Ask A Korean! News: A Possible Hate Crime?

According to Associated Press, a Korean exchange student at Auburn University in Alabama was beaten up by four men on the 19th at his dorm, three days after the Virginia Tech shooting. FBI is currently investigating whether it was hate-motivated. The Korean student was not wounded very seriously.

Given that the exchange student has only been in the country for a month, it seems likely that it was a hate crime. The Korean is not sure if he should be outraged, or be thankful that it is the only reported case of hate crime after the shooting.

Koreans Also Have Exceptionally Strong Neck

Dear Korean,

It is a running joke among many of my friends that Koreans have abnormally large heads, which is the best way for us white folk to distinguish them from other Asians. One drunken night we decided to do an experiement and measured everyone in the room's heads--and found that the two Koreans did in fact have larger heads that the rest of us (an extra inch in diameter, as I recall). I also read once that North Koreans who've escaped to the South are often ridiculed for their oversized noggins, which look more disproportionate because they've suffered from malnutrition. But this doesn't explain why Korean's have such big heads in the first place. Why do Korean's have such large heads?

Pinheaded Whitey

Congratulations, Pinheaded Whitey. You're the first one who ever sent a Korean-related question that completely stumped the Korean. The Korean has no freakin' idea how to answer your question. According to the Korean's own experience, it seemed like southern Chinese people (the Cantonese-speaking folks) had the largest head among all Asians. The largest head size the Korean has ever seen belongs to a white man, a proud 8.25 inches of hat size.

The Korean could counter your question by talking about large head and big brain and such, but that's just weak. Besides, if that were true, whales would be running the world anyway.

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

When are YOU getting married?

Dear Korean,

Is there a graceful, mature, yet honest way to answer elders' never ending question - 'Why aren't you married?' Or, from my grandmother on this New Year's Day,"There's nothing wrong with meeting someone and getting married. That's the last thing I am waiting to see before I die." The answer, if communicated truthfully, is very complicated. I'm not even quite sure what their point is in asking, since they don't seem to want an explanation. I am going to Korea for a month in the spring and anticipate most of my energy spent justifying my marital status.

Sunny K.

Dear Korean,

I'd like to ask you about why Koreans put so much emphasis on marriage AFTER graduation from college or grad school? It's so funny to see Korean parents force their kids to study all their lives and then wonder why their son or daughter has no marriage prospects at all. My family members (they're Korean) are pushing me to find a wife but I guess I'm driving them crazy since I've decided like many other men, to live a bachelor by choice lifestyle - I don't date and I don't care. Am I causing them to go insane since there would be zero gossip about me?

Slasher

Dear Sunny and Slasher,

You remind the Korean of a Korean joke: "How is a woman like a Christmas cake? They sell like crazy on 22, 23, 24; they slow down on 25, and after 26 they are half-priced." But it's not just women - it's the same for men, although men can afford to be late by about 2~3 years.

The marriage question is seriously the most pesky thing for young Korean people - even young Korean people in Korea have no idea what to do about that. Elders ask that because it's just a requisite step in life. First you go through school, then you get a job, then you get married. There's got to be something wrong with you if you miss one of the steps.

Sadly, the Korean really has no idea, although he empathizes 100 percent. Plenty of Korean elders ask the Korean the same question, the Korean simply replies "it will happen sooner or later," and they generally let it go. Like you suggested, it's not like the elders really want to know what's going on - they just ask because it's what they are supposed to ask.

Your Mother.

Dear Korean:

Our daughter has just started her freshman year at a small university with about a 20% international student body. She is well versed in various cultures but has taken a fascination to the South Korean Culture. We have had her Korean friends in our home. My question is this: Do Korean young men pursue American women? Our daughter had started what she thought was a relationship with a young Korean man who had been physical in the manner of holding hands, hugging and expressing his feelings; but when she confronted him to find out what his intentions were, he became very vocal and humiliating. Is this common for young men from South Korea? I think that our daughter might like to marry a Korean but everything that I have researched does not show that Korean men would be a good marriage partner since the Korean society is so male dominated and women take such a second role. Thanks in advance.

Alice E.

Dear Alice,

The first thing the Korean thought reading your email was that mothers are the same everywhere in the world. You should have seen the Korean Mother when the Korean brought home his first white girlfriend. If there were Ask A Korean! back then, the Korean Mother would have sent in this question: "How do I make my son drop that white devil girlfriend?"

Do Korean men pursue white women? Sure, all (straight) men pursue women, no matter what the race. Is what your daughter going through with that Korean boy somehow culturally related? Maybe, but it doesn't sound too different from any boy-girl interaction. Maybe he liked your daughter enough, but wasn't ready for commitment.

But the Korean thinks your broader question is important. The Korean would be the first one to say that Korean culture indeed is male-dominated and women tend to take a second role. But the Korean thinks this is a healthy way of thinking about culture - culture is nothing but a trend. Some people follow the trend, and some don't. All one can do is be aware of it, and be ready to evaluate people on individual basis. It's just like looking at pit bulls. They are generally fierce, but some of them are quite docile.

Another thing is that Korean society is changing very, VERY fast. The Korean visits Korea every two, three years, and the shift in cultural attitude in each visit is simply astonishing. Simply put, the youngest generation of Koreans are really not very different from Americans. So who knows?

It's good that you are aware of the culture, but please be ready to make individual evaluation before you jump to any conclusion. If that Korean boy was a trend-follower, he would not have pursued a white girl anyway.

Psycho Mass Murderer Edition

Thank you for waiting folks, the Korean is back after the busiest three-week stretch of his life. The Korean must say that every time he tries to get some rest from the Korean-American world, something always happens to pull him back in.

First, the Korean’s sincerest condolence and regret to the families of the Virginia Tech shooting. These are the times that the Korean is glad being a Christian, so that he can pray for the people; it’s also satisfying to believe that Cho Seung-hui will be in hell for eternity.

Honestly, the Korean does not think Adam Cho have put the Korean American community in danger. (“Adam” is the psycho killer’s English name by the way. If Cho was like most Korean Americans, there would be less than three people in the world – his father, mother, and maybe his sister – who called him Seung-hui when he was alive. On the other hand, it is funny and annoying to see people mangling that name that no one used when he was alive. Back to the topic.)

