History Behind Seo Taiji's Sogyeokdong

[Cross-posted on Dramabeans]

Dear Korean,

Recently, Seo Taiji released a song called Sogyeokdong. From the music video and my limited Korean skills, I gathered that Sogyeodong must be a historical place. What exactly transpired there and what is the significance of the setting for Seo Taiji's music video? 

Curious person with poor Korean skills :(

Here is a simple rule for AAK!:  if you ask something about the new Seo Taiji song, your question will be published. First, let's listen to the music in question.

소격동
Sogyeokdong

나 그대와 둘이 걷던 그 좁은 골목계단을 홀로 걸어요
I walk alone, on that narrow alley stairs that the two of us used to walk
그 옛날의 짙은 향기가 내 옆을 스치죠
The thick scent of the past sweeps by me

널 떠나는 날 사실 난...
On the way I left, actually I...

등 밑 처마 고드름과 참새소리 예쁜 이 마을에 살 거예요
I will live in this pretty village, with icicles on the roof and sparrows chirping
소격동을 기억하나요 지금도 그대로 있죠
Do you remember Sogyeokdong? It still remains the same

아주 늦은 밤 하얀 눈이 왔었죠
On a very late night, the white snow fell
소복이 쌓이니 내 맘도 설렜죠
As they piled on, my heart stirred too
나는 그날 밤 단 한숨도 못 잤죠
I could not sleep that night, not even a wink
잠들면 안돼요 눈을 뜨면 사라지죠
Don't fall asleep; it all disappears when we open our eyes*

어느 날 갑자기 그 많던 냇물이 말라갔죠
The stream that used to be so big suddenly dried up
내 어린 마음도 그 시냇물처럼 그렇게 말랐겠죠
My young heart, like that stream, must have dried up too

너의 모든 걸 두 눈에 담고 있었죠
In my two eyes, I carried everything about you
소소한 하루가 넉넉했던 날
The days when the small days were more than enough
그러던 어느 날 세상이 뒤집혔죠
Then one day, the world turned upside down
다들 꼭 잡아요 잠깐 사이에 사라지죠
Everyone hold on tight; it all disappears in a moment

잊고 싶진 않아요 하지만 나에겐
I do not want to forget; but to me
사진 한 장도 남아있지가 않죠
Not even a single photo remained
그저 되뇌면서 되뇌면서 나 그저 애를 쓸 뿐이죠
I can simply try, repeating to myself, repeating to myself

아주 늦은 밤 하얀 눈이 왔었죠
On a very late night, the white snow fell
소복이 쌓이니 내 맘도 설렜죠
As they piled on, my heart stirred too
나는 그날 밤 단 한숨도 못 잤죠
I could not sleep that night, not even a wink
잠들면 안돼요 눈을 뜨면 사라지죠
Don't fall asleep; it all disappears when we open our eyes*

*Translation note:  Although TK assigned "it all" and "we" as subjects in this sentence, in the original Korean lyrics it is unclear who is opening his/her eyes, and exactly what is disappearing. Because Korean language does not require a subject in a sentence, this type of poetic ambiguity is common.

*                   *                   *

As the questioner gleaned, Sogyeokdong [소격동, pronounced "soh-kyok-dong"] is an actual place in Seoul. Located within Jongno-gu [종로구], it is in the heart of the old Seoul, abutting the Gyeongbokgung [경복궁] palace on the east side. Together with Samcheong-dong [삼청동], Gahoe-dong [가회동], Jae-dong [재동], Gye-dong [계동], etc., it is a part of the neighborhood called Bukchon [북촌]. Because of its quaint narrow alleyways and well-preserved traditional Korean houses, Bukchon today is a popular tourist destination. 

Due to its central location, Sogyeokdong has been at the forefront of Korea's turbulent modern history. However, Seo Taiji did not choose to sing about Sogyeokdong simply for the sake of history. He actually grew up in the neighborhood, having attended the nearby Jaedong Elementary School (which is Korea's oldest elementary school, established in 1895.) In an interview, Seo said that he simply wanted to sing about his childhood, but doing so would have been impossible without touching upon the history he had seen. The result, in TK's estimation, is a more elegant expression of the sinister sense of fear and loss that permeated the experience of Korean children at the time.

Seo Taiji was born in 1972, which means he experienced his Sogyeokdong childhood in the early to mid-1980s. What was going on in Korea in the 1980s?

(More after the jump.)

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

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

[Series Index]

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

*                       *                      *

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(continued in Part 2)

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

Ask a Korean! News: North Korean Soccer (Part I)

First of all, congratulations to the Taeguk Warriors for making the knockout round for the first time outside of Korea.

While this World Cup has produced plenty of compelling moments -- like Landon Donovan's beautiful 91st minute goal against Algeria (USA! USA!) -- the leading Korean Peninsula-related story of the World Cup is the Chollima (the "Thousand-Mile Horses") of North Korea, who fought well against the 2-1 defeat against Brazil in the course of being eliminated.

Personally, the Korean thinks that North Korea should never have been allowed to play in the 2010 World Cup. Eve Fairbanks of Newsweek described the Korean's sentiment well:

But I have to admit that the more goals the Portuguese scored, the worse I felt. I didn't dare to wear my fiery colors of labor too obviously inside the Troyeville, but I was rooting for North Korea. Partly because of the amusement factor—rock-paper-scissors!—but mainly because, when I looked at those hapless North Korean players giving up goal after goal, I wondered how safe their friends and families would be.

...

FIFA—and South Africa—missed an opportunity by failing to ban the North Koreans. Enlightened people love to pooh-pooh cultural boycotts, but a ban would have reflected this part of the continent’s unique ethos and history. South Africa is the single country where a sports boycott did the most to heighten outside awareness of the evils of a regime—and to foment internal restlessness for change.

Bring Back the Sports Boycott [Newsweek]

The Korean cannot help Ms. Fairbanks get the boycott she (and he) wanted. But he can help taking a guess at what North Korean soccer players might go through, thanks to Mr. Joo Seong-Ha of Nambuk Story. Below is a series by Mr. Joo providing analysis on North Korean soccer's history and the current state. Because the series is in three parts, the Korean will also give the translation in three parts.

North Korean Soccer Analysis: Part I - Defeat Makes a Sea of Tears

June 18, 2008, King Fahd Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

As soon as the game against Saudi Arabia ended -- the last game in the Asia preliminaries for 2010 World Cup -- the North Korean players shed tears of joy as they embraced one another. They had just advanced to the World Cup Finals for the first time in 44 years. This was also the first time in history when South and North Korea advanced together.

