Ask a Korean! News: Apple v. Samsung

One of the Korean's favorite blogs is Alternative Hypothesis, providing analysis on technology market with respect to Korea and other world leaders. The blog is run by Mr. Kim Sang-Hoon, a reporter covering business for Dong-A Ilbo.

Mr. Kim recently penned an extremely interesting piece comparing Apple and Samsung, as reflected by their newest smartphones. Below is a translation. (Because the Korean is unfamiliar with tech terms, the translation may not match up perfectly.)

Great Product and Great Factory - the Difference Between IPhone 4 and Galaxy S

I just came back last night from Japan. I was there for the Google Conference, but apparently the world is now full of chatter about Apple and Samsung Electronics. Many commentators in the news said that iPhone with strong software augmented the hardware, and Galaxy with strong hardware augmented the software, in the end resembling each other. I don't know about that -- really, what things are similar?

Actually, there is nothing special about iPhone 4's hardware. The A4 Chip, reported to have been improved in quality, was previously used in iPad and fundamentally is a semiconductor using ARM's core. Of course the detailed specifications are very important, but to put it very simply and just looking at the numbers, it is not much different from the 1 GHz chipset used in Snapdragon or Galaxy S by Samsung. Also, the "Retina" Display that caused a stir is no more than an IPS-style LCD with excellent resolution. Although it is much better than any other low-cost LCD, with respect to the ability to display outdoors or the view angles, (roughly speaking,) there is not much difference with HD LCD that goes into phones made by LG Electronics. Personally, I believe that LG Electronics had the ability to order a single-standard component as many as Apple could order, LG would have been the one introducing the Retina Display. (Of course, it is a separate question whether LG has enough marketing acumen to name it "retina.")

At any rate, what is important is not the specs of each and every hardware. What is important is the purpose for which this product is made, and how the new functionalities organically unite with the old functionalities to serve this purpose. Apple is really good at this. To give an example, I personally think iPhone 4's camera -- which was buried by the fanfare over other parts -- is the prime example.

In talking about iPhone 4's camera, Steve Jobs said one should focus on the purpose for which the camera is used instead of engaging in a megapixel race, because a phone camera is fundamentally a tool that one always carries around to record one's surroundings. Therefore, a phone camera ultimately has a smaller image sensor (which acts like the film) and smaller lens. Then naturally, the picture is murky and the quality of the photo taken in a dark place is even worse. Given this characteristic, a phone camera will never be better than a DSLR. Instead, Steve Jobs emphasizes that iPhone 4's camera can be as good as a point-and-shoot camera. IPhone 4's camera takes in relatively more light because the megapixel number of the camera's sensor increased but the size of each sensor speck remained the same. The result is that apicture taken with iPhone 4's 5 megapixel camera is not that far behind in quality compared to a picture taken with a regular compact point-and-shoot digital camera.

As an aside -- for the sake of providing more context -- I really like the camera on iPhone 3GS. Although it is only 3 megapixel, I only use the iPhone camera unless I have to take out the DSLR. I do that because there is hardly any "shutter lag," which is the time it takes to capture an image after the shutter is pressed. With other cell phone cameras, when the shutter is pressed when a child is smiling, the image captured is the child with his face turned away. That's about 0.5 seconds, which is a very long time as semi-serious photographers would know. DSLR takes the picture instantaneously when the shutter is pressed, but it is heavy and a chore to carry around all the time. For a person like me who takes a lot of pictures of children, this is a very considerate function. In contrast, other smartphone makers talk about the megapixel of their cameras but keep mum on shutter lag. Nor does iPhone particularly emphasize it -- you just know when you use it. Then iPhone users, instead of playing number games, create a word-of-mouth ad that says "You just know the difference once you use it." This is because Apple is a company that cares about how we use a machine.

This is how Apple makes a great product. Seeing Facetime after seeing the existing video conference that features low resolution and static-laden audio makes you widen your eyes with wonder. A video conference screen that sends images captured by a HD-capable camcorder is a functionality that redefines video conference. Facetime commercials nicely shows how Apple is accomplishing its mission of making a good product.

Compared to this, Galaxy S is not a great product. Although it receives praises of "best functionalities among all the Android phones thus far," it feels more like a well-rounded thing without a big flaw rather than the best. This is why it is difficult to imagine anyone who would stay up all night to buy Galaxy S, children who jump up and down with joy after receiving Galaxy S, or a friend who is on the verge of tears after receiving a Galaxy S as a gift.

But even the greatest product is meaningless if it is not there by your hands when you want to buy it. Therein lies the greatness of Samsung Electronics. It was reported that Samsung pre-ordered more than a million Galaxy S. Worldwide, 110 communications companies are planning to purchase Galaxy S, and Samsung plans to supply them all at the time they want the phones. In contrast, iPhone 4 will only be available in five countries (including the U.S.) by the end of June, 18 countires by the end of July, and even later for other countries. Until then, people cannot buy an iPhone no matter how much they want one. When the demand outstrips the supply, Samsung can conjure the magic of instantly increasing supply by expanding the production line for Product A into the production line that used to make Product B. Apple cannot do this. Instead, Apple takes reservation on the quantity of its products, gets its product based on that deadline, then increases the supply if the order increases. Although Apple is always late to respond to the market, it covers its weakness by its product's outstanding attractiveness. Apple even goes so far as to use the reactions of the waiting customers in its marketing.

In contrast, if the demand for its products is lukewarm, Samsung Electronics -- which runs its own factories -- simply changes the production line to produce something more popular. On average, Samsung only takes two months to re-educate its workers for the new line. Samsung's employees, who are divided into a number of ranks, always endeavor to become a higher-ranked engineers. Because the working environment is dynamic (in other words, not boring,) there is no employee who kills himself; in fact, the job satisfaction for Samsung's factory workers is on the high side. Furthermore, based on the market's reaction, Samsung adjusts the amount of production within 48 hours. It is not an exaggeration to say that Samsung has the world's quickest reaction time among global corporations. Apple cannot order Foxconn to adjust its production within 48 hours. If Apple did that, it would not be able to have the contract that allows for Apple to put out its products at this price. But Samsung makes a lot of cell phones other than smartphones; because Samsung orders so many parts, it can acquire components at prices as low as Apple's. Samsung also has a production system that is just as efficient as Foxconn. On top of this, Samsung has the advantage of an incredibly fast market-reaction-time that Apple-Foxconn combo would have difficulty achieving. The strength that makes Samsung great is this unique advantage that allows the company to make approximately similar products for cheaper price and put them out in the market when the customers want them. I think the company learned this strategy when it was battling Nokia.

Therefore, my belief is that while Samsung did not build a great product, it built a great factory. Even though it does not make an Anycall phone that drives customers mad with their desire to have, Anycall phones maintained the basic level of quality, were available at appropriate price, and existed at the time and place when the market wanted that product. Instead of trying to be the most innovative company, it seems as if Samsung is trying to be a company that will continue to be in second place even if the first place may change.

위대한 제품과 위대한 공장, 아이폰4와 갤럭시S의 차이점 [Alternative Hypothesis]

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

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists Series: Just Missed the Cut (Part 1)

[Series Index]

Before we get into the actual rankings, here is a quick roundup of K-Pop artists who were considered. They are organized by their debut year. Part 1 is the list of the artists who debuted before 1990.

All of these singers are all pretty famous, and their songs are worth listening to if you want to get the full context of the prevalent music within the genre and the era. The Korean included Korean names of the singers/bands so that readers may copy/paste the names in Youtube search window. Amazingly, Youtube has a pretty decent store of many songs – even those belonging to the real old oldies.

