baekseju as a toast to how tradition, a solid product and nifty marketing combined to create one of the most successful products in Korean alcohol market.

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

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 43. Leessang

[Read more reviews from the Korean from the Library Mixer. To join, click here.]

[Series Index]

43.  Leessang [리쌍]

Years of Activity:  2002-present

Members:
Gary [개리]- rap
Gil [길] - rap

Discography:
Leessang of Honey Family (2002)
Re: Development [재, 계발] (2003)
Library of Soul (2005)
Black Sun (2007)
Baek-Ah Cuts the Strings [伯牙絶絃(백아절현)] (2009)
Hexagonal (2009)

Representative Song:  It's Not Me Laughing (feat. Ali) [내가 웃는게 아니야], from Library of Soul

내가 웃는게 아니야

It's Not Me Laughing

날 사랑한다는 말 천번을 넘게 내 맘 구석구석 빼곡히 써놓고

The words, "I love you," you wrote over thousand times filling up every corner of my heart

이제 와 나를 망부석 여인처럼 남겨둔 채 방 한구석 먼지처럼 나를 밀어둔 채

Now you leave me like a woman turned into stone, push me aside like dust in the corner

헤어지자 말하는 너의 뺨을 나도 모르게 때리고

You say let us part; I somehow slap your cheek and

내 발목을 잡는 땅을 억지로 뿌리치며 한참을 걸으며 다짐했어

Walked for long, shaking off the ground that grabbed by ankle, and swore,

다신 내 곁에  널 두지 않겠다고

That I will never put you next to me

여태 널 지키기 위해 했던 나의 노력 그 모든걸 다 오려

All of my efforts so far to protect you, cut them all out,

저 달리는 차들 속으로 던지고 눈물 섞인 웃음을 짓고

Throw them into those running cars, make a smile mixed with tears,

어떻게든 너보다 잘 살 거라는 믿음 저 짙은 어둠속에 새기며

Carve into that thick darkness the faith that I will somehow end up better than you

내가 웃는게 웃는게 아니야

Me laughing is not laughing

또 내가 걷는게 걷는게 아니야

And me walking is not walking

너의 기억 그 속에서 난 눈물 흘려 너를 기다릴뿐

Inside your memories, I only cry while waiting for you

내가 웃는게 웃는게 아니야

Me laughing is not laughing

또 내가 걷는게 걷는게 아니야

And me walking is not walking

너의 기억 그 속에서 난 눈물 흘려 너를 기다릴뿐

Inside your memories, I only cry while waiting for you

몇 일이나 지났을까
How many days passed

늦가을 쓸쓸한 거리처럼 물가에 홀로 앉은 낚시꾼처럼
Like the lonely late autumn streets like a fisherman sitting alone by the water

외로움과 기다림에 지친 난 끝없는 줄담배에 기침을 하며
Tired of loneliness and waiting, I cough at the endless stream of cigarettes

미친 듯이 추억속으로 빨려들어가
And get sucked into the memories like mad

애교 섞인 목소리에 꺾인 나뭇가지처럼 쓰러져
To her flirty voice I fall like a broken twig

그녀의 품에 안기고 달콤한 꿈에 부풀어
Held in her arms, dream sweet dreams

영원히 나를 붙들어매라며 농담을 하고
I joke, tie me down forever

어디를 가도 누구를 만나도 언제나 둘이기에
No matter where we go, no matter who we meet, there were always two,

즐거운 분위기에 우린 항상 행복해
Always fun times, so we are always happy

했었지 그랬었지 하지만 이젠 그녀는 내 곁에 없지
It was like so, that's right, but now she's not next to me

난 또 외로움에 밤길을 걷지
I again walk the night streets in loneliness

그대 떠나보낸 내 가슴에
In my heart that sent you away

눈물이 차올라 날 흔들며 아프게 해
tears fill up, shaking me and hurting me

그대 떠나보낸 내 두 눈에
To my two eyes that sent you away

어둠이 다가와 또 난 -
darkness comes. Again I -

너를 잊을래 난 너를 잊을래
Forget you, I'll forget you

아무리 외쳐봐도 그게 안돼
No matter how I scream it I cannot do

너를 아껴주지 못해 또 후회하네
I could not adore you, I regret again

너를 잊을래 난 너를 잊을래
Forget you, I'll forget you

아무리 외쳐봐도 그게 안돼
No matter how I scream it I cannot do

네가 웃던 기억 속에 또 미쳐가네
Inside the memories of your smile I go mad again

내가 웃는게 웃는게 아니야
Me laughing is not laughing
또 내가 걷는게 걷는게 아니야
And me walking is not walking
너의 기억 그 속에서 난 눈물 흘려 너를 기다릴뿐
Inside your memories, I only cry while waiting for you
내가 웃는게 웃는게 아니야
Me laughing is not laughing
또 내가 걷는게 걷는게 아니야
And me walking is not walking
너의 기억 그 속에서 난 눈물 흘려 너를 기다릴뿐
Inside your memories, I only cry while waiting for you