This is not another 9/11, where there is a sense that America was under attack by foreigners, and that foreigner might be that guy wearing a turban. Cho’s actions were so clearly psychopathic that possibly no one who is halfway non-stupid can entertain the thought that being a Korean had something to do with propensity for mass murder.

Yet the world is full of stupid people, and they try their best acting stupid. So we would have such news report from New York Times and ABC that Cho’s picture of holding a hammer looks just like scenes from Oldboy. The Korean can see the thought process as if it’s displayed in a glass case: Let’s see, the psycho killer is Korean, so something Korean must have turned him psycho… what’s the first psychotic Korean thing I can name? … I know, Oldboy! Let’s reverse this thought process: Hmm, the psycho killer lived in America since young, so something American must have turned him psycho… where have I seen double handguns? … I know, Gary Cooper from High Noon! It’s gotta be the old Western films that turn people into mass murders! Give me a break.

The thing that makes the Korean most disappointed is that even with this, Second Amendment will live on. As long as someone lives in Virginia, he can buy any number of handguns and go on a rampage. The Korean cannot believe that it is not a bigger deal. Look, murderous psychos will always be there. Then why isn’t it more efficient to take the methods of killings away? It makes no sense. Follow Korea’s lead for once: criminalize gun possession, and lock up hunting guns during non-hunting season.

What is more interesting is the Korean people’s reaction to this. Koreans, in short, completely flipped out. The guilt trip about the fact that Cho was a Korean was simply enormous, and they desperately tried to find a way to apologize to America. Apparently, the Korean ambassador at D.C. even suggested fasting as a show of condolence and regret.

The Korean can try to somehow explain Korean’s people’s reaction through something about Korean culture – how it’s like every Korean is a family, and you take responsibility for actions of family members, not just yourself, and all that garbage. But that’s simply untrue, and saying such a thing is dishonest. Korean people flipped out because they are racists; there can be no other explanation. Only thing that Korean people can see about Cho is his race, and they reacted accordingly. They desperately try to apologize to Americans because, if the situation was reversed and 32 Koreans died in the hands of a deranged American, all Americans in Korea will be lynched.

In making this point, some Korean commentators have been giving the example of the two girls who were accidentally run over by American tanks, and how Korean people reacted strongly to that. The Korean thinks that’s a bad example, because American army represents the American government. More relevant is a case that happened a few months ago, when a Chinese man was arrested for killing his Korean girlfriend and dismembering her body. That prompted an Internet firestorm of how Chinese people in Korea are all crazy killers and they need to be driven away.

Readers, please don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise. America is the least racist country in the world, and you should be grateful that you live here.

The Korean is still alive!

He is just swamped with final papers and exams. New posts will come this weekend. In the meantime, send in questions!

The Japanese' Incredible Ability to Forget Their Past - Update 3

The process for publishing a textbook in Japan is the following: first, publishers write a draft of a textbook. Then the textbook has to be "approved" by the Ministry of Education. MoE may outright refuse to approve the book, or approve the book subject to modification.

Out of the 16 new history textbooks for Japanese high school students, not one of them says that Comfort Women were forcibly drafted by the Japanese military. Also, modification requirement was added on to 5 Japanese History textbooks with respect to the number of deaths in the Rape of Nanking, with the MoE opinion that states "the number did not take various different theories as to casualties into enough consideration."

U-Mun Hyeon-Dab

Hi Korean,

I heard that there is make-up for men in Korea. Is this true? I wouldnt be surprised, since many Korean male actors wears some sort of make-up and Korean men really do care about their appearances. Many the Koreans guys I've known are very effiminate. They like to take pictures of themselves and they say to others that they are handsome.

Alice

Dear Alice,

There is no reason for you to recognize the title. The Korean will not explain it - it's going to be an inside joke for those who understand. If the readers are curious, please email the Korean and ask what that means.

To answer your question, sure, there are cosmetics for men in Korea. (Here is an example.) There are cosmetics for men in America too. (Here is another example.) In fact, the Korean would seriously doubt that there is any country in the world that does not have cosmetics for men. Every country (that is rich enough so that its male citizens can afford to care about his looks) would at least have moisturizing lotion and aftershave.

That said, the concept of masculinity is different in different cultures. For example, the Mexican has explained how Mexican men's show of manliness is to play grab-ass with other men, since that shows that they have conquered all women around them and moved onto men.

So Korean men may take pictures of themselves and comment on each other's look, but such actions are only effeminate in American standards. On the flip side, certain actions by American men would be considered highly effeminate for Koreans - like not beating their wives.

(I keed, I keed.)

The Japanese' Incredible Ability to Deny Their Past - Update 2

According to Reuters, Prime Minister said the following in the Japanese Parliament Budget Committee, when asked by a Parliament Member about his view on the forcibility of mobilizing Comfort Women: "As the Prime Minister, I apologize at this moment. My view is the same as the Kono statement. (The Korean's Note: See this post for what Kono statement is.) As I mentioned several times, I feel sympathy for the people who went through the difficulty, and I apologize for their having been placed in such a situation."

Some apology, huh? Mr. Abe, "difficulty" is when you need to have some sushi and you can't find a pair of chopsticks. Being kidnapped and raped 20 times a day for several years is not a "difficulty." And "having been placed"? Who taught you how to apologize, Richard Nixon?

But it's not fair to characterize all Japanese people to be oblivious this way. Professor Kimizima Kazuhiko, one of the co-writers of the joint history textbook between Korea and Japan, said the following in a press conference: "In talking about forcible mobilization of Comfort Women, Prime Minister Abe is distinguishing between the "narrow" meaning and the "broad" meaning; but in "forcibility", there cannot be a narrow or broad meaning. I don't think such maneuver to avoid responsibility is right."

The Japanese' Incredible Ability to Deny Their Past - Update 1

Note: As the Comfort Women issue is growing, there are more and more statements by Japanese officials denying their countries' horrific past crime. Each time there is such a denial, Ask A Korean! will post them.

