Hysterical post from Kimchi Mamas: Twilight is actually a K-drama.
No wonder the Korean loathes Twilight!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Indians who are educated in America have a tough time to going back to India, and would rather stay in America. Is this a surprise? Maybe to the know-nothings who think highly educated immigrants do not contribute to America because the immigrants always return to their country.
Hooray to immigration, and hooray to America.
Hooray to immigration, and hooray to America.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Ask a Korean! News: Starvation in North Korea
Did you give thanks this past week? Perhaps you should give some more thanks, after reading this story. This is a story from a North Korean defector lady who put a post on Nambuk Story.
Mom, Sis -- We are Humans Too
First, I would like to thank everyone who reads this post, because I could learn much from your comments.
I had a grandmother, a father and a mother who dedicated their entire lives swearing loyalty to Kim Jong-Il and Korea Labor Party. I have no memory of ever sitting on my father's lap, because he would go to work at 6 in the morning and come back at midnight. He wanted to receive an Effort Hero merit for his hard work.
But instead, all he received was invectives, because our ancestors come from South Korea. They said why would a family of shit dogs would receive any award. We could do nothing in our country because of our ancestor, whom we have never met, was from South Korea. Finally, when the crisis [TK Note: the famine in early 1990s] came, our family moved to the mountains to find a way to survive.
I was third of six brothers and sisters. I grew up learning songs like this: "Honk-honk, my little brother drives a "Victory" brand car. I asked him where he was going. He said he was going to give rice to the poor South Korean brothers." I still vividly hear my teacher teaching that there are many beggar children in South Korea with a can on their waist, who gets beaten to death by well-off people while scrounging and begging for food. I also learned that Korea was a slave to another country and cannot even breathe without permission. That it was a land of idiots without pride, mooching off America like a dog.
We had this great life because the Great General Father protected us with the pride and greatness of Korea. We swore our lives for the Dear Leader, who twice a year gave us a whole kilo of candies and cookies that South Korean children could not have.
But we had to walk 6 kilometers of mountain road to get to school. We had to give up school because our legs, fueled only by boiled wild vegetables, would shake and give out. It was especially difficult for my older sister and I, who had no shoes except a piece of plastic wrapping our feet.
When we were living in the city, my grandmother and mother were trying to turn the last one kilogram of rice into rice cake so that they could sell it. They would have used the profit to buy rice and have porridge. But the police took the whole thing away, saying that we are selling rice that was the grace given from the General. We could not even sell things because we were warned that merchants would be considered a criminal who accepts the filth of capitalism.
So we thought we would survive in the mountain by farming. We cut the trees, tilled the land and pulled the weed, with a hope that we can eat in autumn. Then a National Security Bureau adviser said they would take all the harvest, saying the South Korean dog's family just had to act like a landowner. My indignant grandmother yelled, "Go split it with the wild hogs." The remaining potatoes were hashed out by wild hogs, and the remaining corns were ruined from bears, squirrels and birds. Our blood and sweat disappeared with the wind. In the winter, we would face near death from starvation while eating boiled pea pods and crushed corn cobs. We would roast and devour a rat that was caught in a trap.
Although my father was a loyal member of the Korea Labor Party, he left for China to buy food because he could not bear to see the mass deaths of his mother, wife and six children. But on his way back with a bag of rice, he was caught by the NSB, and died from beating and starvation in prison.
My mother was pregnant with her youngest child. She tried to abort the baby because of the hardship, but the doctor wanted 20 kilograms of beans. She had to have the child because there was no way to get those beans. She gave birth after only eight months of pregnancy after having been frightened by the news of my father's death.
She gave birth in a log cabin without any lights. There was no one to help giving birth other than my grandmother, who was 76, and myself, who was 10. I could never forget what my grandmother said when she was cutting the umbilical cord with scissors that were used to cut cloth. She told me, shivering with fear, that mother would die if I don't hold on tight to the umbilical cord. I held the slippery baby on one hand and the umbilical cord on the other, screaming "mom please wake up". Hiding tears, my grandmother put my small brother face down on the ground for him to die. My mother begged my grandmother to let him live. I could only cry out of fear, holding my two younger siblings who were 5 and 6 years old.
My grandmother returned my brother to my mother, but he could only cry for milk that was not coming from my mother. My older sister went to sell the clothes from home to buy some rice, but she was robbed on the way home, barely coming home alive.
Eating only boiled water, we thought we could only die. But a lady from the People's Bureau in charge of monitoring the villagers told us that she would give us 5 kilos of rice if we would take the 20 kilos of beans to sell at the city 50 kilometers away, buy wallpaper with the money and bring it back.
My older sister left, telling me that she would return no matter how late the next day would be, and that I should protect my mother, grandmother and my younger siblings. But seven days later, she would not return. My mother, seven days after giving birth, went on the 50 kilometer journey to find her. She gave my brother to me, telling me to hang on until she came back.
To keep my brother alive, I begged at the houses of the NSB leaders for 500 grams of rice. All I got was a spit in the face and a beating with a broomstick. They told me why the seeds of South Korean dogs would bother trying to live, and that my father was a traitor to the country. Finally, my brother would not take drinking boiled grass water any longer; he starved to death after clawing at my breasts.
My mother heard that my sister was sold away to China. She went to China to search for her, but could not. She came back with two small bags of powdered milk and a bag of rice, and cried when she heard my brother had died. She was taken away when the NSB agents found out that she went to China. Everything she brought back was taken away. My grandmother starved to death, while longing for the illusion of a boiled potato that she saw next to me.
My mother returned after escaping from the prison. There was no part of her body that was fine, after the beatings and tortures. She laid down for two months while wringing towels soaked with blood leaking out of her head. Then she saw us, nearly dying, and summoned the superhuman strength to take the three of us to China, resolving that she could not possibly kill the remaining children.