너 없는 아픔에 모든 건 눈물을 흘리며 코를 푸네
Because of the pain without you I cry and blow my nose at everything

(남자답게 웃고 싶지만)
(Although I want to be a man and laugh)

매 순간 멍해지는 습관 고쳐지질 않고
I cannot fix the habit, I space out

(남자답게 웃고 싶지만)
(Although I want to be a man and laugh)

남자답게 난 웃고싶지만
I want to be a man and laugh but

밥 한숟갈 떠 넣기가 이렇게 힘들수가
How it is so hard to put one spoonful of food in my mouth

날 위로하는 친구의 웃음도 내 눈엔 슬픈 구슬로 바뀌어
Even my consoling friend's smile turns into a sorrowful bead in my eyes

웃으려 웃어봐도 안되는 난 먼 곳으로 -
I try and laugh and laugh, I cannot do, and I am away far -

내가 웃는게 웃는게 아니야
Me laughing is not laughing
또 내가 걷는게 걷는게 아니야
And me walking is not walking
너의 기억 그 속에서 난 눈물 흘려 너를 기다릴뿐
Inside your memories, I only cry while waiting for you
내가 웃는게 웃는게 아니야
Me laughing is not laughing
또 내가 걷는게 걷는게 아니야
And me walking is not walking
너의 기억 그 속에서 난 눈물 흘려 너를 기다릴뿐
Inside your memories, I only cry while waiting for you

Translation Notes: 
- Rap is so, so hard to translate.
- The entire first 2.5 lines are a dependent clause modifying the subject of the sentence, which goes for four lines!
- The lines break by meaning, which destroys the rhyme. But there was no other choice if the translation was going to make sense. Hooray for accidental rhyming in translation.
- 망부석 is a figure in Korean folk tales, about a woman who was waiting for her husband, a sailor in the sea, until she turned into stone.
- Any ideas for translating 나도 모르게 succinctly?

In 15 words or less:  "Family" men who completed the Koreanization of rap.

Maybe they should be ranked higher because...  Rap is only going to get bigger in Korea, and they are leading the way.

Maybe they should be ranked lower because...  Actually, this feels just right.

Why is this group important?
The transplantation of rap in Korea has been an interesting progress for contemporary observers, because rap's importation into Korea is happening in real time, right now. After all, the first K-pop song that may legitimately be considered as a "rap" song only appeared in 1992, and the progress of rap in Korea since has been well-documented through albums, television shows, music videos, etc.

Leessang is important because its history neatly represents Korea's localization of rap, and its music represents Korean rap's final form -- for now. The two rappers of Leessang were formerly a part of another rap group Honey Family, a seven-member rap group that styled itself to be like Wu-Tang Clan, a large group that would assemble ad hoc while its members also pursued solo careers. Honey Family also distinguished itself by relying on very little English and staying within Korean language in its rap.

Truthfully, Gary and Gil did not do much in Honey Family -- which made music critics scratch their heads when they launched Leessang. But to everyone's surprise, Leessang took off with its distinctive style. No one will mistake Leessang for the most accomplished technicians, as Leessang's best songs are chill and rhythmical but not exactly replete with ingenious rhymes. But Leessang was nonetheless successful, and their success is almost entirely based on their ability as lyricists, the ability to tell a compelling story with interesting imageries.

Korean-style narratives are generally characterized by conveying overwhelming emotion. In poor formulations of such narratives, the story-telling becomes corny, over-the-top and melodramatic. (Think all Korean dramas.) But in the best formulations of such narratives, the story-telling hits the spot unlike any other. (Think Old Boy.) The song above is a nice representation of Leessang's strength. Simply talking about being heartbroken means little to anyone other than the heartbroken person. But when "laughing is not laughing" and "walking is not walking," one can feel the depth of the pain through those words.

Korean-style narratives, in rhymes constructed in Korean language -- this is what Leessang accomplished, and they deserve acknowledgment because of that.