On March 25, Japanese Minister of Defense Shimamura Hakubun appeared on Radio Nippon and said the following: "There were nurses for the military and journalists for the military, but no Comfort Women (the Korean's note: here apparently used as a euphemism for prostitutes) for the military. It is true that there were Comfort Women, and I think some parents sold their daughters. But that does not mean that the Japanese military was involved."

Korea-Japan Relation Saga, Part IV – Post-WWII

[Series Index]

-WARNING- This post will make an analogy between what imperial Japan did to colonial Korea and the crime of rape. If you had read Part III, you would know it is in fact worse than that. But the Korean understands that many people are uncomfortable with a discussion of rape. If you are one of those people, you might want to skip this post. But the Korean promises that this post will be interesting, and hopefully enlightening.

Imagine two criminals committed a horrendous crime against someone. The victim’s injury has been more or less healed after a long time, but there are many scars remaining, reminding him/her constantly of the crime. What should they do? Any decent human being would answer in the following: “Find ways to atone for your crime. Apologize sincerely, and support that apology with action. Then, perhaps, the victim might find ways to forgive your crime.”

One of the criminals of World War II – Germany – did exactly that. In December 1970, West German Chancellor Willy Brandt went to Warsaw, Poland, and sent an unmistakable image out to the world when he fell to his knees before the monument at the site of a concentration camp. Since the end of World War II, West Germany and unified Germany have spent $104 billion for restitution of the victims of its war crime. Denying the existence of Holocaust is a crime in Germany, freedom-of-speech concerns aside.

What did the other criminal do? To its credit, Japan did officially apologize for its colonial past several times, including at the level of the Japanese Emperor and Prime Minister. In fact, especially in the 1990s, Japanese Prime Minister Hosokawa and his successor Murayama both apologized pretty sincerely, acknowledging Japanese Imperialism to be “invasions”.

Problem is that unlike Germany, Japan somehow has trouble maintaining that party line. Each time there is an apology from Japan, there are two Japanese politicians who say such things as “the Imperial Japan in fact did a lot of good to Korea, like modernizing it.” Well, that claim is somewhat true, but consider the following. Suppose there is a woman who wished to have a child. She then becomes a victim of rape, and gives birth to a child. It is true that without the rapist, the woman would not have gotten her child. But should we recognize the commendable behavior of the rapist of granting his victim’s wish? Of course not.

Another issue along the same line is paying respects to Yasukuni Temple. At Yasukuni, 14 top war criminals of Japan, including Tojo Hideki, are buried. (If you don’t know, Tojo is to Japan is Mussolini to Italy and Hitler to Germany.) Since 1996, on every End of War Memorial Day of Japan (which is Liberation Day for Korea, making it doubly insulting,) Japanese Prime Minister would visit Yasukuni Temple and pay his respects. Imagine the uproar if Angela Merkel (Prime Minister of Germany) paid respects to Hitler’s tomb every year!

One argument that Japanese people make is that Yasukuni has more than the 14 war criminals – it in fact memorializes over 3 million war deaths, and visiting Yasukuni simply has the meaning of commemorating the dead. But in that case, why not move out the war criminals’ tomb out of the temple? We know where Hitler is buried in Berlin – it’s underneath a random parking lot, and there is no marker for the place, so that it cannot become a shrine for Neo-Nazis.

Still another issue is that when a new war crime comes up, Japan refuses to recognize its role in the crime. The current row over Comfort Women is a really good example of this. (See the earlier post for the short discussion.) This issue was not really made public until late 1980s~early 1990s, and Japan initially dragged its feet, saying it was merely private contractors recruiting women for the military. Finally, in 1993, Kono Yohei, then-Minister of Defense, admitted that the Japanese military was involved in recruiting the women through force, lies, and deception. Since then, Japan’s position has been admitting moral culpability, but not the legal one. Accordingly, in 1994, Japanese government set up a private fund in order to compensate the victims. Naturally, no victims of Comfort Women took the money.

(More on why Japan can take such a position a little later, but talk about splitting hairs! Recalling the rapist earlier, it’s as if the rapist is claiming clean hands because he did everything but forcible penetration. Some nerve.)

Things were unsatisfactory to Koreans even then, but recently Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo made it worse. As U.S. Congress is trying to pass a resolution urging Japanese government to apologize to the survivors of Comfort Women, Abe bluntly refused to apologize, and hinted at backtracking on the involvement of the Japanese military in conscripting the women by re-investigating the issue once again.

Just compare this to what Germany did. Amazing, isn’t it? Instead of treating its war crime as a clear evil that must not be repeated ever again, the Japanese government seems to see them as a matter of opinion.

Naturally, the amount Japan paid in restitution to Korea is nothing compared to $104 billion that Germany paid. Japan paid exactly $500 million to the Korean government in 1965 – less than 0.5 percent of what Germany paid. Korea was desperately poor at that point, and in exchange for $500 million, the Korean government decided to extinguish all of its claims against Japan regarding its past. It’s a complex issue in the international law as to whether a government may enter into such a pact. But since 1965, every time a new and horrendous war crime is uncovered, like Comfort Women and Unit 731, Japanese government repeats its argument that it paid all of its obligations in 1965. That may be arguably true, but it surely is not the way to make yourself appear to be atoning for your crimes.

Finally, the most egregious form of not atoning is that, certain history textbooks in Japan minimize its war crimes in World War II. The Korean actually saw one such textbook. The biggest section on World War II was how Japan was the only country in the world which was nuked. There was no mention of Comfort Women, Rape of Nanking, or war crimes in general. Only description of Japan’s imperialism was how Korea, China, and Southeast Asia belonged to Japan’s “sphere of influence”, like the ones other imperialist countries had. Beyond any absence of apologies, this is appalling and sickening. Japan is trying to erase its colonial past, and it’s working – many young Japanese have no idea why Korean people hate them so much, because they have no idea what Japan has done to Korea only 60 years ago!

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

This concludes the saga that is Korea-Japan relations. There are still a lot of things that have not been discussed yet, but the Korean thinks the series more or less covered why Korean people hate the Japanese so much.