I carried the five year old brother on my back and held the hand of the six year old sister, and let my barely moving mother lean against me. We could not walk more than 4 kilometers. My shoeless feet were bleeding. I went to this one house and begged that they take care of my brother for just five days, and promised my brother that we will come back if he sleeps for just five nights.
I can still hear my brother. "Nuna, why do you take the other nuna and not me?" I told him, "Guk-Cheol, mother and I have to carry the rice and your nuna has to carry the candies and cookies, so we will hurry back. Ok?"
After one month, we were trying to return from China but we could not because the Tumen river has flooded. But even more than that, they said there was an order from Kim Jong-Il that anyone who did not participate in the election was to be executed. So we gave someone else money and asked him to bring back my brother, but he only returned with this news: the family that was taking care of my brother had fallen on hard times also, and kicked my brother out. My brother starved to death in a windy reed field, looking for his sister.
This was the end of the destiny for our six brothers and sisters. This is how my family was shattered. I want to ask whose fault was our tragedy.
In China, we had to hide from the police in a dirt hole at night, getting bitten by ants and mosquitoes. During the day, we would help tilling someone's land. The landowner would say he would give the money tomorrow, but one bowl of rice was all we got. If we went to him for money, he would call the police. We were sent back to North Korea four times, but we survived by swallowing money wrapped in plastic. We would bribe the guards with that money after we excreted it.
Eighty percent of the prisoners in the prison I was sent to were caught while trying to go to Korea. Those who endure the beating while telling a story that they were only trying to work in China are sent to a prison called Training Center for six months to a year. If they do not die from disease or starvation, they come out alive and defect from North Korea once again. Those who cannot stand the pain and tell the truth are sent to the prison for political criminals and die there.
North Korean defectors can only die, only in different ways. If they stay in their homeland and survive by selling things, everything is taken away under the pretext that they are imitating capitalism. They finally die in prison after living in poverty and becoming economic criminal, thieves, or political prisoners for lamenting their country. They might want to die after at least having a bowl of rice and drown while trying to cross the Tumen River. The women are sold this way and that, dying from disease or beating after trying to run away. The truly lucky ones, like me, receive help from the Korean brothers, gain liberty and live as well as I do.
Please, everyone -- what are we supposed to do? Please tell me if you have any wise ideas.
I think the North Korean themselves are the only answer. They must somehow revolt, eliminate Kim Jong-Il and the parasites that suck on the blood of the people, and gain liberty. I believe that is the only way to resolve their misery and tribulations. It is not as if Koreans, busy with getting rich, will rescue them by killing Kim Jong-Il with their tanks.
The people of North Korea are taught like this: "Today, again, General went out for supervision without even eating, for the welfare of his people. He cannot sleep, refusing corn and rice, saying how could I have rice when my people are eating porridge because of the puppet South Koreans? Why is Korea trying to kill the people of North Korea? Why is it trying to start a war over and over? Why does it continue to send spies to put glass shards in the food that our poor people eat?"
Koreans, are you really like so? The Koreans I know are kind and love their people. Many times I wished North Korean people and military would learn the truth and endeavor toward life and liberty. That Kim Jong-Il is a true villain, who suffers from diabetes and clogged arteries because of eating so well. That while he condemns those who watch Korean movies as traitors but he still watches those movies and follows Korea's famous actors and actresses. That while he punishes those who divorce and bury them society while having a harem of women.
While I was in prison, I wished that I could put a picture of Kim Jong-Il's wives and the shark's fin banquet that he eats, along with 100 Chinese yuan, in front of every single house in North Korea. But those in Korea went further, and began sending flyers in balloons. This made me so happy. How else could we save the dying people?
JSH Note: This is a post in support of flyering from a defector, ID "Thank You", when there was a debate over the balloon flyering in North Korea last winter. I read this three times, and each time I cried. This post gives me strength, as it makes me reflect how and for what I should live.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Mom, Sis -- We are Humans Too
First, I would like to thank everyone who reads this post, because I could learn much from your comments.
I had a grandmother, a father and a mother who dedicated their entire lives swearing loyalty to Kim Jong-Il and Korea Labor Party. I have no memory of ever sitting on my father's lap, because he would go to work at 6 in the morning and come back at midnight. He wanted to receive an Effort Hero merit for his hard work.
But instead, all he received was invectives, because our ancestors come from South Korea. They said why would a family of shit dogs would receive any award. We could do nothing in our country because of our ancestor, whom we have never met, was from South Korea. Finally, when the crisis [TK Note: the famine in early 1990s] came, our family moved to the mountains to find a way to survive.
I was third of six brothers and sisters. I grew up learning songs like this: "Honk-honk, my little brother drives a "Victory" brand car. I asked him where he was going. He said he was going to give rice to the poor South Korean brothers." I still vividly hear my teacher teaching that there are many beggar children in South Korea with a can on their waist, who gets beaten to death by well-off people while scrounging and begging for food. I also learned that Korea was a slave to another country and cannot even breathe without permission. That it was a land of idiots without pride, mooching off America like a dog.
We had this great life because the Great General Father protected us with the pride and greatness of Korea. We swore our lives for the Dear Leader, who twice a year gave us a whole kilo of candies and cookies that South Korean children could not have.
But we had to walk 6 kilometers of mountain road to get to school. We had to give up school because our legs, fueled only by boiled wild vegetables, would shake and give out. It was especially difficult for my older sister and I, who had no shoes except a piece of plastic wrapping our feet.
When we were living in the city, my grandmother and mother were trying to turn the last one kilogram of rice into rice cake so that they could sell it. They would have used the profit to buy rice and have porridge. But the police took the whole thing away, saying that we are selling rice that was the grace given from the General. We could not even sell things because we were warned that merchants would be considered a criminal who accepts the filth of capitalism.