 North Koreans players cheer at King Fahd Stadium after qualifying for the World Cup.

The players received a massive welcome parade in Pyongyang. The regime also rewarded them with awards at the highest level. Sixteen received the name of "People's Athlete," and three received the name "Contributing Athlete." People's Athlete is the highest honor for an athlete in North Korea. North Korea usually reserves the People's Athlete honors for athletes who won in the Olympics or a world championship, and the Contributing Athlete honors for those who won an Asia-wide competition. The unprecedented number of those who received the People's Athlete honors at the same time reflects how much North Korea values advancing into the World Cup.

The families of the People's Athlete apparently moved to the best Athlete's Apartments in Pyongyang. In particular, the families who used to live in rural areas won a Pyongyang citizenship, which is extremely difficult to obtain, thanks to their sons. This also shows the soccer's popularity in North Korea, and the emphasis that the regime puts on the sport.

Then why did North Korea fail to distinguish itself in the international stage for over 40 years? To understand this, it is necessary to explain the glory days of North Korea soccer -- the legend of quarterfinals in the England World Cup of 1966, 44 years ago.

June 30, 1966. When 66 members of Team North Korea and staff landed in London, many locals came to see them. For Europeans of that era, Asian soccer players were a curiosity. They were astonished by the fact that the average height of Team North Korea was 165 cm [TK: 165 cm = 5' 5"].

The culture shock was the same for the North Koreans. The players who went to the airport restroom were surprised when a "woman" came out of what was clearly marked as a men's room. Only after the interpreter arrived did they learn that in England, men could grow long hair as well.

It was a clear day when Team North Korea arrived -- an unusual sight in London infamous for bad weather. The local newspapers reported, "The players of the Land of the Morning Calm brought sunshine."

The group stage for North Korea was at Middlesbrough, in northeastern England. Upon arriving Middlesbrough, Team North Korea rejected the hotels assigned by the hosts four times, electing instead to stay outside the city at St. George Hotel, which was still under construction. This was done to save foreign currency.

Team North Korea's every move grabbed local paper's attention. An article reported that Team North Korea consumed more than one kilogram of chili pepper a day; a hotel chef was quoted, "If Englishmen ate chili like this, they would explode." Team North Korea appeared to be a team of mystery for Middlesbroughers.

No one expected North Korea to advance to the quarterfinals, because the same group had the contemporary powerhouses -- Soviet Union, Chile and Italy. The strongest one among them was Soviet Union, led by the legendary goalkeeper Yashin. As expected, Soviet Union defeated North Korea and Italy, advancing as the top team of the group. Later, Soviet Union would lose to West Germany in the semifinal in an upset, as West Germany beat Soviet Union for the first time since World War II. Led by its soccer hero Franz Beckenbauer, West Germany prevailed 2-1 after two Soviet players were red-carded.

Soviet Union beat North Korea 3-0. The scoreline implies a complete defeat, but in fact North Korean defenders did an impressive job defending the Soviet attacks despite overwhelming height disadvantage. The Times of London reported, "Only the final goal was the first and the last time when Soviet Union completely penetrated North Korean defense."

Middlesbroughers were surprised by Team North Korea. In the next game against Chile, more fans visited the stadium to cheer for North Korea. Chile had a strong team, finishing third in the 1962 World Cup. The final score was 1-1, but with an advantage to North Korea who outshot Chile 16 to 9.

The game against Italy was the last game in the group stage. Although North Korea was missing starters due to injuries from the Soviet Union and Chile games, it defeated Italy 1-0 thanks to Park Du-Ik's goal. Team Italy had to face a shower of rotten eggs upon their return home.

North Korea-Italy game in the England World Cup of 1966.

North Korea's "ladder header" beating the Italian defense.

Kim Bong-Hwan, Park Seung-Jin, Park Du-Ik, Han Bong-Jon 

and Lim Seung-Hui are forming the ladder, beating out Giacinto Facchetti.

For its first World Cup, North Korea advanced to the quarterfinals as the second place of its group. (At the time, World Cup finals had 16 countries.) Three thousands fans from Middlesbrough, fascinated by Team North Korea's game, traveled with the North Korean team to Liverpool, where the quarterfinals were to be held.

In the group stage, Portugal -- North Korea's quarterfinals opponent -- beat Brazil, the champion of the 1962 World Cup, by the score of 3-1. North Korea at first was leading by 3-0, but eventually lost by the score of 5-3. Eusebio, the best striker of the era, scored four goals.

Because of the time difference, North Korean people listened to this game live via radio on 1 a.m. Lee Sang-Byeok, a North Korean broadcasting legend who passed away in 1997, announced the play-by-play. Lee's voice was full of energy when North Korea was ahead by three. But as the team gave up goal after goal, his voice began losing strength. "Ah, Eusebio again" -- hearing this four times, the name Eusebio was deeply engraved in North Koreans' memory. After the North Korean team allowed the fourth goal, Lee began crying. In the crack of dawn, the entire North Korea turned into a sea of tears. As Italy still cannot forget Park Du-Ik, North Korea still cannot forget Eusebio.

Regardless, North Korea left a strong impression in its first-ever World Cup. What was the method of their success? People generally remember the Netherlands as the origin of "Total Soccer". But nearly a decade earlier, North Korea already employed a strategy that was essentially "everyone defends, everyone attacks." They overcame the physical disadvantage by simply running like hell.

Stanley Raus, then-president of FIFA, had asked "What kind of team is North Korea?" before the England World Cup. Upon watching the North Korea - Chile game, Raus pointed out the team captain Shin Yeong-Gyu and praised him as a world-class player. After the World Cup, Raus is reported to have said, "The world's best team would have Eusebio to attack, Shin to defend, and Yashin as the goalkeeper."

The players who returned to North Korea received the best treatment while staying at a hot springs resort in Hamgyeongbuk-do Ju-Eul for several months. But this was the time the watershed event for Kim Jong-Il's consolidation of power -- the purging of Gapsan line.

Gapsan line is the group of communists who were active around Hamgyeongnam-do during the Japanese colonial era. Kim Il-Sung, in a secret Labor Party Central Committee Meeting held on March of 1968, decided to purge the Gapsan line, which hindered the establishment of his unitary rule.

(Continued in Part II)

[북한축구해부1] -패배는 북한을 눈물바다로도 만든다 [Nambuk Story]

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

Korea-Japan Relation Saga, Part II: Pre-Modern Times

(See Part I here.)