Personally, this is how the Korean feels about this issue. Many Koreans will never forgive Japan, and they are entitled to such a feeling. But vast majority of Koreans, over time, would be willing to forgive Japan, as long as Japan makes all appropriate motions such as: apologizing, sticking by it in all levels of the government and the society; making appropriate reparations; and vowing never to repeat the tragic history. Until that happens, Koreans will continue to hate the Japanese.

-EDIT- Actually, the Korean decided to extend this series by one more part. Please check the "Series Index" link on the top to read Part V of the Korea-Japan Relations series.

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

Spring Break! Woo Hoo!

The next post will not be here for a little bit, because the Korean is at Cancun, Mexico, on the last spring break of his lifetime. The Korean is currently hanging out with an awesome crowd, like these guys.

All pictures are taken by the Korean himself, thanks to his new underwater camera kit, Christmas gift from the Korean Girlfriend.

-ADDENDUM: 3/23/07 10:33 a.m. - Each travel abroad confirms the Korean that America is the least racist country in the world. The Korean was only one "gonichiwa" told to him away from going North Korea on everyone.

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

(Before we begin – the AsianWeek magazine is now embroiled in a controversy because it published a column by an idiot named Kenneth Eng called “Why I hate blacks.” Since then, AsianWeek pulled the column, fired Eng, and issued an apology. The Korean can’t believe that people are pre-empting what he is about to write. The Korean hopes this post would help.)

Dear Korean,

So what is the relationship of Koreans and black people? Why the prejudice? Why do you think when a white man marries a Korean woman they are viewed as a cute couple, but if it is the same is for a black man they question the woman’s character?

Black man happily married to a Korean for 25 years, and no, I was not in the Army in Korea.

- William J.

Dear Korean,

Please explain Korean people’s strong prejudice against black soldiers (your words). My uncle, a black man, died in the Korean War. This is not an angry email, just an attempt to understand. Thank you.

- Kevin

Dear William and Kevin,

First, to Kevin. The Korean is deeply grateful for your uncle. The Korean is often flip in this blog, but he is most serious in this occasion. If it were not for American soldiers’ sacrifice in the Korean War, the Korean would probably be starving somewhere in communized Korea, writing for the BS website that the dictatorial government set up.

But the Korean is afraid that you misunderstood the earlier post. The Korean is certain that there was relatively less prejudice against black soldiers at the time of Korean War. But there is no question that since then, Koreans (and Korean-Americans alike) developed strong prejudice against black folks – and that is essentially why William’s question arose.

To put it bluntly, many Koreans and Korean Americans tend to be racist toward black people. The Korean wishes it were otherwise, but it is true. Below is the reason why.

Racism as a Heuristic

What is racism? As we all know, racism is broadly defined as passing a judgment upon an individual based on the individual’s race. And racism is an evil because we cannot control our race, and our race has an extremely poor correlation to our character.

However, see it from the judgment-passer’s point of view, and the reason why people become racists begins to make sense. Racism is a type of what cognitive scientists call “heuristics” – basically, making decisions based on analytical shortcuts. A simple example: our cognition tells us that “it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck.” Then our conscience concludes that “it’s a duck.”

Heuristics is a big part of the way humans deal with things, because humans don’t have the time to evaluate everything around them. It is effective to engage in heuristics because first of all, it takes too much energy to remember everything about a certain thing. Think of it from the perspective of evolutionary biology. Suppose we were out hunting, and our fellow was killed by a saber tooth tiger. Do we remember everything about that saber tooth tiger for a future reference? No, we only remember the most salient features of the animal, which would be its size, color, and the two fangs.

Heuristics is efficient because in most cases, humans don’t need a 100 percent right answer. Going back to the example, suppose while we are roaming the field hunting, we run into an animal that appears to be large, yellow-ish, and has two large fangs. Do we stay and completely evaluate whether or not this animal is in fact a saber tooth tiger and therefore dangerous? No, we run for our lives.

So heuristics work in two steps. First, when we encounter a new thing, we create a “tag” in our mind to associate with the new thing’s characteristics. Always, without fail, that tag is a highly visible and readily identifiable trait. Second, when we see that tag in another new thing, we draw conclusion that the second new thing is the same as the first thing. The process is hardly foolproof, but it’s extremely effective – it probably allowed human race to survive this long.

The application is the same in our modern life. We always create a quick tag to describe things around us, (e.g., “George W. Bush is an idiot,” “Southerners are conservative,” “Canadians are slow”) and for most things we don’t bother to learn more. We do it because we don’t need to learn everything about everything, and we can’t possibly learn everything about everything. The next step is the same too. For example, popular perception has created a heuristic statement of “blonds are dumb.” Once we have that heuristic in our head, next time we see a blond, our mind will point toward “dumb.”

So, as we consider Koreans and racism, we have to think in terms of heuristics – what the markers are, and what the conclusion is.

Racist Heuristic Step 1 – Markers

Heuristic markers are something that stands out very prominently. Then, what stands out more than how different black people’s appearances are from Korean people’s? The skin tone of a black person is something that no Korean has ever seen. But it goes beyond the skin tone. The question that the Korean gets asked most from his Korean relative and friends about black people’s appearance is: how do they manage their hair, especially if they are braided? Do they even wash it? If they do, how?

In short, black people are really, really foreign to Koreans – to a much greater degree than white people. At one point in Korean history (until shortly after Korean War,) white people were just as foreign. The Korean’s parents’ generation would talk about how white people have blond hair and a big nose. (One derogatory Korean term for a white person is ko-jaeng-i, roughly translated as a “noser” or “nosie.”) But several decades passed, American movies and TV shows steadily streamed into Korea, and Korean people got used to white people. Although white people looked different from Koreans, they seemed like a variation on a theme. (Do you now understand why colored people make such a big deal about how Friends had no black person in it?)

Racist Heuristic Step 2 – Conclusions

So when a Korean sees a black person, his/her skin tone, coarse hair, etc are the only thing that stays in mind. In some sense, it is already racist at this step because that Korean would not probe deeper into that black person’s character. But what makes Koreans really racists are the heuristic conclusions that they derive from the skin tone.