So we thought we would survive in the mountain by farming. We cut the trees, tilled the land and pulled the weed, with a hope that we can eat in autumn. Then a National Security Bureau adviser said they would take all the harvest, saying the South Korean dog's family just had to act like a landowner. My indignant grandmother yelled, "Go split it with the wild hogs." The remaining potatoes were hashed out by wild hogs, and the remaining corns were ruined from bears, squirrels and birds. Our blood and sweat disappeared with the wind. In the winter, we would face near death from starvation while eating boiled pea pods and crushed corn cobs. We would roast and devour a rat that was caught in a trap.
Although my father was a loyal member of the Korea Labor Party, he left for China to buy food because he could not bear to see the mass deaths of his mother, wife and six children. But on his way back with a bag of rice, he was caught by the NSB, and died from beating and starvation in prison.
My mother was pregnant with her youngest child. She tried to abort the baby because of the hardship, but the doctor wanted 20 kilograms of beans. She had to have the child because there was no way to get those beans. She gave birth after only eight months of pregnancy after having been frightened by the news of my father's death.
She gave birth in a log cabin without any lights. There was no one to help giving birth other than my grandmother, who was 76, and myself, who was 10. I could never forget what my grandmother said when she was cutting the umbilical cord with scissors that were used to cut cloth. She told me, shivering with fear, that mother would die if I don't hold on tight to the umbilical cord. I held the slippery baby on one hand and the umbilical cord on the other, screaming "mom please wake up". Hiding tears, my grandmother put my small brother face down on the ground for him to die. My mother begged my grandmother to let him live. I could only cry out of fear, holding my two younger siblings who were 5 and 6 years old.
My grandmother returned my brother to my mother, but he could only cry for milk that was not coming from my mother. My older sister went to sell the clothes from home to buy some rice, but she was robbed on the way home, barely coming home alive.
Eating only boiled water, we thought we could only die. But a lady from the People's Bureau in charge of monitoring the villagers told us that she would give us 5 kilos of rice if we would take the 20 kilos of beans to sell at the city 50 kilometers away, buy wallpaper with the money and bring it back.
My older sister left, telling me that she would return no matter how late the next day would be, and that I should protect my mother, grandmother and my younger siblings. But seven days later, she would not return. My mother, seven days after giving birth, went on the 50 kilometer journey to find her. She gave my brother to me, telling me to hang on until she came back.
To keep my brother alive, I begged at the houses of the NSB leaders for 500 grams of rice. All I got was a spit in the face and a beating with a broomstick. They told me why the seeds of South Korean dogs would bother trying to live, and that my father was a traitor to the country. Finally, my brother would not take drinking boiled grass water any longer; he starved to death after clawing at my breasts.
My mother heard that my sister was sold away to China. She went to China to search for her, but could not. She came back with two small bags of powdered milk and a bag of rice, and cried when she heard my brother had died. She was taken away when the NSB agents found out that she went to China. Everything she brought back was taken away. My grandmother starved to death, while longing for the illusion of a boiled potato that she saw next to me.
My mother returned after escaping from the prison. There was no part of her body that was fine, after the beatings and tortures. She laid down for two months while wringing towels soaked with blood leaking out of her head. Then she saw us, nearly dying, and summoned the superhuman strength to take the three of us to China, resolving that she could not possibly kill the remaining children.
I carried the five year old brother on my back and held the hand of the six year old sister, and let my barely moving mother lean against me. We could not walk more than 4 kilometers. My shoeless feet were bleeding. I went to this one house and begged that they take care of my brother for just five days, and promised my brother that we will come back if he sleeps for just five nights.
I can still hear my brother. "Nuna, why do you take the other nuna and not me?" I told him, "Guk-Cheol, mother and I have to carry the rice and your nuna has to carry the candies and cookies, so we will hurry back. Ok?"
After one month, we were trying to return from China but we could not because the Tumen river has flooded. But even more than that, they said there was an order from Kim Jong-Il that anyone who did not participate in the election was to be executed. So we gave someone else money and asked him to bring back my brother, but he only returned with this news: the family that was taking care of my brother had fallen on hard times also, and kicked my brother out. My brother starved to death in a windy reed field, looking for his sister.
This was the end of the destiny for our six brothers and sisters. This is how my family was shattered. I want to ask whose fault was our tragedy.
In China, we had to hide from the police in a dirt hole at night, getting bitten by ants and mosquitoes. During the day, we would help tilling someone's land. The landowner would say he would give the money tomorrow, but one bowl of rice was all we got. If we went to him for money, he would call the police. We were sent back to North Korea four times, but we survived by swallowing money wrapped in plastic. We would bribe the guards with that money after we excreted it.
Eighty percent of the prisoners in the prison I was sent to were caught while trying to go to Korea. Those who endure the beating while telling a story that they were only trying to work in China are sent to a prison called Training Center for six months to a year. If they do not die from disease or starvation, they come out alive and defect from North Korea once again. Those who cannot stand the pain and tell the truth are sent to the prison for political criminals and die there.
North Korean defectors can only die, only in different ways. If they stay in their homeland and survive by selling things, everything is taken away under the pretext that they are imitating capitalism. They finally die in prison after living in poverty and becoming economic criminal, thieves, or political prisoners for lamenting their country. They might want to die after at least having a bowl of rice and drown while trying to cross the Tumen River. The women are sold this way and that, dying from disease or beating after trying to run away. The truly lucky ones, like me, receive help from the Korean brothers, gain liberty and live as well as I do.
Please, everyone -- what are we supposed to do? Please tell me if you have any wise ideas.
I think the North Korean themselves are the only answer. They must somehow revolt, eliminate Kim Jong-Il and the parasites that suck on the blood of the people, and gain liberty. I believe that is the only way to resolve their misery and tribulations. It is not as if Koreans, busy with getting rich, will rescue them by killing Kim Jong-Il with their tanks.