Here is one thing that Americans tend not to understand about the world: most countries in the world have a very long history, and the modern citizens of those countries identify with their history 100 percent. For example, as much as Americans learn about the heroics of George Washington, relatively few people can fully identify with and remember his victories and defeats. Our hearts don’t sink when we hear about the travails of Bunker Hill, and we (on average) don’t get too pumped at the image of Washington crossing the Delaware.

It’s different for the rest of the world, and the rest of the world certainly includes Korea. Here is an example: the oldest sons of the Park family each have a set of roughly 30 books that describe their lineage, called jok-bo (the “family chart”). Jok-bo lists every single male member of the Park clan and their wives, tracing from the very first Park who was born in 69 B.C. With the knowledge that their family line literally stretches over several millennia, ancient history in Korea is never “ancient history” in a way Americans use the word. No matter how long ago an event may have happened, the event never loses relevance in the collective consciousness of Koreans.

(Incidentally, this is probably why so many popular Korean dramas are set in ancient times. One of the most popular dramas in Korea now is Ju-Mong, which is about half-mythical, half-historical figure believed to have lived around 30 B.C. Somehow, the Korean thinks that a drama about the Founding Fathers won’t do as well in America.)

So what happened in the ancient history between Korea and Japan? Naturally, given that it is a long history, there were good times and the bad. The important thing is that, because the modern relation between Korea and Japan was so egregiously bad, Koreans tend to learn in school the points of the history that make themselves feel superior and villainize Japanese.

First, about the “making Koreans feel superior” part. Koreans tend to stress that Korea has always been culturally superior to Japan, and to some degree it is true. Since the beginning of time until around 18th century, China was the cultural center of East Asia, and Korea was closer to China than Japan. Therefore, Korea was undoubtedly superior to Japan in such arts as understanding ancient Chinese texts, calligraphy, china-making, etc. that were fashionable in China. Around 5th century, Baekje, one of the three kingdoms that occupied the Korean Peninsula, played a large role in transmitting Chinese characters, pottery, Buddhism, and so on. (Baekje was eventually defeated by Shilla, another one of the three kingdoms, and some Korean scholars argue that the current Japanese monarchy is in fact the lineage of Baekje kings in exile.)

Even past the ancient time, Korea sent masters of those arts to Japan to teach the locals as late as until the 17th century. Lost in this discussion is that Japan was quietly becoming the leading economic power of East Asia, since Japan was more receptive toward accepting goods and ideas from Europe. In fact, the relation between Korea and Japan are similar to the relation between France and Britain as the Industrial Revolution was going on. Britain was certainly getting wealthier, but it still looked to France for haute couture.

As to “villianizing Japanese”, there is no better place to turn than the Japanese invasion of 1592, known in Korea as Im-jin Wae-ran (“The Japanese War in the year of Imjin”). Wikipedia has done an excellent job describing the war, so the Korean will leave the detailed account to them. Here, the Korean will only describe why this war, among many wars that Koreans suffered, particularly stays with Koreans.

First, the war was the most recent large-scale conflict, and in fact probably the largest-scale war that Korea has ever fought, until Korean War. Although Korea has been invaded many times over, the 1592 invasion was the most recent occasion on which Korea truly stood at the brink of a complete occupation by a foreign country. Second, it is particularly difficult to accept that it was Japan, to which Korea has been culturally superior for thousands of years, that almost overran the entire country. Japan in fact kidnapped many skilled Korean artisans, reflecting the fact that they were in fact culturally inferior.

Third, the Korean victory involved some incredible heroism; the most notable one is Admiral Yi Sunsin, who has never lost a naval battle, although on the land the Korean army was being completely overrun. In his most famous battle at Myongryang Straits, he took on the Japanese fleet of 133 battleships with the last remaining 13 battleships of the Korean navy, only to emerge victorious by destroying 120 Japanese ships. Since Admiral Yi’s campaign was so incredible, his portrait is on Korean money (on 100 won coin), his statue stands in front of the largest road in Korea, and numerous novels, movies and TV series about him have been made. In this light, Koreans can never forget that Japan is the enemy. It’s just like Nazi Germany, actually – as long as Schindler’s List and Indiana Jones are popular, it will never be forgotten that Germans were Nazis and bad guys.

Speaking of World War II (hey, look at that segway!), it must be noted that Koreans don’t normally hold a grudge for over 400 years. However, they can certainly hold a grudge for about 60 years, especially if the depravity of the acts that caused the grudge is simply beyond imagination. It is fair to say that all the ancient history discussed in this part would have been "ancient history" if the events in the early 20th century did not happen between Korea and Japan. But it is undeniable that Japan perpetrated some horrible acts to Koreans in the early 20th century, which makes Koreans continue to ruminate upon the war that happened 400 years ago.

p.s. Commenter Ginny got the right answer for the last part’s question. There has been a dispute over the name of the sea on the east of Korea and on the west of Japan; Koreans want the name “East Sea”, while Japanese want the name “Sea of Japan”. Read the Wikipedia article here.

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

Viktor Ahn, Korea's Hero

(Because the blog was quiet during the Winter Olympics, the Korean thought it may be appropriate to have a reflective piece about the Games. Enjoy.)

It would not take a Korea-centric blog to note that Viktor Ahn, formerly known in Korea as Ahn Hyeon-su [안현수], was one of the best story lines from the 2014 Winter Olympics. Ahn's story, covered everywhere from the New York Times to Deadspin, is now familiar. Ahn was once the ace for Korea's world-beating short track skating team, and was a dominant force in the 2006 Torino Olympics. After a knee injury and factionalism within the skating administration within Korea, Ahn did not make Team Korea's roster for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Frustrated, Ahn became a free agent, renouncing Korean citizenship and taking the flag of the highest bidder, Russia. In the Sochi Olympics, Ahn became one of the Games' greatest winners, taking three gold and one bronze medals. In the process, he solidified his place as the greatest short track skater ever, with six career Olympic gold medals and two bronze.

(source)

How did Koreans feel about Ahn? Initially in 2011, when Ahn announced his decision to leave Korea, there was some grousing in the corners of Korea's Internet by those who thought Ahn was betraying his country. But what little grudge Koreans had held against Ahn mostly evaporated by the beginning of the Olympics, even before Ahn stepped on the Sochi ice. Overwhelming majority of Koreans cheered for Ahn when he was skating, and they were genuinely happy when Ahn won his first medal, a bronze. By the time Ahn was done setting the record, Koreans showered their love on Ahn just as much as they did with any member of Team Korea. 