Ha Choon-Hwa (하춘화), 1961

In 15 words or less:  Renowned trot singer with many connections with the politically powerful.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  Recording 2,500 songs over 45 years of career must count for something.

She was not ranked because…  Trot is (for now) a diminishing genre with minimal impact on pop culture. Ha did not change that, nor did she dominate the trot era as much as other trot singers who are ranked.

Song Dae-Gwan (송대관), 1967

In 15 words or less:  Trot singer who is still going strong.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  He still drives the trot scene of today.

He was not ranked because…  That does not mean much.

Song Chang-Sik (송창식), 1970

In 15 words or less:  One of the flag-bearers of the folk rock movement in the 1970s.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  Some of his songs like Whale Hunt (고래사냥 ) are iconic.

He was not ranked because…  He did not have much influence otherwise, and quickly joined the softened folk rock trend in the late 1970s.

Whale Hunt by Song Chang-Sik

Yang Hee-Eun (양희은), 1971

In 15 words or less:  Perhaps the greatest female folk rock singer.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  See above.

She was not ranked because…  Much of her success was fueled by Kim Min-Gi (김민기) who composed her songs. Kim deserves the rank.

Tae Jin-A (태진아), 1972

In 15 words or less:  The current face of Korean trot.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  Right now, his name is the first to come up if one asked Koreans, “Name one trot singer.”

He was not ranked because…  The diminished influence of trot makes his influence accordingly small, and he did not exactly dominate when trot was the dominant genre. But this was a close call.

Tae Jin-A's live performance of Tears of Yours (당신의 눈물)

Hye Eun-Yi (혜은이), 1975

In 15 words or less:  Disco queen of the 1970s.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  She went on tours in Southeast Asia, perhaps making her the first “Korean wave” star.

She was not ranked because…  Her peak was just not that special.

Lee Su-Man (이수만), 1975

In 15 words or less:  The progenitor of corporate bands.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  H.O.T. BoA. DBSK. Super Junior. Girls’ Generation. Just a few groups that went through Lee’s production company, SM Entertainment.

He was not ranked because…  Close call, but Lee did pretty much nothing as an artist of his own right.

Love and Peace (사랑과 평화), 1978

In 15 words or less:  The pioneer of Korean funk.

Maybe they should have been ranked because…  Their experiments in funk and soul were innovative, and some of their songs like It’s Been a While (한동안 뜸했었지) are iconic.

They were not ranked because…  Fairly or not, right now their achievements are not valued as highly as other artists who were their contemporaries.

Shim Soo-Bong (심수봉), 1978

In 15 words or less:  Significant trot singer.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  She had some iconic songs like Men are Ships, Women are Ports (남자는 배 여자는 항구).

She was not ranked because…  She was present at the scene when President/dictator Park Chung-Hee was assassinated. She was banned from public appearance for a long time since. Through no fault of her own, her music career was never the same.

Men are Ships, Women are Ports (남자는 배 여자는 항구) by Shim Soo-Bong, 
one of the most popular trot songs ever.

In Sooni (인순이), 1978

In 15 words or less:  Most famous mixed-race person in Korea until Hines Ward appeared.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  As Korea is becoming more racially diverse, her influence in pop culture and Korean society at large is increasing.

She was not ranked because…  Even with recent highlights, she just did not have the public’s attention as much as the top 50.

Jeong Tae-Choon (정태춘), 1978

In 15 words or less:  Very popular folk rock singer who resisted the dictatorship until the bitter end.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  Jeong led the charge on the censorship in music under the dictatorship, going so far as releasing an album without going through the government first – which may as well have been a death wish at the time.

He was not ranked because…  At the end of the day, his songs did not withstand the test of time, unlike other late 1970s/1980s artists who are ranked.

Peregrine Falcon (송골매), 1979

In 15 words or less:  The last flash of Korean rock’s golden age in the late 1980s.

Maybe they should have been ranked because…  Their songs still rock, and the leader Bae Cheol-Su (배철수) would go onto play a fairly significant role as a prominent radio DJ.

They were not ranked because…  Close call, but the bottom line is that their influence was not as great as those who are ranked.

Will Love Everything (모두 다 사랑하리) by Peregrine Falcon

Kim Hyeon-sik (김현식), 1980

In 15 words or less:  One of the most recognizable voices of the 1980s Korea.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  See above. Also, a couple of his songs like I Had Loved (사랑했어요) and Like Rain, Like Music (비처럼 음악처럼) are very iconic.

He was not ranked because…  VERY VERY close call, but he did not live long enough (as he died in his early 30s,) and his influence was not big enough to overcome his short lifespan.

Like Rain, Like Music (비처럼 음악처럼) by Kim Hyun-Sik.

Kim Su-cheol (김수철), 1983

In 15 words or less:  Created a successful hybrid of traditional Korean music and rock.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  See above. Also, arguably one of Korea’s best guitarists ever.

He was not ranked because…  He fully turned to creating traditional Korean music, and accordingly cut off his influence over pop culture.

Fire Engine (소방차), 1987

In 15 words or less:  Arguably, Korea’s first boy band.

Maybe they should have been ranked because…  See above.

They were not ranked because…  They disappeared with just a few hit songs with no lasting influence – not even in the field of boy bands.

Story of Last Night (어젯밤 이야기) by Fire Engine

(Warning: The Korean will not be responsible for gouging of your own eyes after watching the video.)

Park Nam-jeong (박남정), 1988

In 15 words or less:  One of the finest dancers in late 1980s Korea.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  His signature dance moves are still recurring in current K-pop dances.

He was not ranked because…  He just wasn’t that influential.

Yoo Yeong-seok (유영석), 1988

In 15 words or less:  The man who figured out Korea’s ballad formula.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  Churning out above-average ballad songs for 20 (!) years such that fellow musicians made a tribute album celebrating those 20 years probably should mean something.

He was not ranked because…  Close call, but there are others who figured out the formula just as well as Yoo did; unlike them, Yoo never had a period of utter domination.

On Days When Tears Well (눈물나는 날에는) by Yoo Young-Seok, 

as a part of a band called Blue Sky (푸른 하늘). 

This song is an excellent display of Korean ballad formula.

Lee Sang-Eun (이상은), 1989

In 15 words or less:  Probably the most talented female singer-songwriter in Korean folk rock.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  Lee tossed away a very promising career to study more music abroad for four years. Then she came back and produced a series of incredibly diverse and innovative albums incorporating everything from jazz to Korean traditional music. That counts for something, right?

She was not ranked because…  Not when the ranking is based on influence. Lee was critically acclaimed, but was never a huge presence in the minds of Korean public. Nor did she leave a measurable imprint on the artists who followed her. She may have been (and is still) too far ahead of her time.

Music video of Bird (새) by Lee Sang-Eun

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

Who Are These People in Orange T-Shirts in the Streets of New York?

Dear Korean,

I was practicing violin today, minding my own business, when this strange Asian college kid flung open the door to my practice room and asked if I wanted to volunteer for the Bible Crusade. Apparently this Korean pastor travels around the world holding these sermon sessions, and recruit local musicians wherever they go. I refused because I was busy next week and the week after, but the kid was persistent. I finally managed to shoo him away.

In fact, I saw this Bible Crusade thing before. They are everywhere in New York somehow, wearing orange shirts, handing out flyers and talking about pastor Park Ock Soo. What the hell is this stuff?

And also, can you pick up some tofu on the way home? We (which means you) are making김치찌개 tonight. I love you!

The Korean Fiancée

The Korean loves you too honey. That’s why your question jumps ahead of people who had been waiting for more than a year. (This question is not made up, by the way. The Korean Fiancée actually called and demanded that the Korean answer this question right away.)

First, a full disclosure: The Korean is a Presbyterian, but he did not really attend any church in Korea. He only started attending church in the U.S.