The people of North Korea are taught like this: "Today, again, General went out for supervision without even eating, for the welfare of his people. He cannot sleep, refusing corn and rice, saying how could I have rice when my people are eating porridge because of the puppet South Koreans? Why is Korea trying to kill the people of North Korea? Why is it trying to start a war over and over? Why does it continue to send spies to put glass shards in the food that our poor people eat?"
Koreans, are you really like so? The Koreans I know are kind and love their people. Many times I wished North Korean people and military would learn the truth and endeavor toward life and liberty. That Kim Jong-Il is a true villain, who suffers from diabetes and clogged arteries because of eating so well. That while he condemns those who watch Korean movies as traitors but he still watches those movies and follows Korea's famous actors and actresses. That while he punishes those who divorce and bury them society while having a harem of women.
While I was in prison, I wished that I could put a picture of Kim Jong-Il's wives and the shark's fin banquet that he eats, along with 100 Chinese yuan, in front of every single house in North Korea. But those in Korea went further, and began sending flyers in balloons. This made me so happy. How else could we save the dying people?
JSH Note: This is a post in support of flyering from a defector, ID "Thank You", when there was a debate over the balloon flyering in North Korea last winter. I read this three times, and each time I cried. This post gives me strength, as it makes me reflect how and for what I should live.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
New York Times has a report on mixed-ethnicity children in rural Korea. Incidentally, the Korean made the same report, with basically the same analysis, more than three years ago.
Gotta catch up, New York times.
Gotta catch up, New York times.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Korean wishes happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it. This year, the Korean is thankful for having a job, turning the Korean Girlfriend into the Korean Fiancee, great family and friends as always, and another great year for AAK!
Here is what the Korean wrote last year for Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving is truly the Korean's favorite holiday, although sadly it is increasingly becoming an inconvenient roadblock for American retailers to get the Christmas shopping season going early.
Thanksgiving is the most American of all holidays, save perhaps the Independence Day. It is the day for immigrants. The Pilgrim's dinner with the Native Americans symbolize our ideals as a nation of immigrants: newcomers and the natives, on the same table, sharing a meal.
Beauty of history lies in that the patterns in its fabric repeat endlessly. On the Thanksgiving Day of 1997 -- some 380 years after the Pilgrims -- the Korean Family arrived at the port of Los Angeles International Airport, full of anticipation for the Land of Opportunity. The Korean Family was greeted by natives, the distant family friends who have lived in the U.S. for decades as Korean Americans. And like a beautiful fugue, the pattern repeated once again; the natives helped the immigrants to get settled in, and begin their lives in the new world.
Thus, Thanksgiving Day is doubly special for the Korean Family. We never miss celebrating it. We are thankful for all the great things in our lives, but most of all, we are thankful to be in America. Like the Pilgrims who were grateful for their new lives and new opportunities, the Korean Family is grateful, each and every year, for our own new lives and opportunities.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Here is what the Korean wrote last year for Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving is truly the Korean's favorite holiday, although sadly it is increasingly becoming an inconvenient roadblock for American retailers to get the Christmas shopping season going early.
Thanksgiving is the most American of all holidays, save perhaps the Independence Day. It is the day for immigrants. The Pilgrim's dinner with the Native Americans symbolize our ideals as a nation of immigrants: newcomers and the natives, on the same table, sharing a meal.
Beauty of history lies in that the patterns in its fabric repeat endlessly. On the Thanksgiving Day of 1997 -- some 380 years after the Pilgrims -- the Korean Family arrived at the port of Los Angeles International Airport, full of anticipation for the Land of Opportunity. The Korean Family was greeted by natives, the distant family friends who have lived in the U.S. for decades as Korean Americans. And like a beautiful fugue, the pattern repeated once again; the natives helped the immigrants to get settled in, and begin their lives in the new world.
Thus, Thanksgiving Day is doubly special for the Korean Family. We never miss celebrating it. We are thankful for all the great things in our lives, but most of all, we are thankful to be in America. Like the Pilgrims who were grateful for their new lives and new opportunities, the Korean Family is grateful, each and every year, for our own new lives and opportunities.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Alcoholism in Korea
Dear Korean,
Why are there so many alcoholics in Korea? Why is it so socially acceptable to be an alcoholic in Korea? What sorts of organizations are there for helping alcoholics in Korea?
Someone deeply affected by an alcoholic when living in Korea
Dear Drunk Friend,
Let us take one question at a time.
First, are there many alcoholics in Korea? There is no way to know for certain, because the definition of “alcohol dependence” is very elastic, and the estimation of the total number is not an exact science. The firmest statistic comes from National Health Insurance Corporation – a fantastic nationalized health insurance that most certainly did not turn Korea a socialist country – there were around 182,000 patients who were treated for alcohol dependence in 2008. How that number extrapolates into the total number of alcoholics in Korea is anyone’s guess: the estimates run anywhere between 1.8 million to 7 million.
(Aside: Can we just agree that American healthcare system sucks like a Hoover? Consider this -- Korean American travel agencies now have a "medical tourism package", where people can tour Korea and take advantage of Korea's incredibly cheap health checkup and other treatments. Why more Americans are not embarrassed by how crappy America's healthcare system is beyond the Korean.)
Why are there so many alcoholics in Korea? Why is it so socially acceptable to be an alcoholic in Korea? What sorts of organizations are there for helping alcoholics in Korea?
Someone deeply affected by an alcoholic when living in Korea
Dear Drunk Friend,
Let us take one question at a time.
First, are there many alcoholics in Korea? There is no way to know for certain, because the definition of “alcohol dependence” is very elastic, and the estimation of the total number is not an exact science. The firmest statistic comes from National Health Insurance Corporation – a fantastic nationalized health insurance that most certainly did not turn Korea a socialist country – there were around 182,000 patients who were treated for alcohol dependence in 2008. How that number extrapolates into the total number of alcoholics in Korea is anyone’s guess: the estimates run anywhere between 1.8 million to 7 million.