(Well, any member except Kim Yuna. But Kim Yuna is Kim Yuna--there won't be another one quite like her. That's for another post.)

Why did Koreans cheer for Ahn? A shallow analysis may point to Korea's strong ethno-nationalism, and claim that Koreans simply love any Korean who succeeds. Such an analysis may have had a point in certain previous instances. (Hines Ward, for example.) But this time, it badly misreads the pulse of Koreans' positive emotion for Ahn. Koreans were not cheering for Ahn simply because Ahn is Korean; Koreans were cheering for Ahn because Ahn represents the triumph of the individual, victorious over injustice.

(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: 9. Shin Hae-cheol

[Series Index]

9. Shin Hae-cheol [신해철]

Also known as:  Shin Hae-chul; Crom

Years of Activity: 1989-present 

Discography:  

As vocal/keyboard of Muhan'gwedo [무한궤도]
When Our Lives Come to End [우리의 삶이 끝나갈 때] (1989)

As a solo artist
Shin Hae-cheol [신해철 1집] (1990)
Myself (1991)
Crom's Techno Works (1998)
Monocrom (1999)
The Songs for the One (2007)
Reboot Myself Part 1 (2014)

As vocal/keyboard of N.Ex.T
Home (1992)
The Return of N.Ex.T Part 1: The Being (1994)
The Return of N.Ex.T Part 2 (1996)
Lazenca: a Space Rock Opera (1997)
The Return of N.Ex. T Part III (2004)
Re:Game (2006)
666 Trilogy Part 1 (2008)

As a member of NoDance
Golden Hits (1996)

As a member of Wittgenstein
Theatre Wittgenstein (2000)

Representative Song:  To You [그대에게] from When Our Lives Come to End

그대에게
To You

숨가쁘게 살아가는 순간 속에도
Even in the hectic living moments
우린 서로 이렇게 아쉬워하는 걸
We still want each other more
아직 내게 남아있는 많은 날들을
The many days that I still have left
그대와 둘이서 나누고 싶어요
I wish to share them with you

내가 사랑한 그 모든 것을 다 잃는다 해도
Even if I lose everything I have loved
그대를 포기할 수 없어요
I cannot let you go
이 세상 어느 곳에서도
No matter where in the world
나는 그대 숨결을 느낄 수 있어요
I can feel your breath
내 삶이 끝나는 날까지
Until the day my life ends
나는 언제나 그대 곁에 있겠어요
I will always be by your side

Translation notes:  "숨가쁘게 살아가는 순간" is weirdly difficult.

In 15 words or less:  The most significant Korean rock musician of the 1990s.

Maybe he should should be ranked higher because...  Both in terms of music and in terms of social participation, how many K-pop artists tried more different things than Shin did?

Maybe he should be ranked lower because...  How much direct influence did Shin have? How much in the current K-pop scene can be definitively traced back to Shin Hae-cheol, like the way in which one can definitively trace Korean hip hop back to Drunken Tiger?

Why is this artist important?

As we climb higher into the rarefied heights of Korean pop music history, a concise statement of an artist's importance is approaching ever closer to impossible. One could easily write a book about Shin Hae-cheol's career; unfortunately, we can only spare a few paragraphs here.

From the beginning, Shin Hae-cheol's musical career portended a daring, experimental musical vision. Shin debuted with his band Muhan'gwedo ("Infinite Track") on the Campus Song Festival, the scene-defining audition show at the time. The crackdown from Korea's dictatorship (which ended only a year before Shin Hae-cheol's debut) has neutered K-pop, making the saccharine and brain-dead soft rock (locally referred to as "ballads") the mainstream genre. But Muhan'gwedo would have none of it. Reversing the conventional pop progression that gradually built up to a climax, To You opens with a dramatic, synthesizer-induced flair and rushes full speed toward the finish line.

Shin Hae-cheol then debuted as a solo artist, engaging in a brief (and embarrassing-in-hindsight) stint of idol pop at the insistence of his record company. Then Shin finally found his musical homeland by forming N.Ex.T. (pronounced "next",) the most significant Korean rock band of the 1990s. Looking at the current K-pop scene in which idol pop has overrun the market, it is difficult to believe that a rock band like N.Ex.T. used to top the K-pop charts. But it is true. Led by Shin Hae-cheol, N.Ex.T stood firm on the foundation of progressive rock yet struck in all directions: heavy metal, thrash rock, electronica and Korean traditional music. Shin also put project albums as an individual (taking on a separate stage name of "Crom",) trying ever more daring sound and demanding the audience to simply get used to it.

But Shin Hae-cheol's musical achievement is only half of his story, as Shin is arguably one of the most socially active pop musician in K-pop history. Perhaps betraying his elite education (Shin attended Sogang University, one of Korea's top five colleges,) Shin maintained a sharp tongue that relentlessly criticized the Korean society's irrationality and hypocrisy as a proper rocker should. Shin Hae-cheol led the charge in the movement to repeal the Korean law that prohibited two people with the same last name from getting married. Shin was also the leader of the now-infamous concert in 2002, in which Psy (of the Gangnam Style fame) performed an anti-American rap number, to express his anger at the death of two young Korean girls who were run over and killed by an USFK armored car.

The best pop artists do not simply influence the artists who come after them; they change the society around them. By that measure, Shin Hae-cheol is about as influential as any in K-pop history.

Interesting trivia:  Shin Hae-cheol is often mistaken as being related to the legendary Shin Jung-hyeon [신중현], as the name of Shin Jung-hyeon's oldest son is Shin Dae-cheol, leader of the influential heavy metal band Sinawi. Shin Hae-cheol, however, bears no relation to Shin Jung-hyeon. Shin Hae-cheol is, however, a blood relative to a different K-pop legend: Shin is the second cousin of Seo Taiji. Reportedly, the two are close, often seen together fishing or skiing.

Further Listening:  A.D.D.a. from Reboot Myself Part 1, song recorded entirely as a one-man a capella.

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

Korean Funeral Tradition

Dear Korean,

I just found out that my boss's mother has died in Korea. I've heard that it's customary to give money to the person who has lost a loved one, but I've known my boss for 2 years and it just seems insensitive to me if all I did was give him some money. Why do Koreans do that? Is there something else that I can do that is more personal?

Little White Girl

Dear Little White Girl,

It may seem insensitive, but Koreans are practical folks. Sad fact of life, or the end thereof, is that funerals cost money. The nice thing to do would be to help out with the costs. Of course, nothing stops people from doing things more personal, like writing cards or helping the funeral preparation. But as far as Korean folks are concerned, money in a white envelope that says 謹弔 is enough. (The Chinese characters roughly mean “I am sorry for your loss.”)