At any rate, the Korean himself got curious as well. He is sure that other New York-based readers have seen this stuff as well. Mostly Asian (almost certainly Korean, based on their looks) flyer-givers in orange shirt, taking over corners and muttering something about “Bible Crusade” and pastor Ock-Soo Park. In fact, the Korean sees these guys about once in two weeks or so on the way to work. So what the hell is this?

 These are the kind of guys that the Korean is talking about. 

(Image was edited to protect privacy, although it was available via Google.) 
(Source withheld for obvious reasons.)

The simple answer is – these guys belong to an offshoot of Christianity that probably deserves the term “cult”. They are generally referred to in Korea as “Saviorists” (구원파), although their precise name is Association of Korean Christian Baptists (대한예수교침례회). In contrast, the name of the official Baptist organization is The Korea Baptist Convention. (기독교 한국 침례회) Christian Heresy Counseling Center, run by the Christian Council of Korea (which encompasses most Protestant faiths such as Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, etc.,) has decreed that Saviorists are heretics. (The website of the Heresy Counsel Center also has a fascinating list and articles about those Christian sects that it considers heretics.)

Apparently, Saviorist movement started in the 1960s, when an American missionary named Dick York made Mr. Park a pastor through an informal mission. Mr. Park did not attend any established seminary. According to Mr. Park, Mr. York was a part of Shield of Faith Mission International. (Mr. York’s homepage is here.) The distinctive point in the Saviorist creed is that once you are saved by Christ, you no longer need to repent for your sins – because you are saved already. And the flip side of that logic is that if you continue admitting that you are a sinner (something that most Christians do every Sunday) you make yourself a sinner.

But the Korean does not really care about the finer points of theology. (Actually he does, but this post is not about that.) The term “cult” is deserved based not on faith, but on actions. So what about Saviorists that makes the Korean comfortable to call them a cult? Certainly, hitting up practice rooms around New York to recruit “volunteer” musicians sounds like a cult. (The Korean Fiancée spoke with her musician friends, and apparently these people went as far out as SUNY Stony Brook to recruit musicians.) The aggressive flyering (not just in Korea, but in New York!) feels like a cult.

Also, searching on Naver (Korea’s equivalent to Yahoo!) about Park Ock-Soo results in accusations of being cult plastered with harsh rebuke against such accusation and creepy adulations for Park. Park also sued a pastor who criticized him as a heretic which lasted four years, all the way up to the Supreme Court of Korea (where Park lost.) Death threats against a person who quit the church probably count towards being a cult as well. (The person later wrote a book titled: “Why Are Park Ock-Soo, Lee Yo-Han and Yoo Byeong-Eon Heretics?”)

But most intriguingly, they are implicated in the most classic cult behavior – mass suicide.

How are the people in orange connected to one of the most sensational news stories in Korea of the late 1980s? 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 Series: Introduction & Brief History

[Series Index]

It’s finally here – the much-anticipated 50 Most Influential K-Pop Artist Series.

This series will be about the influence on pop culture that K-pop artists had, not about who is the “greatest,” “most popular,” or “most innovative.” Of course an artist can be influential by being original, but originality alone is not the determinant of where a particular artist ranks. Rather, the rank of a particular artist will depend on the answer to this question: “How much influence did the artist(s) have on Korean pop culture?”

The influence can be both direct and indirect. The artist can be influential by being directly in the public consciousness for a decade, or by being influencing other artists who collectively changed the faces of Korean pop culture. In other words, this ranking has room for a short-lived innovator who was little known among Korean public, as long as the innovator influenced many other artists who in turn influenced Korean pop culture. This ranking also has room for a hugely popular K-pop artist whose music might be considered cheap and banal, as long as that popularity influenced Korean pop culture somehow.

Important part is that “influence” can be generated not simply from performing music, but also from other music-related activities. This is very significant for a number of people who are ranked, because they exerted influence on Korean pop culture as producers, composers, radio and TV show hosts, etc. However, for completely arbitrary reasons, the Korean limited the ranking to people who actually did some singing. (One can argue that the greatest Laker ever is the team owner Jerry Buss, but most people would think of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kobe Bryant first.)

Before we get into the actual rankings, some history lesson is in order because K-pop in the current form that is popular around the world (and therefore mostly known to AAK! readers) revolves around boy/girl bands. In fact, the word “K-pop” at this point may have come to mean only Korean boy/girl bands instead of Korean pop music in general. But for the purpose of this series, K-pop is used to mean “Korean popular music,” i.e. commercially recorded music for the purpose of being consumed by the general public, which would exclude Korean traditional music or classical music.

At any rate, K-pop is much, much more than boy/girl bands. It has a short but rich history that acutely reflects Korea’s modern history. In fact, the history of K-pop as a whole can be fascinating narrative of how cultural transplantations operate, and how creativity flowers even in the face of constricting forces – be it political, social, or commercial.

Brief History of K-Pop

K-Pop Genre Influence Chart

Here is what will be known as the Korean’s most important contribution to K-pop critique. Introducing… K-Pop Genre Influence Chart.

First, about the technical details. Each decade (except for 1960s) has three columns, which stands for “early,” “middle” and “late” decade. In other words, the first column under 1990s means “early 1990s.” There are 20 rows, which each row representing roughly 5 percent. So if “hard rock” in the late 1990s takes up two rows, it means that hard rock had about 10 percent influence out of all available Korean pop music at that time.

This chart is necessary in order to put a given artist’s place in history in perspective. The Korean can talk about the greatest Korean heavy metal band of the late 1980s, but what does that mean? How does the greatest Korean heavy metal band of the late 1980s compare to the greatest Korean rapper in early 2000s in terms of influence?

Of course, like everything else on this blog, this chart is arbitrary and capricious to the Korean’s whim. Everything on the chart is the Korean’s estimates and nothing scientific. Also, the six genres represented in the chart may be too broad and crude. For example, it does not include electronica/techno, and instead folds the genre into different broadly defined categories, mostly depending on the target audience.

BUT, that does not mean the chart is completely off the reservation. The Korean generally knows what he is talking about, and much thought and research (via Internet, books and asking the Korean’s friends) went into creating this chart. The Korean is confident that while people may quibble with details of the chart, the broad strokes of the chart are correct.

With the chart in front of us, let us dive into the brief history of K-pop by decade (with videos!), after the jump.

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

Time to Come Clean About my other Blog

(FYI, see the same post at Roboseyo here.)

OK, readers. It's time to be a bit more honest over here.

It all started with a bit of an experiment, playing around with anonymity on the Internet... but I really feel like the lie has gotten too big.

See, it started back in 2008, when The Korean from Ask A Korean! (now, with a festive exclamation point!) and I got together to do the "Why Do Expats Complain" series that really put Roboseyo on the map, back when nobody read my blog.

Well, that went so well, that The Korean and I (I even know his real name) have become quite good friends through e-mail correspondence, Skype, and stuff. I even chat online with The Korean Fiance when he's out. (She's really sweet, and hella smart.)

But here's the interesting thing... during the "Expats Complain" thing, one person e-mailed us and said that it seemed like there was an echo going on -- that our writing styles were so similar he suspected we were the same writer. That was amusing to us both, but you know, it's the internet... anything's possible.

So TK and I played around with that idea for a while: it became a running joke between us, and I'd put a phrase into a post that he'd recognize as similar to his style, or he'd do the same to me; nobody else would have noticed if they weren't looking for it, like we were. But then, in December, he asked me if I'd be interested in submitting a post for his site, and seeing if anybody'd spot that it wasn't him writing. So I wrote "Fan Death is Real" in January '09 -- I've always been a fan death believer myself, though deeply closeted, for the sake of the scorn people pour on believers, but I figured everybody's be shaking their heads so much with the "typical of a Korean" prejudice that nobody'd notice it wasn't The Korean's usual writing style.