What are the conclusions? The same conclusions that the mainstream society gives to black people – lazy, dirty, prone to crime, addicted to drugs, closer to animals than humans. Why is that?

In part, it has to do with a bias within Koreans with regards to skin tone. Koreans are, being Asian, yellow. But actual skin tone of any given Korean in fact varies by a ton – nearly covering the spectrum of the whitest of the white and the blackest of the black. And among Koreans, there is a bias of favoring the light-skinned people, and disfavoring dark skin tones. Why? Because dark skin means that you are one of the peasants, out in the field and working all day under the sun. Light skinned people are the nobility – they can afford to stay at home and out of the sun.

Absurdly—evidencing that old habits die hard—this line of thinking still somewhat persists, and one standard for a Korean beauty is (in the Korean’s opinion) sickly paleness. Hot, sexy tan is fairly popular in Korea now, but that is an extremely recent phenomenon – no older than 7~8 years. (Largely thanks to this woman on the right. Her name is Lee, Hyo-ri, a very popular singer.) So between white people who are paler than noblest Korean, and black people who are darker than the commonest Korean, there is a built-in disadvantage.

Also, one cannot ignore the racism in the American mainstream. Whatever racism we have as a country, we indirectly teach it to the new immigrants to our country and to the whole world through our dominance in movies and television shows. No one in the world, and certainly no Korean, is dumb enough to not realize that in a movie, a black guy always dies. Especially in Korea where people have no chance to see a black person other than through mass media, there is no way for their racist perception to be corrected by actually knowing a black person.

But the Korean thinks it’s fair to say that, as Bill Cosby pointed out, at least some black people provide the fodder for those conclusions. (The Korean will leave the question of whether or not the mainstream society is responsible for the high rate of black crime, drug addiction, etc., to another day.) On this point, another factor to consider is that a lot of Korean Americans live in the ghetto, doing business right in the middle of it. Often they are victims of crimes, often perpetrated by black folks.

Especially in the 1992 LA Riot, the rioting black folks looted the stores in their neighborhood, most of them owned by Koreans. (The MTV documentary on the LA riot made in 2002 devotes a portion to the riot’s impact on Korean Americans.) Stories spread from Korean Americans to Koreans in Korea, and the reputation of the black folks was shot down further from the already low status.

Then again, heuristics being what it is, if there is a black robber robbing a Korean-owned liquor store, the only thing that the store owner will remember is the fact that the robber was black. And the racism perpetuates.

So, What Next?

The Korean situation is merely a mirror to the larger problem of we have as a society. Korean people are no better or worse than anyone in world – everyone in the world relies on heuristics, and racism is such a strong force even to this day because of it. Even in America, which in the Korean’s opinion the least racist country in the world, plenty of people rely on racist heuristics.

For example, Fisher DeBerry, former Air Force football coach, when asked why his team was losing, remarked that it was because his team lacked speed because Air Force team did not have enough black people on it – all the while the equally black-player-sparse Brigham Young University was putting up a 9-win season. But then again, who has not thought about whether being black makes you a better athlete as s/he watched a sporting event?

The only way to combat racist heuristics is to make people aware that they are making a snap decision that is wrong, unfair, and evil. America has been trying to do this for the last several decades, and slowly it has been making progress. We must keep this up.

The Korean will end this in a hopeful note. In 1999, a Korean grocer, Mrs. Chung-Bok Hong, was shot and killed by robbers at the parking lot next to her store in South Central Los Angeles, heart of the LA ghetto. Her funeral was held in a catholic church in South Central, and hundreds of mourners packed the church, most of them black residents of South Central. Many of the mourners did not know her real name; everyone in the neighborhood just called her “Mama.” Here is a part of the story from the LA Times:

A few blocks away, graffiti writers had covered a wall outside her store with messages revealing a tangle of emotions. "Nothing but love for you, Mama," said one. … Jerrell White, an African American resident who has lived in the neighborhood for 34 years, said Hong was accepted in South-Central because she treated people with dignity, regardless of their station in life. "She didn't take no B.S. from you," he said. "But that was all right, because she was Mama."

Now there’s a woman who did not rely on racist heuristics, but consciously decided to look past people’s colors and into their character.

(If you would like to read the whole story, it ran on Feb. 12, 1999, byline Steve Berry, headline CALLS FOR JUSTICE MARK FUNERAL OF SLAIN GROCER.)

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

Developing Story

The Korean already almost done with the next post, but boy, those Japanese people just will not wait for the next Korea-Japan Relation Series.

Right now, U.S. Congress is about to pass a resolution that urges Japan to apologize to the surviving Comfort Women. Japanese government has been pulling out all stops to lobby this resolution to death, but thanks largely to Rep. Michael Honda, himself a Japanese-American, the resolution looks like it will pass.

The New York Times wrote an editorial calling for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to apologize, but Mr. Abe has expressed intention to reject the call, statng that there was no evidence that military or police was involved. (This, by the way, is directly in contrast with the statement issued by the Japanese Minister of Defense in 1993 admitting the involvement of the military.)

The Korean's reaction will be in the next post, but just a heads up for the readers to follow this story.

Announcement: New Q&A System

Dear everyone who sent the Korean questions -- the Korean has not forgotten about you. But the Korean tries to answer all questions in the order received, and the delay is pretty long (right now around 2 months.) The delay is especially long because of the Korea-Japan series, and since there will be another series about language, it's going to be longer.

So when you do send a question that is time-sensitive, please indicate that you want to jump ahead of the line, and the Korean will consider it. Otherwise, expect roughly 2 months of delay. In any case, the Korean will notify you when your question has been answered. Thank you for sending in questions, and thank you for reading!

Korean Language Lesson Series – Methodology

Dear Korean,

I am a Korean-American in my 30s and I didn't learn the Korean language when I was a kid, except little tidbits. I want to learn more and someday speak fluently. What books, methods would you recommend?

Keep on trucking!