(Aside: Can we just agree that American healthcare system sucks like a Hoover? Consider this -- Korean American travel agencies now have a "medical tourism package", where people can tour Korea and take advantage of Korea's incredibly cheap health checkup and other treatments. Why more Americans are not embarrassed by how crappy America's healthcare system is beyond the Korean.)
Yes, it is totally inappropriate to have this picture up for a post that talks about alcoholism. But the Korean could not help himself.
While there is no firm data, available comparative data indicates that Korea probably is not among the world leaders in alcohol dependence. World Health Organization compiled a list of countries by per capita alcohol consumption, and Korea finishes at number 50 – above the median among 191 countries surveyed, but not necessarily in the elite group of drinkers. The winner is Portuguese, who – astonishingly, the Korean must add – consume more than twice of Koreans per capita. Both United States and Canada rank ahead of Korea. Among Asian countries, Thailand ranks first, then Korea, followed by Japan.
Second, is it socially acceptable to be an alcoholic in Korea? Not really. It is true that there exist specific subgroups in Korea (e.g. among young people or high-stress occupation like attorneys) where binge drinking is a badge of honor, like within fraternities or among investment bankers in the U.S. But overall, alcoholism in Korea is nothing to be proud of. There is a general sense of benign neglect over alcoholism in Korea, but the Korean is not aware of any country or culture that swiftly intervenes at the first sign of alcohol dependence. (Except, of course, certain cultures that condemn alcohol consumption altogether.)
One important distinction, however, is -- while alcoholism is not a badge of honor in Korea, public drunkenness in Korea is certainly more tolerated than in America. Korea has no open container law that is common in the U.S., and no "drunk tank" that rounds up the intoxicated. In fact, at night around popular hangouts, it is quite common to see people having passed out on the street after what presumably was a night of revelry. (An excellent new blog, Black Out Korea, chronicles the examples of this hilarious phenomenon.)
Third, where can you get help for alcoholism in Korea? A quick Internet search reveals a number of options, spread throughout major cities in Korea. Here are some links to visit:
Lifeline Alcohol Counseling Center: www.lifeacc.or.kr
Seoul Caritas Counseling Center: www.cacc.or.kr
Busan Alcohol Counseling Center: www.busanacc.org
Daegu Catholic Alcohol Counsel Center: www.alcoholcenter.or.kr
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
As always, Deadspin has the best description for Michelle Wie's recent victory:
It's about freakin' time that 20-year-old Michelle Wie won a real golf tournament, a two-stroke win in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Now maybe she'll give up this silly dream and finally enroll in dental school.Deadspin: Michelle Wie's Life is No Longer Worthless
Monday, November 16, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Ask a Korean! News: Acclimation of a North Korean
An unusally light-hearted, yet nonetheless insightful, piece from Joo Seong-Ha:
Evidence that I am Becoming a Korean
When I was in China after having escaped North Korea, I heard news on the radio that said, "South Korea produces 4.5 million tons of food waste every year." My jaw dropped -- 4.5 million tons! I, as someone who was in China after having witnessed people starving to death, could not understand the South Koreans who threw food away.
When you think about it, 4.5 million tons of food would feed the entire North Korea. One side starves to death and the other side throws food away -- what incongruence, I thought then.
That must have shocked me a great deal, because I never left any food behind for about three years since I came to Korea. No matter how full I was, I would scrape to the bottom of any serving that the restaurants gave. If I could not finish it, I felt like I was committing a crime to the North Korean brethren who were clutching their hungry stomach.
When I was in China after having escaped North Korea, I heard news on the radio that said, "South Korea produces 4.5 million tons of food waste every year." My jaw dropped -- 4.5 million tons! I, as someone who was in China after having witnessed people starving to death, could not understand the South Koreans who threw food away.
When you think about it, 4.5 million tons of food would feed the entire North Korea. One side starves to death and the other side throws food away -- what incongruence, I thought then.
That must have shocked me a great deal, because I never left any food behind for about three years since I came to Korea. No matter how full I was, I would scrape to the bottom of any serving that the restaurants gave. If I could not finish it, I felt like I was committing a crime to the North Korean brethren who were clutching their hungry stomach.
Having lived that way, my stomach ended up growing by 5 inches since I first came to South Korea. The first pairs of pants that I bought after arriving Korea no longer fit me. I also have several suits that I can no longer wear because they are too small.
Gradually, I began to think that it was only to my damage that I finished all the food -- my cheap conscience was hastening my death, since the lipid accumulated in my stomach would shorten my lifespan. According to the Secret of Life, Aging, Disease and Death [TK: a popular Korean health documentary], having intestinal fat was just like stuffing poison in the body. Also, there was a study in the U.S. that immigrants from poorer countries who become obese in the U.S. are three to four times more likely to die from cancer than native-born Americans who are obese.
So no, this wasn't it. I still have a lot to do, I have to see the reunification, and so on and so forth... So at any rate, I should never contract obesity. Now, after coming to Korea seven years ago, I leave food behind without any sense of guilt. I decisively do not eat any more after I am full.
And there was that time when I got my first job after coming to Korea.
My boss, Mr. Kim, was laughing at an entertainment program with celebrities. I could not understand that for the life of me. I could not understand why he would watch such trashy program that had no educational value, where celebrities showed up as if to parade how stupid they were. I would have read another page of a book for that time.
Humor has a cultural background and code. I don't know if South Koreans would laugh at North Korean mini-series (probably not, since they would not understand it,) but at first I could not understand why they even had the programs like Wootchatsa [TK: name of a program like SNL] or Gag Concert [TK: same]. Even when I tried to laugh, I could not understand when I was supposed to laugh, and it was no fun.