A side effect of the custom of giving money (the money itself is called bujo) is that the family of the deceased should only give the official notice of the funeral (called bugo) to those close to the deceased and the family. Because those who received the notice is expected to attend the funeral and give money, it is bad manners to give the notice to mere acquaintances.

Some more about what Korean funerals look like. Korean funerals traditionally had a very long and elaborate procedure, but modern Korean funerals are simplified, and often adjusted for religious beliefs, especially among Christians.

Korean funerals generally last three days. When a person dies, first the body is set in a straight position and covered in a white sheet. Then it is put behind a partition. In front of the partition, a small table is set up with a photo of the deceased and incenses. Then the person’s death is announced. Official notice of the funeral is sent out, and a sign is hung on the front door of the house.

First son of the deceased assumes the role of sangju, basically the master of ceremonies. Traditionally the sangju would wear clothes and hat made out of hemp, but nowadays they simply wear a black suit and the hemp hat. The relatives of the dead are also supposed to wear the hemp clothes, but that part is now generally omitted. Both sangju and the relatives are supposed to wear a black ribbon either on the chest or on an arm, but now only sangju wears it. (Picture came from a Korean funeral house, which advertises that it rents the traditional garb.)

On the second day, sangju arranges for cleaning of the body, which is usually done at a funeral home. Koreans don’t embalm the dead. The body is cleaned and dressed – there is a traditional garb for the dead, but suits are commonplace in modern Korea.

After the body is dressed, it is put in a casket. The casket is again set behind a partition or a black curtain, and a table with the photo of the deceased, candles, and incense is set up. A black ribbon is put on the photo at this time. Sangju sits next to the table on a coarse mat – the mat is coarse because sangju must atone for the sin of allowing his parent to die.

Then is the time for visitors. Visitors wear black suits as American mourners would. Mourners first light a stick of incense at the table, bow at the table, then sangju and the guest bow at each other. Traditionally sangju, as a sinner, is supposed to remain quiet for the entire proceeding, but now they are allowed to say brief thanking words to the guests. As they are leaving, visitors leave the envelop with money in a designated box.

On the morning of the third day, the casket leaves the house. Before it leaves, a short ceremony is held in the honor of the dead – if you were trying to find one ceremony called “funeral” in a Korean death ritual, this would be it. The personal history of the deceased is told, and people eulogize and offer incense.

Traditionally, sangju and his relatives carried the casket all the way to the burying ground, but now Koreans use a hearse. The casket is taken to a pre-arranged burial ground, which is near other family members' burial sites. (See picture.) Typically, an extended family owns a small mountain and sets up burial sites for the entire family, past, present and future. The Korean himself already knows where he will be buried when he dies. Believe it or not, the thought is somewhat comforting.

After the casket is lowered, sangju throws dirt on the casket three times. Then the grave is fully filled, and a little mound is built on top of the grave. The mound is then covered in grass. On the right bottom side of the mound, a small stone with the name of the dead is buried so that the grave can be identified even though the mound is eroded away. The tombstone is set up in front of the grave, and brief ceremony is held once again.

But technically, the official funeral is not over after 3 days. Sangju keeps wearing the black ribbon for 100 days; traditionally everyone who had to wear to hemp garb had to keep them on for 100 days, but that does not happen anymore. After 100 days, a memorial ceremony for the dead is held, and the funeral is finally over.

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

Can Non-Asian Foreigner Succeed in the K-pop Scene?

Dear Korean,

How ready do you think Korea is for a foreigner in the K-pop scene? My definition of a foreigner in Korean market would be someone who isn't Korean and does not look visibly Asian.

Maria J.

The Korean would point out the vaguely racist quality of this question first. "Foreigner," from the perspective of Koreans, has its own definition: anyone who is not Korean. The Korean has no idea why Maria J. had to twist that word and narrow its coverage to someone who "does not look visibly Asian." But be that as it may...

This type of question has been coming in fairly frequently, apparently because a new girl group called The Gloss has a white French girl named Olivia as a member. So is Korea ready for a non-Asian foreigner in its music scene?

Try this for a size:  the number one band of K-pop in 2012 has three members, all of whom young men. Two of this band's members are Korean, but one is not. One of them is a white man from America, named Brad Moore. Mr. Moore has been quite visible in all of the band's activities (including music videos and show programs,) and his whiteness or non-Koreanness has never been a subject of discussion in Korean people's appreciation of the band.

The band's name? Busker Busker.

The Korean is not joking when Busker Busker was the number one K-pop band of 2012. They deserve the moniker based on any serious metric. Busker Busker sold the most number of albums in 2012 in Korea, and their songs were the most downloaded. (They sold significantly more songs online than PSY in 2012 Korea, even with PSY's Gangnam Style.) The band also placed six different songs in the top 10 of Gaon Chart (the most authoritative chart for K-pop) through 2012, and five songs in the top 10 of Billboard's K-pop chart. Busker Busker also took home three Korean Music Awards for 2013, including Best Pop Album and Best Pop Song. In the cafes of Seoul last year, it was practically impossible to avoid Busker Busker's songs, like 벚꽃 엔딩 ["Cherry Blossom Ending", the video above] or 여수 밤바다 ["Yeosu Night Sea"]. And this wildly successful band had a highly visible white member, who is the drummer for the band.

Does this mean that the next non-Asian foreigner will be inevitably successful, or be able to completely avoid Korea's racism? Of course not. But Busker Busker's success is still a significant data point. The number one band of K-pop in 2012 had a member who was a non-Asian foreigner, and Korean pop music scene hardly made a fuss about it. That should have answered the question before it even made its way to the Korean's inbox.

It is fair to wonder if non-Asian foreigners can succeed in the K-pop scene. But it is strange to see that, in discussing this topic, no one among the supposed devotees of Korean pop music brings up the fact that K-pop's number one band has a white member, and it has been that way for a whole year. Maybe they would have noticed if they stopped distracting themselves with shitty music.

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.

Your Culture is Bigger than You

Dear Korean,

I was hoping that you might respond to this review I did of Gish Jen's book on Asian and Western subjectivity. The review is 90 percent summary and expresses a few reservations about the cross-cultural psychologists that Jen relies on to make her generalizations about culture.