Well, nobody even noticed a bit -- they just got into the back and forth on the comments, and barely paid attention to the different choice in adjectives.

Emboldened, TK sent me another shocker of a headline: you might not have noticed, but the "I want to Kill the President" post that went up on Roboseyo in March 2009, and discussed free speech in Korea, wasn't written by me at all. Did you notice? I don't know that anybody did.

So it worked... nothing else came of it, and things went on as normal, until a few months ago.

As you know, The Korean got engaged a little while ago, which, along with a promotion at work, left him with no free time to maintain Ask A Korean! at the standard he preferred. So he asked me to step in...

At first I was nervous about taking the extra work on, but honestly, the challenge of writing from a different perspective was so refreshing, I feel like it's been polishing my craft as a writer, so I've been writing both Ask A Korean! and Roboseyo since late January (switching from hotmail to gmail was so that I could manage the mail on an account separate from a few of The Korean's other important, connected online accounts), on the understanding that later, when I'm getting ready for my wedding, he'll take over Roboseyo for a little while.

However, the wheel of fate would turn yet again. Turns out The Korean's promotion led to another, bigger promotion (good for him, I suppose) and this means that, while he has enough time to keep commenting on The Marmot's Hole (that was never me), he's ready to set blogging aside for good.

Given that Ask A Korean! is more popular than Roboseyo ever was by an order of magnitude, and that the question and answer format is so simple the posts practically write themselves, and maintaining two popular, individual blogs is just a little too much, especially now that Hub of Sparkle's back online, I've decided to quit Roboseyo, and devote all my blogging time to Ask A Korean!.

I hope you don't mind, readers: I've really enjoyed doing the Roboseyo blog, and there might still be posts here, more aimed at my close friends and family (more stuff about the rash on my knee than the rash of celebrity suicides: personal, not social commentary), but you'll be happy to know that I'll still be blogging, if you just take the time to switch your bookmarks to Ask A Korean!. To avoid too much confusion, I'll change my own moniker to "The New Korean," to avoid being mistaken with the old Korean. And still feel free to send in translation requests: I have some friends I can farm it out to.

Finally: it's been a great ride. I'm grateful to my readers and especially all the people who left comments and wrote e-mails. I hope for your support at Ask A Korean! as well: Korea remains an inexhaustible topic, and Koreans are an inexhaustibly fascinating people, and i look forward to keeping up the exploration.

All the best, dear readers.

Roboseyo (The New Korean)

p.s. Check out my new "About Me" section here at AAK!

-EDIT 4/2/2010- Hope everyone enjoyed the joke. And a massive thank you to Roboseyo, who played the part superbly.

AAK! Music: Rainy Apgujeong by Brown Eyes (2002)

It's raining in New York. Here is a song for the rain, for the Korean's hometown. Today's selection is Rainy Apgujeong (비오는 압구정) by Brown Eyes.

비오는 압구정

Rainy Apgujeong

비오는 압구정 골목길에서 그댈 기다리다가 나 혼자 술에 취한 밤

Rainy Apgujeong night when, while waiting for you in the alley, I got drunk by myself

혹시나 그댈 마주칠까봐 두시간 지나도록 마냥 기다리네

 Just in case I run into you, for over two hours, I just keep waiting

Oh rainy day 어쩌면 이젠 못볼지도 몰라

Oh rainy day. We may never see each other now

일부러 니가 다시 날 찾기전엔

Unless you purposefully look for me again

Oh rainy day tonight

Oh rainy day tonight

너와 나의 인연이 여기까지일까

Is this it for the tie between you and I

며칠전까진 여기서 널 보곤 했는데

 Just a few days ago I used to meet you here

오늘은 전화도 꺼놨나봐

Today, looks like you turned off your phone too

그대 목소릴 닮은 서운한 비만 오네

Only the rain, apathetic like your voice

Oh rainy day tonight

Oh rainy day tonight

너와 나의 인연이 여기까지일까

Is this it for the tie between you and I

며칠전까진 여기서 널 보곤 했는데

 Just a few days ago I used to meet you here

오늘은 전화도 꺼놨나봐

Today, looks like you turned off your phone too

그댈 기다리다가 나혼자 술에 취한 밤

The night when, while waiting for you, I got drunk by myself

혹시나 그댈 마주칠까봐 두시간 지나도록 마냥 기다리네

 Just in case I run into you, for over two hours, I just keep waiting

Oh rainy day

Oh rainy day

어쩌면 이젠 못볼지도 몰라

We may never see each other now 

일부러 니가 다시 날 찾기까전엔

Unless you purposefully look for me again 

Oh rainy day tonight

Oh rainy day tonight

너와 나의 인연이 여기까지일까

Is this it for the tie between you and I 

그대 목소릴 닮은 비만 오네

Only the rain, like your voice

Briefly about Brown Eyes:  Brown Eyes is an R&B band made up of Yoon Geon (real name: Yang Chang-Ik) and Na-Eol (real name: Yoo Na-Eol). The band released its first album in 2001, and has released three albums so far. Their eponymous first album sold 700,000 albums without the band holding a single concert, which has to be a record of some sort. The band had a long hiatus in 2002 after the second album's release, during which Na-Eol performed as a part of a different band called Brown Eyed Soul while Yoon Geon went solo. The two released the third album under the Brown Eyes name in 2009; Yoon Geon said that both Na-Eol and Yoon Geon will by and large pursue solo careers, but will release music under Brown Eyes name from time to time, pending Na-Eol's completion of his military duties. The entire proceeds from the third album was donated to World Vision, a Christian charity.

About this song:  Rainy Apgujeong was listed on Brown Eyes' second album, titled "Reason 4 Breathing?"

Translation notes:  The lyrics that were originally in English are highlighted in blue.

- Apgujeong is a nouveau riche district in Seoul that is known for chic fashion boutiques as well as upscale shopping, restaurants and bars.

- 인연 and 서운한 were very difficult to translate. They turned out very inelegant. The Korean hates these moments.

- The first line of the song was also very inelegant -- even more so because the underlying message of what it means to be hanging out at Apgujeong is entirely lost.

The Korean on Brown Eyes:  Although sometimes slips into the banal Korea-friendly soft rock, overall very good R&B, and very good voice. Considering the two's success with their later efforts, had a potential to dominate the K-pop scene for a long time if they stayed together.

Significance in K-Pop History:  (1 = instantly forgettable; 5 = popular at the time, ultimately forgettable; 10 = transcendental history-maker)  5.5 out of 10.

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

Ask a Korean! News: Why "Yu-Na Kim"?

Korean figure skating sensation 김연아 is known as "Yu-Na Kim" to English-speaking countries, although the proper Romanization of her name should be "Yeon-A Kim". The Korean had previously heard that Kim deliberately chose the wrong Romanization for the ease of pronunciation for anglophones, but he wanted a confirmation. While searching the Internet for the confirmation, the Korean ran into an interesting article on Chosun Ilbo, written about a week ago. Translation is below.

[Op-Ed] Why Call "Kim Yeon-A" as "Yuna Kim"?

I turned on the TV at my hotel in Vancouver, and I heard the announcer say:

"Yu-Na Kim is well known in Canada as well. Yu-na has been training in Toronto. Right now the screen in the rink shows 'Kim Yu-Na,' but the reason why we call her 'Yu-Na Kim' is..."