So I asked. "Why do you watch and waste time with that program? Seems like it has no educational value and just turns people into idiots."
The answer flew back. "What do you need 'educational value' for? You just laugh at the moment and forget about it." At that point, I had to re-evaluate him. "Wow -- all that education and wisdom are useless. I thought he was a capable guy, but that's all he has for intellectul capacity? What a disappointment."
Seven years since, I now watch Gag Concert, and laugh and chuckle. I do not schedule my day for it, but I would flip the channels and gape at Two Days One Night [TK: another show name].
Gradually, I began to think that it was only to my damage that I finished all the food -- my cheap conscience was hastening my death, since the lipid accumulated in my stomach would shorten my lifespan. According to the Secret of Life, Aging, Disease and Death [TK: a popular Korean health documentary], having intestinal fat was just like stuffing poison in the body. Also, there was a study in the U.S. that immigrants from poorer countries who become obese in the U.S. are three to four times more likely to die from cancer than native-born Americans who are obese.
So no, this wasn't it. I still have a lot to do, I have to see the reunification, and so on and so forth... So at any rate, I should never contract obesity. Now, after coming to Korea seven years ago, I leave food behind without any sense of guilt. I decisively do not eat any more after I am full.
And there was that time when I got my first job after coming to Korea.
My boss, Mr. Kim, was laughing at an entertainment program with celebrities. I could not understand that for the life of me. I could not understand why he would watch such trashy program that had no educational value, where celebrities showed up as if to parade how stupid they were. I would have read another page of a book for that time.
Humor has a cultural background and code. I don't know if South Koreans would laugh at North Korean mini-series (probably not, since they would not understand it,) but at first I could not understand why they even had the programs like Wootchatsa [TK: name of a program like SNL] or Gag Concert [TK: same]. Even when I tried to laugh, I could not understand when I was supposed to laugh, and it was no fun.
So I asked. "Why do you watch and waste time with that program? Seems like it has no educational value and just turns people into idiots."
The answer flew back. "What do you need 'educational value' for? You just laugh at the moment and forget about it." At that point, I had to re-evaluate him. "Wow -- all that education and wisdom are useless. I thought he was a capable guy, but that's all he has for intellectul capacity? What a disappointment."
Seven years since, I now watch Gag Concert, and laugh and chuckle. I do not schedule my day for it, but I would flip the channels and gape at Two Days One Night [TK: another show name].
Of course I don't go out of my way to watch any entertainment program, but I got to a point of watching it if they happen to be on. There is no telling how I would be in the future.
And another thing. I could not help but drink coffee in Korea in order to meet people. At first when someone took me to Starbucks or Coffee Bean to buy me coffee, I thought "Why would anyone drink this?"
Even after I began to drink coffee, the best coffee for me was the 200 won [=20 cents] vending machine coffee. It seemed strange that people would pay 5000 won [=5 dollars] for coffee that was far worse than the vending machine coffee.
Seven years since, I now have turned into someone who enjoys the aroma of a latte. Now I know that the 5000 won coffee is definitely worth more than the 200 won coffee. Of course, I still cannot bring myself to pay for the coffee. I do not yet understand why what is essentially a cup of water costs as much as a meal. But I do appreciate it when someone buys me an expensive cup of coffee.
And another thing. I could not help but drink coffee in Korea in order to meet people. At first when someone took me to Starbucks or Coffee Bean to buy me coffee, I thought "Why would anyone drink this?"
Even after I began to drink coffee, the best coffee for me was the 200 won [=20 cents] vending machine coffee. It seemed strange that people would pay 5000 won [=5 dollars] for coffee that was far worse than the vending machine coffee.
Seven years since, I now have turned into someone who enjoys the aroma of a latte. Now I know that the 5000 won coffee is definitely worth more than the 200 won coffee. Of course, I still cannot bring myself to pay for the coffee. I do not yet understand why what is essentially a cup of water costs as much as a meal. But I do appreciate it when someone buys me an expensive cup of coffee.
The last one. When I first came, the politicians under investigation always said, "I am truly innocent." Seeing that, I thought, "Why would a National Assemblyman, a representative of the people, sell his reputation for some tens of million won [=tens of thousands dollars]? There has to be something wrong."
On top of that, they always say "I swear upon my honor that this is the truth." When I see that, I thought: "Right -- this has to be a frame job, since that politician is willing to bet his honor that he must have built all his life. A National Assemblyman's honor cannot be had for that cheap."
I have been in South Korea for seven years. Now when I see a politician who says "That is not true at all," I say: "Come on -- how do you deny such an obvious thing? Tsk tsk."
On top of that, they always say "I swear upon my honor that this is the truth." When I see that, I thought: "Right -- this has to be a frame job, since that politician is willing to bet his honor that he must have built all his life. A National Assemblyman's honor cannot be had for that cheap."
I have been in South Korea for seven years. Now when I see a politician who says "That is not true at all," I say: "Come on -- how do you deny such an obvious thing? Tsk tsk."
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Two Korean restaurants in Sao Paolo are investigated for selling dog meat. End this oppression of cultural imperialism!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Finally, a school that gets the idea that America's K-12 schools should strive to be the world's best:
By the time these fifth-graders at the BASIS school in Scottsdale, Arizona, reach 8th grade they will have the option of taking Advanced Placement (AP) exams, standardised nationally to test high-school students at college level. By the 9th grade, they must do so. As a result, says Michael Block, the school’s co-founder, our students are “two years ahead of Arizona and California schools and one year ahead of the east coast.”
But that, he emphasises, is not the yardstick he and his wife Olga use. Instead, their two BASIS schools, one in Tucson and this one in suburban Phoenix, explicitly compete with the best schools in the world—South Korea’s in maths, say, or Finland’s in classics.