I'd be curious to see whether you find this research to be credible. There's no questions that it conforms almost exactly to the "thin and monochromatic" views of the differences between East and West adopted by Westerners, including Malcolm Gladwell, with the (perhaps?) meaningful difference that most of the cross-cultural researchers are Asians from Asia, and that Gish Jen is herself an avowedly Asian American novelist fixated on the question of East and West. While many Asian Americans and other politicized types take strong exception to the generalizations about Asians contained in this body of research, most regular Asians and Asian Americans I ask about seem to more or less agree that the overall schema fits into the pattern of their own experience.

Wesley Yang

If you are wondering because the name of the questioner sounds familiar--yes, it's that Wesley Yang, who wrote the article titled Paper Tigers for the New York Magazine, which elicited a strongly critical response from me. Let me first say this: it takes a remarkable strength of character to have been blasted in a way that Mr. Yang did, and come back for seconds. I am flattered that he is asking for my take; I can only hope I don't disappoint.

Mr. Yang's question is how I feel about the cross-cultural research involving Asian culture. But I see a second, underlying question: in trying to understand Asian culture, how are we to treat our own experience as Asian Americans? The second question, in particular, is important and timely. I just got done blasting non-Asians for trying to essentialize Asia through "cultural explanations." Then what about Asian Americans? How are we to approach our own culture? What do we make of the fact that Gish Jen attempts to explain her father's life through these studies? What are we supposed to think if those studies seems to explain our lives as well?

First question first: how do I feel about research regarding culture? Contrary to what Mr. Yang may think, I am open to them. I will accept the conclusion of the research (with the residual amount of skepticism consistent with the scientific method) if the research is conducted rigorously. The reason for this is simple: clearly, culture affects behavior. As a blogger who writes about Korean culture, it would be strange if I did not recognize this. Accordingly, a rigorously conducted study may well reveal the nexus at which culture translates to behavior. (Of course, normal caveats apply--after all, many studies end up being quite wrong.)

This proposition is so self-evident that it is almost not worth saying out loud. The real question, whose answer is not as self-evident, is: how much do these studies explain? How much do those studies explain the national culture? How much do those studies explain the reality that unfolds before our eyes? And how much do those studies inform our own experience as Asian Americans?

These questions are part and parcel of a larger and more fundamental question: how are we supposed to understand and explain culture? Once we have a solid grasp on this fundamental issue, the rest falls into place.

(More after the jump.)

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

Yo Mama So Fat.... Wait, the Other Way Around

[The Korean's note: Our new associate editor's first post!]

Dear Korean,

I am a Korean American woman, second generation. I don't mean to be stereotypical, or contribute a rude individual characteristic on a culture. But I have noticed something about 1st generation Korean women, especially ones that are a little older. They have no problem telling you or your children, that you/they are fat. Even if by "white American" standards, you or your children are not. This is especially true if you or your children are female. This is the behavior of many 1st Generation Korean women I've met, all a little older, at least 50 and up. My Korean drycleaner will look at my daughter and ask me, "Why is she so fat?" Then she'll look right at my daughter and directly ask, "Why are you so fat?" leading to tears of course. Same with the Korean waitress - ironically serving us Kalbee, as well as Korean churchgoers. You name it, they say it.

I find this strange because these same women grew up starving. They literally had no food growing up, so wouldn't being a little plump be a good thing? But clearly, they are not being complimentary, when they tell you "hey you, lose some weight!" and you barely even know who they are. In America, you might expect this name calling behavior from kids on the school play lot. But you would not expect it from a grown woman. Why is this?

Not Fat Fatty


Dear Not Fat Fatty,

First of all, Nuna would like to tell you something incredibly hurtful and offensive to you (and by calling myself Nuna, also give you honourary dangly bits):

YOU ARE FAT. FATTY MCFAT FAT. PHAAAAAAT. YO ASS IS SO HUGE IT HA' TWO POS'CODES, ONE FO' EACH CHEEK, AND YOUSE SEEN DA NILE RECENTLY OR SUMTHIN?

Nuna has obviously never seen you, met you in real life, and never knew of your kindheartedness, the fact that you graduated from an Ivy League university, or that your favourite pastime is volunteering at a local abandoned pet shelter.

So why does Nuna call you fat? It's because Nuna knows it rankles you. Heck, Nuna knows that if Nuna can't reach for any other insults, picking on the other person's appearance always does the trick. You're fat, your breath stinks, snaggletooth, monkey ears...Also, Nuna is going to tell you this: if you think insulting someone the first time you see them is something people left at the playground... pull the other one, it's got bells on.

Calling someone fat out of the blue is not just the work of Korean mothers. It is the work of all insecure individuals everywhere in the world.

When a person calls another person fat, what they are essentially doing is the human equivalent of beating their chests, ruffling their feathers, arching their back and hissing - showing animosity towards you to assert their rightful social rank of being higher than you, because they fell intimidated by you. In short, they're expecting you to act submissive, then run to the corner and cry. This is also why Korean mothers won't dare call a man they're fat - they're afraid of being pwned.

Which comes to the other point: why do they feel intimidated by a bit of meat on the bones and uh, not the impending asphyxiation of the world due to halitosis?

It's because Korean women, even this current generation, grew up in a country where photos are stuck on CVs, men won't get into the same elevator as a purportedly overweight woman, and clothing and shoe sizes are very restrictive. Nuna could never buy a bra in Korea because all the C cups were maternity bras. Being "fat" is simply unacceptable: to start off with, you would literally be unable to buy clothes that even looked mildly attractive. Most clothing lines only carry 1 "plus size" product, and you either take it or leave it.

[The Korean's note: Below is a picture of a fat Korean woman. Read this post for some context.]


You know how Miss USA always says "world peace" when asked for their aspirations? Miss Koreas used to say "현모양처" -lit. "Wise Mother, Submissive Wife". It is jokingly said that every caring Korean Mother "fixes up" her daughter's face when she finishes junior high (national minimum mandatory level of education, though most finish at least senior high), and that even parents don't recognise a daughter's face if she forgets to "put it on" in the morning.

Heck, Nuna remembers, aaaages ago in Dong-A Ilbo, an opinion columnist who wrote about the "obesity epidemic" that was hitting women (back in 1995, no less!) and recounted his story of a girl he thought was pleasantly chubby, but the deluded wench kept on stuffing her face thinking he'd love her no matter what her weight, and then pleaded with him to take her back saying she'd lose all her weight. His final words on the subject? That he felt that he was scammed, and although he felt sympathetic to the woman, there was no way he was going to forgive her if it happened again. Nuna wishes that particular asswipe fell victim to a Nigerian scam later on, just so he knows what being scammed feels like, the mysogynist smear of smegma he is.