It was right before the figure skating short program. CTV, Canadian broadcasting company that was exclusively showing the Winter Olympics, was introducing Kim Yeon-A as a likely candidate for the gold medal. The program was showing the stock photo of Kim Yeon-A as a child wearing colorful Korean traditional clothes. The announcer continued:

"In Korea, Yu-Na Kim is called 'Kim Yeon-A.' The family name comes first. But the reason why we call her 'Yu-Na Kim' is not because we changed it into what we are used to, but because she introduced herself as 'Yu-Na Kim' when she first came to Canada."

As the program went on, the announcer repeated this explanation three times, that calling Kim Yeon-A as Yu-Na Kim was not at all meant to ignore another country's customs and apply the Canadian standard. That day CTV only showed this introduction but did not broadcast the game in which Kim participated; instead, it showed Canada-Germany hockey game that showed at the same time. [TK Note: The reporter apparently did not know that the figure skating actually showed after the hockey game.] While it was a little disappointing, it was natural given that hockey is Canada's favorite sport.

Although I could not see Kim's performance live, the small explanation from the announcer was the most unforgettable thing in my one week stay in Vancouver. It was about how to be respectful and considerate to those who are different from us, how to live together in a mixed manner. I brought this up at a dinner with local Korean Canadians, and a Korean Canadian who worked at a school district office added:

"One time, there was a fight between two Korean students at an elementary school in Vancouver. The parent went to the student who fought with her son and told him, 'You shouldn't fight like that, because Koreans have to stick together.' The school heard of this, and called the parent. 'Why did you call him a Korean student? There are no Korean students, Chinese students, Canadian students at our schools. They are all just students.' When I read this report, I thought the ideas of 'one people' and 'patriotism' that we are used to may be seen as 'exclusionary' and 'totalitarian' to others."

Of course, there were cars in Vancouver draped in the Red Maple Leaf Flag during the Winter Olympics. There were people who were chanting "Canada, Canada" while wearing a hat and a cape made with a Canadian flag. But the majority of Vancouverites seemed to find these scenes -- in which "the people stuck together" -- unfamiliar, although they are nothing more than cute little gatherings compared to Korea where the heart of Seoul would be totally filled.

Vancouver is a multiethnic, multicultural city. Other than Canadians, there are Chinese, Indians, Iranians, Filipinos, Vietnamese live mixed into the city. There are also about 70,000 Koreans, including study abroad students. But this city has rarely seen discrimination based on skin color and language emerging as a problem. There is a separate court for human rights, and a lawsuit is filed immediately if such an insult has been felt. Regardless of the result of the suit, the fact that one was sued is enough to cause embarrassment.

For us who have lived while holding "one people" as a point of pride, such "bouquet society" would likely be impossible. Regardless, we have no choice but to live mixed in with people who are different from us. There are more than a million foreigners in Korea. Korean-Chinese build the apartments in which we will live, young Filipino men run the machines in Ansan industrial complex and Sri Lankans ride the boats on the East Sea. Above all, the Southeastern Asian women who do not even know our language are giving birth to our children in rural areas. Those children probably will not know why their face is different from their friends' at first.

How are we receiving these people who have entered our society? In treating these people as "different," do we not have a sense of superiority hiding in our minds? Past the Vancouver Koreatown, there was a cheap restaurant on the roadside that had a sign saying "$5.99 Lunch Special." The owners were a Korean-Chinese couple who previously worked in Korea. "My co-workers used to look down on me because I was a Korean-Chinese, and my wife was being shunned by other employees at the restaurant in which she worked. You could say the discrimination we experienced in Korea turned into our benefit, because it made us decide to come here."

The world is relative. We, while behaving like this, become upset at small discrimination experienced by our family who immigrated, and surprised when Korean study-abroad students are attacked in Russia.

[최보식 칼럼] '김연아'를 '유나킴'으로 부르는 것은 (Chosun Ilbo)

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

For Crying Out Loud, Grow a Sense of Humor

[NOTE: Sorry readers, Blogger is acting up again. Click the title of the post to pull up this post only in order to watch the hilarious videos of Joe Wong.]

KoreAm magazine blog recently carried a post by Emil Guillermo, discussing a rising stand-up comic named Joe Wong. Here is Joe on the Late Show with Davie Letterman.

The Korean laughed. Laughed really, really hard. The Korean is an immigrant himself, and everything that Wong did was spot-on. The Korean showed the clip to the Korean Fiancee (also a first generation immigrant,) and she also laughed really, really hard. The Korean went on Youtube to find more clips, and Wong did not disappoint. Here is another clip:

Then the Korean read the post below it, and was disappointed. Unlike the Korean, Guillermo did not find Wong to be funny at all. After lobbing a few unnecessary low blows toward Letterman, Guillermo takes aim at Wong:

Blacks certainly wouldn’t welcome a modern reprise of racist pick-a-ninny jokes nor the second coming of Stepin’ Fetchit-type humor. So why should Asian Americans? That’s the trouble with Letterman selling Joe Wong as the face of Asian American comedy.

If Joe Wong taps into some universal truth, it’s stupidity. But when you’re barely represented in the media and stupid is all people see, an image problem is created. No one thinks all white people are like the Simpsons. Besides, they’re cartoons drawn in Korea. But for many, the only Asian they might see could be Joe Wong. When people laugh at Wong, an Asian immigrant lost in American society, they are laughing at and glorifying the everyday examples of racism.

To be fair, Guillermo sees value in self-deprecating jokes. But he thinks that such jokes do not suit Joe:

Certainly, self-effacing, self-deprecating humor can be useful. For Congressman Norm Mineta, it was standard to open every speech with a self-deprecating joke. But when you’re one of the most influential Asian Americans in Washington, you can afford the self-deprecation. Besides, the audience always saw it as charming.

But when you’re lowly Joe Wong, the self-deprecation is merely a re-affirmation of your lowliness. And Wong takes every Asian American down with him. With this everyman, we’re all the butt of the joke.

Guillermo closes with a reflection on Asian American comedy, and by essentially branding Joe as a traitor to his race:

Lately, I’ve come to appreciate the gifts of comedienne Margaret Cho. The comic genius continues to boldly shock and challenge cultural assumptions. Another Korean American, Tina Kim, never stoops to the stupid accent.

The correspondents’ dinner in Washington should represent quite a contrast. The Obama administration has done much to raise the Asian American profile. But all it takes is one Joe Wong in such a high-profile venue to imprint a new negative image within American pop culture. We no longer have to worry about white shock jocks doing accented ching-chong comedy bits anymore. (Hey, that’s racist.) Now, we have one of our own all too willing to debase us.

Authentic? No, just pathetic.

Strong words they are. The Korean does not shy away from strong words either. So here is the Korean's message to Emil Guillermo: "Get a fucking grip man, and grow a sense of humor."

First of all, Guillermo simply does not get Joe's jokes, and why they are funny. Take the joke about washing hands that Guillermo cited his post. The joke works in two stages -- the "inspiration" part, and the "children" part. The inspiration part is very clever. It focuses on a part of the commonplace language on which we rarely focus, and exposes a possible incongruence between the language and the purpose of the language. Then the joke proceeds by bridging the incongruence in a deliberately false manner.

Overall, that joke works a lot like Mitch Hedberg's "Yoplait" joke, which goes like this:

I opened-up a yogurt, underneath the lid it said, "Please try again." because they were having a contest that I was unaware of. I thought maybe I opened the yogurt wrong. Or maybe Yoplait was trying to inspire me. "Come on Mitchell, don't give up! PLEASE TRY AGAIN!! An inspirational message from your friends at Yoplait." Fruit on the bottom, hope on top.

(The Korean could not find the video of this joke for the life of him. Too bad, because Hedberg's delivery takes it to another level.)

(-EDIT 3/16/2010- Thank you, commenters Marten and Sungik. The Yoplait joke is at the 1 minute mark of the updated video.)