- Eager Beaver

Dear Eager Beaver,

The Korean Mother is a high school Korean language teacher. After going through a few different books, she found Integrated Korean by University of Hawaii Press to be the best textbook. The Korean has no reason to doubt her judgment -- she has been teaching foreign language for 25 years. (The Korean Mother was a high school English teacher back in Korea.)

The Korean himself learned a few foreign languages from scratch – English, Spanish, and currently Chinese. (Please, hold the applause. Puedo solamente hablar el mas basico del Espanol, and xianzai zhege xingqi shi wo de di wuge xingqi xue zhongwen.) Each person learns things differently, but here is one man’s method of learning a new language.

The method can be summarized into the following: Learn the grammar first, while memorizing a ton of vocabulary. Construct a lot of different sentences by plugging in the vocabulary, and memorize those sentences as well. Speak, listen, and write at the same time.

The drawback of this method is that it takes a lot of rote memorization. But the Korean believes that rote memorization is inevitable in language learning. An average six year old child knows 13,000 words and idioms. You have to catch up to that number somehow, and it’s not going to come to you naturally.

But the Korean recognizes that Korean language education in America has a pretty shaky foundation. There isn’t a huge worldwide demand, so there isn’t too many studies and research about how to teach it effectively. It’s especially difficult for European language speakers, since the grammar is radically different.

Therefore, the Korean will run Korean Language Lesson Series from time to time, trying to explain in a way that hopefully is easy to understand. In the meantime, if you have any question about Korean language, you know what to do – ask the Korean.

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

Read This, Fans of The Departed, and Learn the Truth.

At the end of a previous post, the Korean promised that he would pour down some raging shitstorm upon Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences if The Departed wins any Oscar. Well, The Departed won 4, so here is the shitstorm, as promised.

Here is the simple reason why any Academy won by The Departed is bullshit. The Departed is based on a Hong Kong movie released in 2002, called Infernal Affairs. And by "is based on", the Korean means that "plagiarized down to every relevant detail."

But it goes beyond that simple fact. This is really about what the Academy sees its award show as. Once upon a time, American movies ruled the world. They still do to a certain extent, but certainly not to the same degree. Just like other American inventions of baseball and basketball, the world has caught up with America, and fantastic movies are made outside of U.S. every year.

At this point, the Academy had to choose. Will it continue favoring American movies and try to select the best picture among them, or will it open up its doors to foreign films and try to award the true world champion? If the Academy cares about the global reputation of Oscars, the answer is obvious. And by and large, the Academy made the right moves, making this Oscars the most international one ever. Pan's Labyrinth, a Spanish film, won 3 Oscars, next highest to The Departed. All these were encouraging signs. But by showering The Departed with 4 Oscars, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing, the Academy took two steps back for every step it had taken forward. Instead of awarding the true global best, the Academy coronated its knockoff.

The Korean has no doubt that Martin Scorsese is a great director. In fact, the Korean believes that Scorsese, with The Aviator, should have won over Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby in 2005. But even the greatest director is capable of mailing it in, and mailing in Scorsese did.

First, the decision to remake Infernal Affairs was questionable to begin with. If it were an obscure, small budget movie, or a very old movie, that Scorsese had to go out of his way to discover, then it's understandable. But Infernal Affairs was none of those things. It was one of the highest grossing Hong Kong movies EVER. EVERYONE in Asia has watched it. The thing that blows the Korean away is the fact that Infernal Affairs opened in 2002, while The Departed opened in 2006. Given that it takes several years to make a movie, it means that Scorsese decided to remake Infernal Affairs as soon as it opened! How can this possibly be?

But the Korean still had hope, going to watch The Departed. After all, it’s Martin Scorsese, for crying out loud. He’s the guy who made Goodfellas! Sitting through The Departed, the Korean desperately hoped for something different to show. And there were a few differences between Infernal Affairs and The Departed. (Read on, there are no spoilers.) They were:

1. Infernal Affairs is set in Hong Kong, while The Departed is set in Boston.
2. Everyone in Infernal Affairs is Asian and speaks Cantonese, while everyone The Departed is white and speaks English (with Boston accents.)
3. The character played by Mark Wahlberg is new, and so is the ending involving him. The last 30 seconds of The Departed is completely new.
4. The ways Leonardo DiCaprio/Tony Leung character communicates with the police at the deal are different.
5. Jack Nicholson character is a little more fleshed out than Eric Tsang character. (Infernal Affairs 2 actually fleshes out Eric Tsang character a lot more.) Matt Damon character is also a little more fleshed out than Andy Lau character.

That’s it. Seriously, those are all. Which one of those 5 points screams “major changes”? On the other hand, so many of the major storytelling/stylistic points were directly lifted from Infernal Affairs to The Departed. (Okay, now we have spoilers.) Such as:

1. Making the two moles look alike.
2. The way the two moles almost meet, at the theatre.
3. The way the deal was bugged (computer chip replaces drugs.)
4. The way the chief dies.
5. The way there were two moles each in the end, and the way they become known.
6. The usage of glasses and blinds in the police HQ.
7. The setting and camera works on the roof, the movie’s climax.

The Korean can go on, but here is the point: The Departed is no more than a shameless knockoff of Infernal Affairs. If Scorsese did not bribe Andy Lau and Alex Mak into making this movie, he would certainly lose the lawsuit for plagiarism.

Now, a question must be asked: Why couldn’t Infernal Affairs simply open in the theatres of America, and make The Departed, which would open in mere 4 years later, appear utterly unimaginative?

Answer: Read the differences points 1 and 2 above. The Korean hates playing the race card, but really there cannot be any other explanation. Infernal Affairs, by all accounts a spectacular movie (reflected by the success of its knockoff,) got robbed BECAUSE IT DOES NOT HAVE WHITE PEOPLE IN IT. The same thing happened with The Ring and The Grudge. Only Asian movies that escaped this fate are the martial-arts based ones, i.e. the ilk of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, because it would be completely ridiculous to have those movies set in ancient Boston and have Chuck Norris flying across the screen.