They had the idea after Olga Block came to Arizona from her native Czech Republic, looked for a school for her daughter and was horrified by the mediocrity and low expectations at American public schools. So they decided to “establish a world-standard school in the desert,” says Mr Block.
Is there any surprise that it took an immigrant to realize how soft American K-12 schools are?
Story from the Economist.Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Is Korean Similar to Any Other Language?
Dear Korean,
I've discovered this quotation in Wikipedia, that paragon of scientific knowledge: “However, Korean is considerably easier for speakers of certain other languages, such as Japanese; in Japan, it is more widely studied by non-heritage learners.” Is it true that Japanese is considerably easier for native speakers of Korean to learn? What other languages (as suggested by the quotation and reasonable inferences) will native speakers of Korean have an easier time learning than other languages?
I love your blog
Dear Kiss Ass,
While Wikipedia has numerous inaccuracies regarding Korea (e.g. about Koreans’ dog-eating habits,) what you read is correct – Korean language is very easy to learn for Japanese speakers. The reverse is true as well.
It is actually not too difficult to realize the reason once the two languages are compared. Both Korean and Japanese utilize Chinese characters. Korean and Japanese have a similar grammatical structure, with a heavy usage of particles, honorifics, subject-object-verb sentence construction, and many other things that bedevil a Romance language speaker, for example. (In fact, based on the Korean’s limited knowledge of Japanese, it seems that Japanese grammar is almost like a simplified Korean grammar. But he could be wrong on this count, since the Korean’s knowledge in Japanese is really rudimentary.) Both languages also have a very similar set of sounds for pronunciation.
On top of that, because Korea (voluntarily and involuntarily) relied on Japan to be introduced with modern objects and concepts, many of the words in both languages use the same Chinese characters. This is in contrast with the Chinese character usage between China (ironically) on one hand and Korea/Japan on the other. To give an example of a modern contraption, in both Korean and Japanese, a camera is 寫眞機 (pronounced sa-jin-gi in Korean, sha-shin-ki in Japanese), which translates to “truth-copying machine”. But in Chinese, a camera is 照像機 (pronounced zhao-xiang-ji), which translates to “image-lighting machine”.
What other languages would Korean speakers have an easier time learning as opposed to others? The Korean has heard that Mongolian and Cherokee are similar to Korean, but these are all hearsay. Among the languages of which the Korean has some rudimentary knowledge, the Korean (surprisingly) found Latin to be very similar to Korean. The noun conjugation in Latin is comparable to adding a particle to a noun in Korean, which was rather interesting. But it is not as if the Korean knows all the world’s language, so there is really no way for him to definitely answer that. Readers are welcome to contribute.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
I've discovered this quotation in Wikipedia, that paragon of scientific knowledge: “However, Korean is considerably easier for speakers of certain other languages, such as Japanese; in Japan, it is more widely studied by non-heritage learners.” Is it true that Japanese is considerably easier for native speakers of Korean to learn? What other languages (as suggested by the quotation and reasonable inferences) will native speakers of Korean have an easier time learning than other languages?
I love your blog
Dear Kiss Ass,
While Wikipedia has numerous inaccuracies regarding Korea (e.g. about Koreans’ dog-eating habits,) what you read is correct – Korean language is very easy to learn for Japanese speakers. The reverse is true as well.
It is actually not too difficult to realize the reason once the two languages are compared. Both Korean and Japanese utilize Chinese characters. Korean and Japanese have a similar grammatical structure, with a heavy usage of particles, honorifics, subject-object-verb sentence construction, and many other things that bedevil a Romance language speaker, for example. (In fact, based on the Korean’s limited knowledge of Japanese, it seems that Japanese grammar is almost like a simplified Korean grammar. But he could be wrong on this count, since the Korean’s knowledge in Japanese is really rudimentary.) Both languages also have a very similar set of sounds for pronunciation.
On top of that, because Korea (voluntarily and involuntarily) relied on Japan to be introduced with modern objects and concepts, many of the words in both languages use the same Chinese characters. This is in contrast with the Chinese character usage between China (ironically) on one hand and Korea/Japan on the other. To give an example of a modern contraption, in both Korean and Japanese, a camera is 寫眞機 (pronounced sa-jin-gi in Korean, sha-shin-ki in Japanese), which translates to “truth-copying machine”. But in Chinese, a camera is 照像機 (pronounced zhao-xiang-ji), which translates to “image-lighting machine”.
What other languages would Korean speakers have an easier time learning as opposed to others? The Korean has heard that Mongolian and Cherokee are similar to Korean, but these are all hearsay. Among the languages of which the Korean has some rudimentary knowledge, the Korean (surprisingly) found Latin to be very similar to Korean. The noun conjugation in Latin is comparable to adding a particle to a noun in Korean, which was rather interesting. But it is not as if the Korean knows all the world’s language, so there is really no way for him to definitely answer that. Readers are welcome to contribute.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Friday, November 06, 2009
Mediocre Sports Heroes?
Dear Korean,
Why is my father (a first generation immigrant) completely obsessed with any Korean athlete, even the ones that are mediocre at best, simply for being Korean? I do not understand this at all! Chan Ho Park and Hee Seop Choi have done absolutely nothing to warrant the demigod status they've attained in his eyes. Is it simply enough that they are Koreans who are "good enough" just to compete in traditionally non-Asian/Korean endeavors (i.e. sports excluding table tennis, badminton, or short track speed skating)? At least Hines Ward won a Super Bowl, and he's certainly no Jerry Rice, or even Randy Moss.
Confused Twinkie
Dear Confused Twinkie,
While your question waited in line for more than a year, right now Chan Ho (and his wife, apparently) is improbably making news again as a key setup man for the Phillies. (By the way, the Korean had to endure the triple commute time because of these stupid parading Yankee fans. Both Phils and Yanks can go die.) So this is a great time to answer your question.