For Korean women, their entire person is judged on how much they like bending over backwards and paddled in the bare ass by The Man. It's all about what kind of husband you get, what kind of men you will attract, what will men think of you.

And here you are, Ms Fatty McFat Fat, boldly barging in with her natural Rubenesque Fertility Goddess figure and no makeup to be seen, demanding that everyone view her as a Person (or possibly Womyn) to be judged on her political views (in a country where wives are often browbeaten - brow optional - to vote the same guy the husband votes), education level and socio-economic status (i.e. being able to buy all that USDA prime and drink all that milk to get those mighty C cups).

How DARE you spit in their faces and tell them all they have looked up to and worked for in their lives is a LIE?

Nuna notes that in our mothers' times, girls used to fight by grabbing on to each other's hair and pulling their scalp as hard as they could. The first person to cry, of course, loses, and other girls used to keep bobbing down to check which girl's face teared up first. Think of it as that: You cry, you lose. Your choice is either to sit there and get your hair pulled out more till you cry, or you pull THEIR hair so hard they cry first.

So! Nuna would like to impart on those of us larger than life women (Nuna herself is an intimidating 172cm and 70kgs) that the best way is to insult them back: Nuna's favourite is *fake looud sneeze* "Oh I'm sorry, I'm allergic to cheap makeup brands." or "Yeah, I know I'm fat, and earn twice as much as your kids ever will 'cos they're crap at school" to perfect strangers, and to the people you're sure to meet again? "Oh Aunty, you're soooooo oooooooold with your quaint, ooooooold views. Who needs a man except to open jars and take out the garbage in this day and age?"

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

Ask a Korean! News: Double Dose of Joo Seong-Ha on Euna Lee and Laura Ling

Two recent posts from the Korean's favorite North Korea blog Nambukstory were very interesting. If you don't know, the proprietor Joo Seong-Ha of Nambukstory is a graduate of Kim Il-Sung University and was on track to be an elite officer in North Korea, until he defected the country. He was actually captured in China and sent back to North Korea, suffered in a gulag for several years, then defected again and finally made down to South Korea. Then he became a reporter for Dong-A Ilbo, one of the most read newspapers in South Korea.

As evident from the posts below, Joo is not very sympathetic to Euna Lee and Laura Ling. The Korean does not necessarily agree with everything Joo says. However, they are certainly worth a read.

Propaganda Following Clinton's Visit to North Korea (posted Aug. 5, 2009)

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited North Korea unannounced. The morning paper would be flooded with the meaning of the visit and different analysis, so I will save my words on those topics. Instead, I will write about something that likely would not come out on newspapers or television news.


As we have seen many times over, it appears that North Korea again achieved its objectives. Now that they were successful in luring someone as big as Clinton, the only thing remaining for them is to maximize the effect of the visit.







There is much analysis about whether Kim Jong-Il would send a message to Obama via Clinton; I think Kim would. In fact, Kim has been in love with the U.S. for a very long time. But love is not something that can blossom when only one side of the deal holds the love.

Kim Jong-Il would like to align his regime with the U.S. as long as his regime is maintained, but the U.S. does not want to align itself with an authoritarian regime like North Korea. In other words, the interests of the two parties conflict. Keeping up with America's demand for human rights even at the most basic level -- shutting down the concentration camps for political prisoners, for example -- would shake the foundation of the North Korean regime. In addition, Kim cannot get out of his father's shadow. Because he grew in that shadow, it is difficult for him to transition to capitalism.

But Kim knows that if he cannot normalize relationship with Obama administration, which is very conciliatory toward North Korea, normalization of relationship with America is just a pipe dream. So it appears that Kim would try to send some form of enticement to American government somehow.

And -- now for the topic about which I really wanted to write -- how would North Korea propagandize  Clinton's visit to its people?

This propaganda happens in a way that is different from the Rodong Shinmun [newspaper] or Joseon Jung'ang TV. It actually happens through internal lectures geared toward the people. In other words, the propaganda is not shown externally.

Because I have heard numerous such lectures in North Korea, when the news of Clinton's visit came out I immediately thought of the title of the lecture to be given:

"Finally, American bastards kneel before Dear Leader."

Of course the precise expression may differ, but the general framework would not be very different.

When I was attending Kim Il-Sung University, there was a constant stream of lectures from the Chief Lecturer of the Central Party -- in other words, the best lecturer in North Korea. He is a talented man, extracting the best possible analysis out of any given situation. Having been educated by such a person for years, I have a rough guess of how he would play it out.

North Korea consistently relies on the "Porcupine Theory," which goes likes this: "There are many things for a tiger to eat in the mountain, so why would it choose to hunt a porcupine?" North Korea likes to compare itself to a small but spiked porcupine, as all of its people can be mobilized and are generally military-ready.

It would also connect Clinton's visit to the missile tests in April and the nuclear weapon test in May: "At first, Obama underestimated us and said dumb things, but Dear Leader taught him a lesson. Once we fired a satellite and tested a nuclear weapon, America has gotten scared. Eventually, it gave in and paid a visit to the Dear Leader. Clinton is no small fry; he was the Democratic Party president before Obama. America sent the biggest personality it could send." Or so the lecture would go.

Oh, and I would be remiss if I forgot to mention this -- the education about the greatness of Kim Jong-Il: "Our Dear Leader's courage is simply the best. In the face of adversity not even his eyebrow flinches, not even against America. He toys with the world's greatest power. The Earth turns on the axis of Dear Leader's willpower."

And at this point disparagement of South Korea would come in, like this: "The puppet traitor Lee Myung-Bak became blindsided after trying to follow its master's will. He was wagging his tail while not even knowing what his master was thinking of, and now the situation is out of his hands. He must be getting sick thinking about how to curry favor with us. But we will not be that easy. Until he begs for mercy for his past misdeeds against us, we will never engage him." They need to set it up this way so that in the future when the North-South relation becomes strained, they can propagandize: "They want to beg for mercy, but we are not talking to them to teach them a lesson."

Then the question is whether the North Korean people would believe in this kind of lecture. Unfortunately, I think most would. They have been fooled for the last several decades, but did not necessarily get smarter about this. Of course, no one would believe them if the regime announced that it would give regular rations, but this is a little different. Because Clinton did appear after the missile and nuclear test, it does look like the tests caused Clinton to come. In my view, because North Korean people are desperate enough to put their hopes on straws, they would believe the regime's propaganda and begin to have some hope that things will get better somehow.