What drives the Korean completely insane is the thought process behind the decisions to remake Asian movies. “Surely Asians can do some things that white people can’t, but those things cannot possibly include being an undercover cop that tests your inner goodness!!” Never mind that the movie won 23 different awards all over the world, and was wildly successful in cultures and languages that are as radically different as China, Japan, and Korea!

But it's not just about the assumption about Asian movies; it's also about the assumption that American audience is stupid. “There is no way in hell American audience is receptive to the emotions of fear, love, ambition and redemption portrayed by these yellow-skinned, slant-eyed chinks. We had better slap together a cast of white actors and a white director so that they may properly translate to the Americans whatever these chinks are trying to show.”

If you are an American movie lover, you should be insulted.

God, I'm still pissed.

p.s. The best part? When The Departed won the Best Screenplay and the screen writers (more like translators) walked up toward the stage, the PA system announced "The Departed was based on a Japanese movie, Infernal Affairs." That made the Korean jump out of the couch and scream, "IT'S NOT JAPANESE YOU IGNORANT FUCKS!!!"

The Korean has been a little bit harsh on the Japanese, especially with the recent Korea-Japan relation series, but he would like the readers to know that he was pulling for Rinko Kikuchi for Best Supporting Actress. The Korean also likes Japanese movies and cartoons.

Looking for Korean Men?

If you had noticed, there is a little tag on the bottom of the tool bar on the right, called "sitemeter". Sitemeter is this neat thing where the Korean may track how many visitors Ask A Korean! has had, and so on.

One of the features of Sitemeter is that the Korean can see what terms people searched on Google or Yahoo to get to this blog. Overwhelming majority of the search terms, obviously, is "ask a korean" or "ask a korean blog". A search term that keeps on showing up, albeit in small numbers, is "korean fucking". If you were looking for Korean porn and ended up here, the Korean apologizes for disappointing you. But shame on you for employing such a primitive method to search for Korean porn, which is so prevalent all over the Internet it's impossible to miss.

(It is slightly disturbing that there are people specifically looking for Korean porn, as opposed to Asian porn. Let's move on.)

But somehow the next most common search term for people who got here is "Korean men". The Korean doesn't really understand why or how, since when the Korean googled "Korean men," this blog did not show up in the first 10 pages of results. These must be some really persistent people. It is also interesting that a lot of these searchers are from Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, etc. (Sitemeter also tells the Korean where a visitor is logging in from.)

Well, if you have any questions about Korean men, this is the place to be. The Korean doesn't care how bad your English is -- just ask the Korean! Click on the link on top right, and let's hear from you, Korean-men-seekers.

Korea-Japan Relation Saga, Part III – WWII

See other posts in this series: Part I Part II Part IV Part V

This post is a particularly difficult for the Korean to write because, after all, he received a good amount of education in Korea, especially when he was young and impressionable. It is difficult for the Korean to be objective, but he will try his best.

We are still dealing with the question as to why Koreans hate Japanese so much. If you only read one post out of this series, the Korean recommends this one. Although there is plenty of bad blood that goes back thousands of years (as the Korean illustrated in earlier posts,) the old bad blood only comes back because the modern relation between the two countries was so incredibly bad.

First, some historical background. By early 20th century, Japan was emerging as a world-scale superpower both in terms of its economy and military strength. Its status was simply unrivaled in East and Southeast Asia, which produced no other nation that measured up to Japan. Subsequently, Japan began colonizing Korea and China. Korea was annexed to Japan in 1910, and was not liberated until 1945 after Japan had lost World War II.

It is important to realize that the nature of Japan’s 36 year rule of Korea was brutal and exploitative, in a way that was fundamentally different from most European colonization. European countries colonized areas that were not exactly “nations” in a modern sense, like India and sub-Saharan Africa. In India, for example, there was no shared sense of nationhood between Bengalis in the north and Tamils in the south. (In fact, they don’t even speak the same language, and to this day must use English to communicate.)

On the other hand, Korea had a very strong sense of nationhood that lasted for thousands of years; furthermore, Korea had despised its island neighbor for its lack of cultural achievements. Japan’s rule over Korea was therefore completely unacceptable to Koreans everywhere, and Koreans rebelled in a scale that was incomparable to any other colonized regions in the world. In reaction, in order to maintain its colony, the Japanese colonial government was constantly on surveillance, and its brutality escalated over the period of colonization, peaking at the end of World War II.

When one (especially a Western one) hears the words “Atrocities of World War II”, the first response would always be “Holocaust.” And there is no doubt that it is a good answer. On the other hand, such a focus on Holocaust tends to blind us from other atrocities of World War II. And it is a historical fact that many of those atrocities were committed by Japan, upon Korea and China. This is not to diminish the horror of Holocaust. There certainly has not been any mass murder that was as wide-scale, efficient, and systematic (and therefore horrific) as Holocaust. The atrocities committed by Japan are smaller in scale (because they didn’t quite kill 10 million people) and less systematic (because some of them essentially involved soldiers running amok while the government didn’t do anything, e.g. the Rape of Nanking, whereas the Holocaust was actively organized by the government.) But the Korean believes that the Japanese atrocities are at least as depraved as the Holocaust, if not more. It’s like trying to compare Timothy McVeigh and Charles Manson. McVeigh killed a lot more people after a lot more preparation, but Manson tortured his victims.

Here is the list of atrocities committed by Japan to Korea. They are organized by the Korean’s subjective ordering of least depraved to most depraved. Read on, and see if you agree with what the Korean said so far. For the things for which Wikipedia has an entry, the Korean provided a link. That does not mean that the Korean thinks the Wikipedia entries are entirely correct; they are there just for the sake of reference.

Various Cultural Affronts – the biggest thing under this category would be Japan’s attempt to change Korean names into Japanese style names, known as Chang-ssi-gae-myeong. As the Korean explained before, family name is extremely important to Koreans, and forcing to change them is an intolerable insult. Japan also stole innumerable treasures from Korea, such as porcelain products, paintings, old books, and so on.

Another affront was more subtle. The Japanese colonial government turned the main palace of the Korean Emperor into a zoo. Many palace buildings were torn down – the most notable is Gyeong-bok-gung, half of which was torn down to make way for the colonial government building. Still another is borderline hokey. The colonial government drove in hundreds of steel shafts into major mountain peaks in Korea, under the belief that doing so will cripple the spirit of the land. The shafts were still being dug out in Korea to this day.