But Wong takes his joke one more step, in a pitch-perfect manner: “I wash my hands every time I use the bathroom, so my children don’t have to.” Now this joke is not only clever, but also has an element of sweetness to it. The joke now exploits the deliberate false cognition at full speed, and brings in a stereotypically Asian and immigrant concern for children. Many different things are at play here. The deliberate false cognition is funny. Father's concern for his child is sweet, but funny when it veers into something that does not seem to deserve that concern. (This is a huge appeal of Stuff Korean Moms Like, for example.) This concern packs an additional punch due to Wong's sincere delivery, made believable by the stereotype about Asians/immigrants and their concern for their children's future.

Guillermo does not understand any of this. Instead, he chalks up the reason for the laughter to such canard like the laughers' "need to feel superior" or Wong's "stupidity," playing the part of "the dumb Asian immigrant." Please! There is not a single dumb joke in Wong's bits shown on his two appearances on Letterman. All of Wong's jokes are incomparably better than the crude and unfunny ching-chong jokes. In fact, a good portion of Wong's jokes are not even about being an Asian immigrant. (For example, the "parallel parking" joke, the "blueberry vs. strawberry" joke, "baby on board" joke.)

In fact, Guillermo belies that it's not just Joe Wong that he does not get -- Guillermo does not get stand-up comedy as a whole. "Blacks certainly wouldn't welcome a modern reprise of racist pick-a-ninny jokes"? Really? Then how does Guillermo explain one of the most iconic black comedians giving this bit?

Fat, black women don't give a fuck what you think. She's going out on Friday night. She got an outfit on. That shit match. She got the pumps on, and the pump fat coming out the pump. That's right. It looks like they baking bread in her shoe.

"Baby, your foot ready yet?" "I'll just sprinkle some cinnamon on it!"

That's right. She got an anklet on, and that anklet's holding on for dear life. Black women don't give a fuck. She's like, "I'm sexy. I am sexy, yes, I am! I am the sexiest motherfucker here tonight! Yeah, I got a gut. There's some good pussy under this gut! That's right. You want some of this so you can "livin' la vida loca!"

Was the thunderous laughter for Chris Rock only came from the white people sitting in the Apollo Theater?

It is actually funny that Guillermo cites approvingly of Margaret Cho. Mind you, the Korean LOVES Margaret Cho. But we are talking about a woman who launched her career by (and drew a lot of flak for) talking about how her mother, complete with Korean accent, would call her daughter "moron" in a screaming manner. What about that routine "boldly shock[s] and challenge[s] cultural assumptions," as Guillermo puts it?

But the problem is not simply that Guillermo does not have a sense of humor. The larger problem is that Guillermo represents a certain mindset that is downright harmful to Asian Americans.

(More after the jump.)

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

Ask a Korean! News: Currency Reform in North Korea (Part 2)

(Continued from Part 1 of the series. Original article in Korean here.)

Mission: Impossible, and North Korea's Utter Failure

There is little possibility that prohibition on foreign currency use, issued as a follow-up to the currency reform, would continue to be implemented. (*In fact, as of February North Korea gave up on the enforcement of the prohibition.) North Koreans who possess foreign currency right now are simply sitting on it, waiting for the time when the exchange rate stabilizes. (*The same today, which is about two months since this article was written.) They absolutely do not think that it would be impossible to use foreign currency in the future.

Another North Korean sources said on January 8: "It has been more than a month since the currency reform, but even today the exchange rate goes up and down by 100 percent so it is impossible to know the exact exchange rate," and added: "It will not be until March when the exchange rate between North Korean money and foreign currency would stabilize. Right now there are few transactions." (*The fluctuation in exchange rate is still great enough to cast doubt as to whether the exchange rate will stabilize in March. The stabilization may come in April.) To this reporter who raised doubt about the possibility of being able to continue using foreign currency under the regime's control, the source boasted: "There is no problem at all. It is not as if we have been using foreign currency because the government told us to use it."

The vast majority of North Koreans who are sitting on foreign currency is party officials. The officers who should be in charge of control are actually the ones who most desire the foreign currency ban to be ineffectual. Therefore, it seems likely that the power of dollar and yuan in North Korea will remain strong. (*This prediction by the North Korean source is proving to be very wise at this point.)

國際先驅導報, a Chinese daily, reported on January 7 that Joseon Trade Bank, North Korea's bank that clears trades, set the exchange rate between dollar and the new currency at 96.9 won per dollar. But North Korea's externally posted exchange rate is meaningless. Customarily so far, the exchange rate between dollar and yuan in North Korean black markets was nearly the same as that in China. In other words, if a dollar is exchanged for 6.8 yuan in China, the same rate holds in North Korea.

In addition, even the currency exchange counters in various regions that are run by the government exchanges foreign currency based on the exchange rate in the marketplace. In other words, the externally posted exchange rate is literally for show; even the regime itself does not recognize that exchange rate internally. (*Recently there has been a report where a high-ranking North Korean official admitted to this. There is no need for Korean media to even discuss North Korea's official exchange rate.)

Interesting thing to note is that the value of foreign currency in North Korea tends to go together with the price of rice, which serves as the standard for the value of goods in the marketplace. The rice price, in turn, goes together with the price of rice in the regions of China close to North Korea. Although there is a seasonal factor, usually rice in a North Korean marketplace costs around 1.2 times the cost in China, reflecting the cost of transportation.

The currency reform devalued the money 100 to 1, but it is likely that the reform will become ineffective and the price of goods will revert to the price previous to the reform. (*Even after 100-to-1 devaluation, the price of goods has already climbed to 25 percent of pre-reform price.) For example, right before the reform, rice cost 2200 won for 1 kg and 1 dollar was 3800 won in old money. According to the spirit of the currency reform, 1 kg of rice should be 22 won and 1 dollar should be 38 won in new money. But only one month since the currency reform, 1 kg of rice sells at 200 won and 1 dollar exchanges for over 100 won. (*At mid-February, two months since the reform, 1 kg of rice sells for 500 won in northern North Korea.) Because everyone is hiding their foreign currency in the face of foreign currency prohibition, the exchange rates for dollars or yuans are fluctuating by hundred percent in the same day.

At this point, the marketplace continues to operate as it did before the currency reform. While they have no choice but to show up at marketplace in order to eat and survive, the merchants and the people are confused by the price that runs on a roller coaster several times a day. As the regime decided to pay the laborers the same face value of salary as it was before the reform, the price will likely continue to rise. (*This is actually happening.)

The merchants at the marketplace are the ones who are harmed the most by the currency reform, but farmers on the other hand received the most benefit. Some farmers find themselves rich overnight because of North Korean farms' distribution system. Unlike laborers who receive a monthly salary, farmers receive their entire year's worth of compensation in cash around December through the distribution process. The distribution amount differs depending on one's "effort count".

An "effort count" is a numerical count of the daily labor performed by a farmer. The distribution amount, following the effort count, also depends on the amount of production each farm generated. Therefore, taking North Korea as a whole, a farmer family receives anywhere between several tens of thousand won to several million won. Last December when the farmers received their distribution was when the price for grain and goods, counted in new money, was the lowest. Farmers who anticipated the exacerbating inflation and the rise in price attempted to turn their entire distribution money into goods and sit on them.

This atmosphere is vividly reflected on the January 3rd report by Joseon Shinbo, the official newsletter for North Korean-Japanese Association [TK: 조총련], which described the throng of people at Pyongyang Department Store No. 1. According to the report, the department store spent a week from December 22, 2009 to procure 440 types of items, four million items total, in preparation for the New Year's Day. It must have been a significant strain on the regime to procure this much. But because of the size of the crowd on the morning of the New Year's Day, the department store opened at 7:30 a.m. instead of its normal time, 10 a.m. Just in the morning, 155 televisions and 550 sheets of blankets were sold.