At any rate, it looks like the journalists would come back to America with Clinton. I recommend reading the post that I wrote on March 19, "Do the two detained American journalists deserve sympathy?" The analysis was written exactly two days after the journalists were captured. In the end, just like I predicted, they spent several months at a hotel (or a guest house, which is better than a hotel,) in North Korea and came back just fine.

In that post, I asked what would happen if the captured people were South Koreans. And as if the North Korean regime decided to show me what would actually happen, a South Korean worker was detained in Gaeseong about a week after I wrote that post.

Now, the time has come when the difference between the "citizens of the continent" and South Koreans starkly reveals itself. I am reminded again that a country needs to be strong.




American Journalists Must Not Act Like Martyrs (posted Aug. 6, 2009)

This morning, many morning papers carried on their first page the pictures of American journalists reuniting with their families.





CNN is also repeatedly showing the video of the journalists deplaning as well as this picture.

I understand that the images are newsworthy, but I am not very pleased about seeing these images over and over again.

The American journalists must shed their martyrdom image. Strictly speaking, they are illegal border jumpers -- not to mention the fact that they were caught fooling around the border of the scariest country in the world. They are lucky to not have gone through worse.

Their situation is only special in that they were caught in North Korea, since many different places in the world would not take kindly to illegal border jumping. America is no exception. I would like to suggest the American press that before endowing the journalists with the halo of martyrdom, look first at how the people who were attempting to illegally cross the U.S. border via Mexico are rotting in its own country's prisons.

The journalists so far did not say much, but surely there will be many interview requests forthcoming. In those interviews, I really hope the journalists don't say they were having such a hard time. The reporters would know what North Korean defectors would go through if the defectors are caught and sent back to North Korea, because the reporters investigated those stories themselves -- although it may be silly to compare the status of American citizens and that of North Korean defectors.

But take for example Chinese citizens, who are foreigners to North Korea as much as Americans are. I have seen with my own eyes Chinese persons being arrested after having illegally crossed the Duman River [which forms NK-China border]. They spend several months in the same prison that keeps the defectors, receiving insults and food that is fit for pigs -- although they were not beaten, and did receive more food than defectors.

Given that situation, the journalists received a special treatment. In what country in the world are illegal border jumpers kept not in prison but in a "guest house" or a hotel, with exercise and leisurely walks being allowed? They even managed to call their family through international call. Even America does not guarantee human rights that way. They received the best possible treatment that illegal border jumpers could possibly receive, and they should be thankful.

In addition, I am sure many were wondering upon their return: what are in those bags?

[Note: Nambukstory does not allow copying its pictures, and the Korean could not find the identical picture online quickly enough. Please see the original post for the picture, which shows the journalists in North Korean airport with several bags.]

They certainly must have been empty-handed when they were captured, but through a little over four months of North Korean life, they now have luggage worth two or three bags. I thought about what those bags are carrying as well -- they seem a little too big for clothes and makeup. I thought it may be possible that North Korean regime gave them some gifts for the reporters' family, in consideration for the mental anguish they went through. North Korea is fully capable of contriving such a show. If that were the case, the journalists may set a record as illegal border jumpers who received several bags of gifts on the way back.

Even if they received no more than some clothes, they were treated extremely well -- especially if they received that much to fill those bags. When I was arrested and sent to North Korea, I wore the same piece of half-sleeve t-shirt and pants that I wore during summer and shivered in bitter cold in forced labor during winter. I could not wash my clothes because I only had one set, and it was not as if I was in a situation to wash clothes. North Korea is a barbaric country like that. The journalists should feel fortunate that they received a treatment that was much, much better than that received by North Korean people in such a country.

The journalists did not say much yesterday, but they stated that every day, every moment they feared being sent to a gulag. Although it appears clear that they were worried, I do not feel very inclined to believe the words "every day, every moment". If they were truly gripped by such fear, they have no right to work as journalists, as they lack the most basic judgment of reality.

It does not take a journalist to make a reasonable guess that there will be no harm, physical or otherwise, to a person who is definitely going to return to America and testify about how they were treated. And it is laughable that they were thinking about gulags when they managed to make international phone calls while living in a guest house.

Guest houses are better than hotels in North Korea; "guest house" is the name for summer and winter homes for Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. Currently, many of Kim Il-Sung's guest houses are empty. Also, safe houses by special branches of the government are also known as guest houses, which also have the best amenities in North Korea for VIPs. They may have been mentally anxious, but no amount of money would buy the experience of staying at guest house in North Korea.

And I really hope that they are observing the result of their adventurism. Above all, Kim Jong-Il has been loving it since they were captured. One only has to look at Kim's huge grin since the Clinton visit. Obviously, there will soon be propaganda about how America bowed to North Korea. Thanks to the journalists, Kim Jong-Il can deceive the 20 million North Koreans and mobilize them into forced labor.

I only wish that the journalists reflect upon the sins created by their playing heroes and upon the special treatment they received, and live on quietly. But if they further show up on television trying to drum up sympathy by shedding tears and creating an image of a martyr, that would be just unbearable to watch. They really do not have the right.

* Here is my belated reply to certain comments:

1. Couldn't the journalists cry a little after having been reunited with their family after so long?

Answer: I was not commenting on the crying while meeting their family. Of course they can cry after being separated for a while. All I asked was for them to refrain from showing up on media and pretend they deserve sympathy.

2. Didn't the journalists go through a lot, such as mental stress?

Answer: Of course they must have gone through a lot. Everyone feels stressed when the environment changes; it happens at your work too. I did not say they were not allowed to feel stress or anxiety while being under arrest in North Korea.

3. Isn't it too ungenerous to criticize when they were trying report on North Korean defectors?

Answer: Reporting on North Korean defectors in China and jumping the North Korean border to get a nice picture are two different things. The journalists themselves said they voluntarily crossed the border. (If North Korea kidnapped them, America would have never reacted this way.) Could they really not report on North Korean defectors if they did not step on the North Korean soil along the border? Such senseless action makes me question if they truly were motivated by concerns for North Korean defectors, or by a desire to make their own names.

Already the journalists are saying things like there were rocks in the rice given in North Korea, or how they missed fresh fruit and vegetable. I am totally blown away. It is a country that does not even really have refrigerators; such complaint is more fit for tourists. Were they expecting to be treated like heads of states? Meanwhile, North Korean people are having a hard time eating rice to begin with. How good of a treatment was it necessary for them to not say such things?

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