Murder of Empress Myeong-Seong – Empress Myeong-seong was a strong-minded wife of Emperor Go-jong. She was a shrewd politician and a diplomat, who often tried to use other superpowers (mostly Russia) in the region to check the rising influence of Japan upon Korea. A Japanese lieutenant general (with or without the backing of the Japanese government is unclear) commissioned what is essentially a band of Japanese thugs to enter the imperial palace in broad daylight and stabbed the Empress to death. Her body was carried away into a corner of the palace and burned by the same band. This historical fact was recently recreated in a musical “Last Empress”, which played in the U.S. in 1998. Read the Wikipedia article here. (Scroll down to “Eul-mi Incident.”)

Kanto Massacre – in 1923, there was a massive earthquake in Kanto, Japan, which killed more than 50,000 people. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the Japanese government declared martial law, and issued a special advisory that Koreans were conspiring to commit murder, rape, arson, and poisoning the wells. This created a mob riot and massacring of Koreans living in Japan. Up to 6,000 Koreans are believed to have been killed. Read the Wikipedia article here. (Scroll down to “post quake violence”.)

Forced Labor – As World War II intensified, Japanese government drafted Korean men for its war efforts. The number ranges anywhere between 300,000 to 1 million. They were mostly put in hard labor, usually in mines or factories. Quite a few of them (estimates range from 20,000 to 200,000) were killed or injured in mines or factories with substandard (to put it nicely) labor conditions.

Torture and Massacre – Japanese colonial government liberally tortured those who were arrested on the suspicion of independence movement for Korea. The most well-documented case is that of Yoo, Guan-soon, who was a 19-year-old student of Ewha School when she played a key role in organizing the March 1st Movement, the largest mass-protest against the Japanese rule in 1919. Yoo was arrested and died in prison; her teachers at Ewha were able to retrieve her body because Ewha was established by Americans and Principal James Fry of Ewha threatened diplomatic actions if the body was not returned. The returned body of Yoo was in six pieces; her scalp was missing; her nose and ears had been cut off, and all of her finger and toenails were plucked off.

Brutal suppression of independence movement was not limited to individuals. In response to the March 1st Movement, in April 5th, 1919, Japanese military police marched into a village of Je-am-li, a village known for its Christian-based independence movement. The police rounded up roughly 30 Christians in the village into the town church, locked the doors and set the building on fire. 22 died trapped in the building, and 8 were shot outside of the church as they tried to escape.

Comfort Women – As World War II raged on, the Japanese military, directly and indirectly, rounded up between 100,000 and 200,000 women to be used sex slaves, euphemistically called “Comfort Women”, for the Japanese soldiers. These women were usually raped 20 times a day, and as many as 40 times a day, according to accounts from survivors. The women were mostly Korean and Chinese, but there were also a few Dutch and Australian (read: white) women kidnapped from Dutch Indies and various Pacific islands. Read the Wikipedia article here.

Unit 731 – this one is so incredibly depraved that the Korean can’t even go into describing it. He will only say that it was a secret medical unit of the Japanese military, conducting various human experiments. The Wikipedia entry is here. Just read it.

So, why do Koreans hate the Japanese?

How can they not?

-EDIT Oct. 21, 2008 7:07 p.m. EST- While the Korean put this part of the Korea-Japan saga as a representative sample, please remember that this is only one part of a four-part series. The Korean has been noticing that many of the comments here could have been addressed simply by reading other parts of the series. Therefore, please read all four parts before expressing any opinion. The Korean believes his readers are intelligent: waiting to grasp the full picture before opening one's mouth is the least that an intelligent person can do.

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

Sae-hae Bok Mah-ni Baht-u-se-yo! -- Part II

The past weekend was Lunar New Year (the 18th, to be exact). If you call it Chinese New Year, the Korean, along with the Vietnamese (whoever and wherever s/he may be) will kick your ass. Just like Christmas is not European Winter Solstice, Lunar New Year is not Chinese.

Lunar New Year is called seol-nal in Korean. It is also called gu-jeong, in contrast to shin-jeong (the Solar New Year, i.e. January 1st.) Lunar New Year is a national holiday, and in fact it's one of the only two holidays in Korea in which people get three days off. (Chu-seok, the Harvest Festival, is the other one.)

A lot of things happen in Lunar New Year in Korea. The most notable one is the mass exodus of people from Seoul to the rest of the country, since you are supposed to go back to your hometown and hold a service (je-sa) for your ancestors. The Korean's hometown (which is actually the Korean Father's hometown) is near Daejeon. Normally it takes about 1.5 hours to drive from Seoul, but we have taken as long as 5 hours getting to the old house at one point.

Sometimes people will wear traditional Korean clothes. (Traditional Korean clothes are called han-bok, but the clothes you wear on the new year's day is called seol-bim.) More generally, every one eats rice cake soup, or ddeok-gook. (Pictured below.) Apparently, unless you have ddeok-gook on new year, you don't turn one year older. (The fact which, the Korean thinks, would have encouraged Koreans to stop eating it.)

Often, seol-nal rivals Christmas as children's favorite holiday because of se-bae. Se-bae is a traditional deep bow (jeol) to your elders (click on the picture to see the motion), and the elders are supposed to give the children who bowed money (called se-bae-don.)

The amount of se-bae-don varies widely; the Korean Extended Family is generally dirt-poor, so the Korean as a child would usually get about 1000 won (=$1) per bow, netting out at around $30 at the end of the season. On the other hand, other children at the Korean's school (which was in a very rich area) would usually earn around $150, and sometimes as much as $1000. According to news reports, the current going rate for middle school children is apparently at about $20.

Seol-nal also involves traditional games. The fan-favorite is yut-nol-i, which involves throwing four sticks and advancing your piece on the board depending on the combination of how many sticks landed on the front side and how many landed on the back. Yeon-nal-li-gi ("kite flying") is also a traditional thing to do on seol-nal.

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