The newsletter said, "There were so many customers that there was hardly room to take a step in the department store. The store at one point had to cordon off the entrance around 3 p.m. because the crowd was simply too big." It added, "There are high-earning families among farmers or miners." It also added, "Lee Geum-Ok, a farmer in Hyeongje-san District, said she received 50,000 won in distribution, and she along with all the farmers in her unit will buy a color television." Also noted is "One farmer who visited the department store that day said his entire family worked at the farm and earned 1.45 million won as a family."

Farmers are convinced that within a few months, the price of goods that they purchased will jump by several times or several tens of times. In fact, except for a few government-run stores in Pyongyang, the price of goods at the marketplace is furiously rising every day. (*The farmers' actions are proving to be a wise move. The farmers who immediately sat on goods with their distribution money made a significant gain.)

The price rises in large part because of stockpiling, not simply by farmers but by everyone. There are many who support the currency reform among those who are able to stockpile. But they do not necessarily expect things to continue to be better simply because their life right now has improved a little. Stockpiling is a reflection of that mindset; they believe that actual goods are much safer than the untrustworthy North Korean money. Because the wholesalers are keeping their goods in warehouses, and regular people are stockpiling what little goods that the regime procures or the grain that come out into the marketplace, the shortage in North Korea is increasingly getting worse. This feeds into the vicious cycle that leads into the rise in price.

Therefore, unless the North Korean regime finds an ingenious way to pull out the goods that individuals are hiding, the social unrest can only grow. Right now the regime is trying to forcibly cut off the supply chain of individually-owned goods by eliminating the marketplace, but that measure has little possibility of success. (*As expected, it has been proven that there was no real ingenious way, and the situation ended with North Korea simply recognizing the presence of the marketplace.) North Korean people, through their experience from the last decade, know that a transaction can happen regardless of time and place as long as they hold the goods.

This round of currency reform also provided South Korea with certain food for thought.

Shortly after the news of currency reform broke, South Korean media was flooded with the sensationalistic news as if riots were impending in North Korea. However, this reporter who investigated North Korea at the same time heard that the public opinion on the currency reform was in fact significantly favorable. Despite this, the media that relayed the currency reform news only contained the voices of angry North Koreans. (*As I said previously, the favorable opinion has changed in the last month and a half.)

Of course, there could be legitimate reasons. The North Koreans who can speak on the phone with South Korea are likely to be the victims of the currency reform. It is reasonable to infer from their ability to communicate with South Korea that they received a lot of money in the process as well. But even more so than these reasons, this reporter detected the prejudice in South Korea that, "North Korea regime can never do anything that may be welcomed by the people, nor should it."

The news of currency reform was relayed mainly through North Korea-related NGOs that engage in anti-Kim Jong-Il activities. It is difficult to blame a politically motivated group for publicizing only the information that is necessarily for their goal. (*Naturally.) But I believe that the media should not jump into that fray, looking only for sensationalistic stories. As long as it was sensational, a report by a nameless Taiwanese media company -- which Korean companies did not even glance at, and has nothing to do with North Korea -- would be quoted in the front page of Korean newspaper and the main story of Korean television news. (*To give a neologism name, it is a typical pingpong reportage.) Truly embarrassing.

Another interesting point is that it is getting increasingly more difficult for the traditional media to maintain its lead in North Korea-related news. In the Internet age when an individual could be a one-man media through such channels as blogs, the traditional media's advantage is disappearing. North Korea's currency reform starkly exemplified this trend. North Korea-related organizations poured out news related to the currency reform, and the traditional media did no more than following them and taking notes.

In contrast, it was the North Korea-related organizations who were engaged in a competition to break news. While these groups sometimes provided incorrect information due to excessive competition, lack of experience and understanding with the press, their political leanings, etc., more notable was that South Korean media does not have the ability to sufficiently distinguish the worthy North Korean news from the worthless ones. (*There were actual examples of simply taking dictations of information that was hardly credible.)

The reportage on the currency reform was also a symbolic moment of the presence of North Korean defector organization, while providing an occasion to question the ability of government agencies (run with a massive budget) to collect North Korean intelligence. While the defector organizations made reports on real time basis, the government only repeated for several days that it could not confirm. There were also reports that Intelligence Committee of the National Assembly continued to chastise the lack of intelligence gathering in North Korea. While the defector organization cannot yet collect much high-level intelligence, it is undeniable that their information-gathering power is increasing.

This reporter tried to avoid listing the current price in North Korea in this article. The price fluctuation and the regional differences in price are so great that, at this point, there is no such thing as a fair price. (*This situation is the same in February.) The North Koreans who were reported unanimously say: "Right now we just have no idea about what's what."

Truly, North Korea has now entered into chaos that North Koreans themselves have difficulty understanding. Even after more than a month since the reform, there is no sign of this chaos abating. (*At this point, three months after the reform, North Korea regime unconditionally allowed the marketplace to open in order to calm this chaos. In the end, the only solution for the chaos was to go back to where things were before the reform.)

That is the magnitude of the shock that the currency reform caused on North Korea. Can the North Korean regime stabilize this chaos and restore planned economy? Taking away the taste of market economy from those who already tasted them may be a Mission: Impossible. (*Conclusion -- Within three months, it has been proven that North Korea made an impossible challenge. It has also been proven that now, North Korea can never return to the planned and controlled economy.)

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

Affirmative Action and Asian Americans: the Korean's Take

Dear Korean,

Perhaps you’ve already seen this, but I found this column interesting. I wondered what your thoughts are on this.

Kimberly


Dear Kimberly,

Thank you for the article – the Korean found it interesting as well. The full article is worth reproducing here, because it does present an issue that many Asian Americans consider to be significant.

SAT SCORES aren’t everything. But they can tell some fascinating stories.

Take 1,623, for instance. That’s the average score of Asian-Americans, a group that Daniel Golden - editor at large of Bloomberg News and author of “The Price of Admission’’ - has labeled “The New Jews.’’ After all, much like Jews a century ago, Asian-Americans tend to earn good grades and high scores. And now they too face serious discrimination in the college admissions process.

Notably, 1,623 - out of a possible 2,400 - not only separates Asians from other minorities (Hispanics and blacks average 1,364 and 1,276 on the SAT, respectively). The score also puts them ahead of Caucasians, who average 1,581. And the consequences of this are stark.

Princeton sociologist Thomas Espenshade, who reviewed data from 10 elite colleges, writes in “No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal’’ that Asian applicants typically need an extra 140 points to compete with white students. In fact, according to Princeton lecturer Russell Nieli, there may be an “Asian ceiling’’ at Princeton, a number above which the admissions office refuses to venture.

Emily Aronson, a Princeton spokeswoman, insists “the university does not admit students in categories. In the admission process, no particular factor is assigned a fixed weight and there is no formula for weighing the various aspects of the application.’’

A few years ago, however, when I worked as a reader for Yale’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions, it became immediately clear to me that Asians - who constitute 5 percent of the US population - faced an uphill slog. They tended to get excellent scores, take advantage of AP offerings, and shine in extracurricular activities. Frequently, they also had hard-knock stories: families that had immigrated to America under difficult circumstances, parents working as kitchen assistants and store clerks, and households in which no English was spoken.

But would Yale be willing to make 50 percent of its freshman class Asian? Probably not.

Indeed, as Princeton’s Nieli suggests, most elite universities appear determined to keep their Asian-American totals in a narrow range. Yale’s class of 2013 is 15.5 percent Asian-American, compared with 16.1 percent at Dartmouth, 19.1 percent at Harvard, and 17.6 percent at Princeton.