Interesting Trivia:  The name of the group is a play on word of the name Yi Sang, a Korean novelist/poet of the 1930s who is famous for near-psychotic novels and extremely esoteric poems that often involved nothing but numbers and graphs.

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

Ask a Korean! News: Acclimation of a North Korean

An unusally light-hearted, yet nonetheless insightful, piece from Joo Seong-Ha:

Evidence that I am Becoming a Korean

When I was in China after having escaped North Korea, I heard news on the radio that said, "South Korea produces 4.5 million tons of food waste every year." My jaw dropped -- 4.5 million tons! I, as someone who was in China after having witnessed people starving to death, could not understand the South Koreans who threw food away.

When you think about it, 4.5 million tons of food would feed the entire North Korea. One side starves to death and the other side throws food away -- what incongruence, I thought then.

That must have shocked me a great deal, because I never left any food behind for about three years since I came to Korea. No matter how full I was, I would scrape to the bottom of any serving that the restaurants gave. If I could not finish it, I felt like I was committing a crime to the North Korean brethren who were clutching their hungry stomach.

Having lived that way, my stomach ended up growing by 5 inches since I first came to South Korea. The first pairs of pants that I bought after arriving Korea no longer fit me. I also have several suits that I can no longer wear because they are too small.

Gradually, I began to think that it was only to my damage that I finished all the food -- my cheap conscience was hastening my death, since the lipid accumulated in my stomach would shorten my lifespan. According to the Secret of Life, Aging, Disease and Death [TK: a popular Korean health documentary], having intestinal fat was just like stuffing poison in the body. Also, there was a study in the U.S. that immigrants from poorer countries who become obese in the U.S. are three to four times more likely to die from cancer than native-born Americans who are obese.

So no, this wasn't it. I still have a lot to do, I have to see the reunification, and so on and so forth... So at any rate, I should never contract obesity. Now, after coming to Korea seven years ago, I leave food behind without any sense of guilt. I decisively do not eat any more after I am full.

And there was that time when I got my first job after coming to Korea.

My boss, Mr. Kim, was laughing at an entertainment program with celebrities. I could not understand that for the life of me. I could not understand why he would watch such trashy program that had no educational value, where celebrities showed up as if to parade how stupid they were. I would have read another page of a book for that time.

Humor has a cultural background and code. I don't know if South Koreans would laugh at North Korean mini-series (probably not, since they would not understand it,) but at first I could not understand why they even had the programs like Wootchatsa [TK: name of a program like SNL] or Gag Concert [TK: same]. Even when I tried to laugh, I could not understand when I was supposed to laugh, and it was no fun.

So I asked. "Why do you watch and waste time with that program? Seems like it has no educational value and just turns people into idiots."

The answer flew back. "What do you need 'educational value' for? You just laugh at the moment and forget about it." At that point, I had to re-evaluate him. "Wow -- all that education and wisdom are useless. I thought he was a capable guy, but that's all he has for intellectul capacity? What a disappointment."

Seven years since, I now watch Gag Concert, and laugh and chuckle. I do not schedule my day for it, but I would flip the channels and gape at Two Days One Night [TK: another show name].

Of course I don't go out of my way to watch any entertainment program, but I got to a point of watching it if they happen to be on. There is no telling how I would be in the future.

And another thing. I could not help but drink coffee in Korea in order to meet people. At first when someone took me to Starbucks or Coffee Bean to buy me coffee, I thought "Why would anyone drink this?"

Even after I began to drink coffee, the best coffee for me was the 200 won [=20 cents] vending machine coffee. It seemed strange that people would pay 5000 won [=5 dollars] for coffee that was far worse than the vending machine coffee.

Seven years since, I now have turned into someone who enjoys the aroma of a latte. Now I know that the 5000 won coffee is definitely worth more than the 200 won coffee. Of course, I still cannot bring myself to pay for the coffee. I do not yet understand why what is essentially a cup of water costs as much as a meal. But I do appreciate it when someone buys me an expensive cup of coffee.

The last one. When I first came, the politicians under investigation always said, "I am truly innocent." Seeing that, I thought, "Why would a National Assemblyman, a representative of the people, sell his reputation for some tens of million won [=tens of thousands dollars]? There has to be something wrong."

On top of that, they always say "I swear upon my honor that this is the truth." When I see that, I thought: "Right -- this has to be a frame job, since that politician is willing to bet his honor that he must have built all his life. A National Assemblyman's honor cannot be had for that cheap."

I have been in South Korea for seven years. Now when I see a politician who says "That is not true at all," I say: "Come on -- how do you deny such an obvious thing? Tsk tsk."

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