“There are a lot of poor Asians, immigrant kids,’’ says University of Oregon physics professor Stephen Hsu, who has written about the admissions process. “But generally that story doesn’t do as much as it would for a non-Asian student. Statistically, it’s true that Asians generally have to get higher scores than others to get in.’’

In a country built on individual liberty and promise, that feels deeply unfair. If a teenager spends much time studying, excels at an instrument or sport, and garners wonderful teacher recommendations, should he be punished for being part of a high-achieving group? Are his accomplishments diminished by the fact that people he has never met - but who look somewhat like him - also work hard?

“When you look at the private Ivy Leagues, some of them are looking at Asian-American applicants with a different eye than they are white applicants,’’ says Oiyan Poon, the 2007 president of the University of California Students Association. “I do strongly believe in diversity, but I don’t agree with increasing white numbers over historically oppressed populations like Asian-Americans, a group that has been denied civil rights and property rights.’’ But Poon, now a research associate at the University of Massachusetts Boston, warns that there are downsides to having huge numbers of Asian-Americans on a campus.

In California, where passage of a 1996 referendum banned government institutions from discriminating on the basis of race, Asians make up about 40 percent of public university students, though they account for only 13 percent of residents. “Some Asian-American students feel that they lost something by going to school at a place where almost half of their classmates look like themselves - a campus like UCLA. The students said they didn’t feel as well prepared in intercultural skills for the real world.’’

But what do you do if you’re an elite college facing tremendous numbers of qualified Asian applicants? At the 2006 meeting of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, a panel entitled “Too Asian?’’ looked at the growing tendency of teachers, college counselors, and admissions officers to see Asians as a unit, rather than as individuals.

Hsu argues it’s time to tackle this issue, rather than defer it, as Asians’ superior performance will likely persist. “This doesn’t seem to be changing. You can see the same thing with Jews. They’ve outperformed other ethnic groups for the past 100 years.’’

Which leaves us with two vexing questions: Are we willing to trade personal empowerment for a more palatable group dynamic? And when - if ever - should we give credit where credit is due?

Do Colleges Redline Asian-Americans? (Boston Globe)

As the article described, Asian Americans present a dilemma to colleges. In practically every objective admission criterion colleges tend to examine, Asian Americans destroy the field. At this point, even the Asian American stereotype of “math genius but not well-rounded student” is outdated. Asian Americans parents have long since figured out and adjusted their educational emphasis to what the elite colleges demand. The new generation of Asian American college applicants are modeled after Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the current president of Dartmouth College. They are class presidents and varsity quarterbacks on top of being valedictorians.

 

Dr. Jim Yong Kim, a.k.a. "Every Korean Mother's Dream"

So Asian Americans have high test scores and GPAs. Their extracurricular activities are excellent. They have shown leadership qualities. They often do this while being at a substantial disadvantage in terms of family wealth and other background, such as overcoming the language and cultural barrier. In other words, there is no “objective” way for a college to refuse an Asian American applicant, other than drawing a blatant – if unspoken – red line that limits the number of Asian Americans, simply by virtue of their race. Is this a good thing?

You might be surprised, because the Korean actually does think it is a good thing.

First of all, allow the Korean to first state his preferred end result: meritocracy must be an important element in college admissions. The meritocracy must involve clearly stated criteria such as test scores, quality of extracurricular activities, quality of letters of recommendation, and so on. And the Korean is not advocating that college campuses mirror exactly the local or national racial mix. There must be some sort of middle ground. The Korean does not know where the proper middle ground is. But the middle ground is probably not the 55 percent Asian American campus as it is in University of California, Irvine.

To explain why the Korean thinks so, allow the Korean to quote John Dewey: “Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself.” Because the Korean experienced two drastically different educational systems (Korean and American,) the truth of Dewey’s quote resonates even stronger with him. In fact, many of Korean educational system’s flaws (despite its numerous strengths) can be traced to this: Korea treats its schools as a place where students prepare for the real world, as opposed to treating it as the real world in and of itself. Thus, learning knowledge is emphasized, while learning social skills gets a short shrift.

The same principle must apply to colleges. College is not a meal ticket given for a certain set of “good behaviors”. It is a place where one receives education. And if colleges do not adequately reflect the “life itself” as Dewey said, they cannot provide adequate education.

 

Education that solely relies upon what is taught in the classrooms is incomplete at best.
(Not that Columbia University, pictured here, has anything to do with that.)

And the inescapable feature of American life is that Americans constantly deal with other Americans who can be very different from them. This difference need not be racial or cultural. The difference can originate from geography, social class, gender, sexual orientation, or any old thing. However, to ignore the need to handle racial and cultural differences in American life is to put blinders on one’s eyes. And obviously, the skill of handling racial and cultural differences in American life will not come solely through classroom education, if it comes at all in that manner. Students need to learn this skill simply by being around people who are drastically different from them.

Obviously, the differences that need to be represented cannot only be racial. Colleges (especially elite ones) must strive to replicate to some degree – not exactly, mind you – the larger American society in every manner. It needs to have geographical representation, wealth representation, sexual orientation representation, you name it. The more difference elite college students encounter, the better education they will receive.

The Korean draws this conclusion from his own experience. He is firmly convinced that University of California, Berkeley is the place that made him the person that he is today. Berkeley did so by providing a very diverse student body. For the first time in his life, the Korean met someone from Decatur, Alabama – the home of the second largest Wal-Mart in the world, according to him. A former amateur boxer who started college at age 25. A blind person who ended up becoming a school tour guide by memorizing the script in Braille and walking backwards with her cane pointing the other direction. A future NFL starting quarterback. An heiress who has a building on campus named after her family. Meeting and interacting with them gave the Korean a much more nuanced appreciation of the country and the world in which he lived.

 

The greatest college in the world.

One of the Korean’s favorite college memories is this: The Korean was friends with a charismatic deaf person who ended up serving as the Executive Vice President of the student government that oversees over 30,000 students. His friend was such a socially adept smooth talker that, other than the hearing aid on his ears and his pitchless voice typical of a deaf person, the Korean hardly noticed that his friend was much different from him.

One day, the Korean went to the beach with his friends. After dark, we set a bonfire, sat around it and talked. Because the fire was hot on his face, the Korean spoke with his two hands cupped around the lower part of his face, without thinking much about it. But whenever the Korean talked, the Korean’s friend waved his hand at the Korean, as if he was brushing something aside. The Korean did not understand. After a few seconds, finally another friend explained: “Justin can’t read your lips if you cover your face like that.”

It was a minor episode at the time, but somehow it stayed in the Korean’s mind. It was such a little thing that the Korean himself did not even perceive, but that little thing blocked out the entire communication for Justin. You would think that someone who moved from one country to another at age 16 would be able to appreciate the differences in radically different people. But the moment that stays with the Korean’s head had nothing to do with his experience of adjusting wholesale to a completely different culture. It had to do with his experience of something that was nearly imperceptible at the time but somehow resonated greater and greater until it became a personal philosophy-defining moment.

This is what education should be. Ideal education would provide everyone with this type of moment. Boston Globe columnist Kara Miller’s last question is a perfectly fair one: “When - if ever - should we give credit where credit is due?” The Korean does not know exactly where that line should be. But that is hardly a reason for not having a line. With help of research and experts, we engage in dicey line drawing all the time. (For example, why is the speed limit on some highways 65 mph, not 60 mph or 70 mph?) The line should be drawn at the point where Asian Americans students, like all other students, receive a meaningful education in living in a highly diverse society. And if meritocracy must take a less-than-100 percent role in the determination of who gets a chance to be educated in one of hundreds of elite universities in America, that’s how it should be.

After the jump, a couple of quick hitters that did not exactly fit anywhere.

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