At this point, it should be fairly clear why nationalists love sports. Nationalists have this vision of the world in which there is a giant world race, in which different nations compete. Well, what is a better representation of that worldview than an actual giant world race, i.e. sporting events?
Why is my father (a first generation immigrant) completely obsessed with any Korean athlete, even the ones that are mediocre at best, simply for being Korean? I do not understand this at all! Chan Ho Park and Hee Seop Choi have done absolutely nothing to warrant the demigod status they've attained in his eyes. Is it simply enough that they are Koreans who are "good enough" just to compete in traditionally non-Asian/Korean endeavors (i.e. sports excluding table tennis, badminton, or short track speed skating)? At least Hines Ward won a Super Bowl, and he's certainly no Jerry Rice, or even Randy Moss.
Confused Twinkie
Dear Confused Twinkie,
While your question waited in line for more than a year, right now Chan Ho (and his wife, apparently) is improbably making news again as a key setup man for the Phillies. (By the way, the Korean had to endure the triple commute time because of these stupid parading Yankee fans. Both Phils and Yanks can go die.) So this is a great time to answer your question.
You can go die too, Chan Ho.
Your father is being a good old-fashioned Korean nationalist. The Korean previously explained nationalism thusly:
At the foundation of nationalism, there is a very simple premise: a person is nothing without his country, and his country is in constant danger of disappearance. Therefore, a citizen of a nation must absolutely devote himself to his nation to prevent such disappearance. Every member of the nation must contribute what he can for the country – soldiers must guard their country, businessmen must earn money for their country, artists must display the country’s creativity, and athletes must display the country’s physical prowess.(That’s right, the Korean just quoted himself. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?)
The corollary to this premise comes from the obvious truth that the world is made up of many nations. For nationalists, every citizen of every country in the world strives to strengthen their country. Essentially, each and every person in the world operates as a member of a team called "United States of America", "Brazil", "Thailand", "South Africa", "France", etc. And each team is striving to outdo one another in a giant world race for power, be it economic, political, social, cultural, or any other type one can think of. …
[Koreans] have lost their whole country twice in the last century – for 36 years to Japan, and briefly to communist North Korea during the Korean War. At each occasion of losing their country, many Koreans lost everything –their history, tradition, language, their property, family, children, and their own lives. Set against this historical experience, any objection to nationalism rings hollow. For Koreans, it is obviously true that without Korea, Koreans are nothing.
At this point, it should be fairly clear why nationalists love sports. Nationalists have this vision of the world in which there is a giant world race, in which different nations compete. Well, what is a better representation of that worldview than an actual giant world race, i.e. sporting events?
If they did not win, no one in Korea would care about this.
Accordingly, although Korea often has amazing displays of fan support for their athletes, it is fair to say that Koreans are bigger fans of their country rather than being fans of a particular sport. Short track speed skating is an excellent example. One might think, based on Korean fans’ enthusiasm during Winter Olympics, that there is a huge fandom of short track speed skating in Korea during non-Olympic times. Not so – Korean fans love short track skating because they win gold medals in Olympics. Same goes for nearly all sports in Korea – baseball and perhaps soccer might be the only sports in Korea that are popular for their own sake.
This means that the athlete’s individual skills necessarily take a back seat to the fact that they are Korean. Of course, Koreans love winners – short track skating and Kim Yu-Na are popular among Koreans because they win. But when a Korean athlete reaches a big stage like the Major Leagues, Koreans will root like hell for him and overplay every little good thing about that player, while swallowing down the knocks against him or remain intentionally blind to them. This phenomenon is much more intense for first generation Korean Americans, who often are more nationalistic than Koreans in Korea and also seek a validation for the idea that Koreans can succeed in America in those athletes. That’s what is going on with your father.
To close, here is a revealing dialogue between the Korean and the Korean Father a few years back, when Chan Ho Park was playing for the Mets and Hee Seop Choi was playing for the Dodgers.
Korean Father – Are you watching TV? Chan Ho is pitching.
The Korean – I’m watching, but how could you root for the Mets? I’m living in New York but I still root for the Dodgers.
KF – I don’t care about the Mets. I’m watching Chan Ho.
TK – Dodgers have Hee Seop batting fourth. If there are Korean players on both teams, shouldn’t you at least root for your home team?
KF – There is a difference between a pitcher and a batter. Watching a pitcher standing by himself on that mound in the middle of the stadium like he owns the place… it’s just better.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Ask a Korean! News: Thoughts on Afghanistan
After having been outshined by Iraq for the last few years, Afghanistan is coming to the forefront of the news lately. There is much discussion on whether or not to increase troops there, whether or not to do something about the recent rigged election, etc.
The Korean does not nearly know enough about Afghanistan to offer any specific thoughts as to what to do with Afghanistan right now. But the Korean does know a good deal about America-led nation building, because he knows a lot about Korea. Recently, comparing Afghanistan to Vietnam has been in vogue. The Korean is certain that there are important lessons to be drawn from the Vietnam experience. But he also believes that America would be remiss to ignore the lesson from its Korea experience.
Why Korea? Because bar none, Korea has been the most successful America-led nation building attempt in history. For the last 100 years, America has invaded, occupied and established governments in a number of different countries, including Germany, Japan, the Philippines, Iraq, etc. After the Americans finished establishing the government and (more or less) left, each of these countries generally followed its pre-existing historical arc. Germany and Japan were world powers before World War II; after World War II, they resumed being world powers. The Philippines was not exactly a world power previous to American occupation, and it currently is not either.
Only Korea bucked this trend. Korea was in desperate poverty for centuries prior to the American occupation. Korea was never strong enough to influence its neighboring countries in any meaningful way. Korea never had any tradition of democracy. There is absolutely nothing in Korea’s history that suggested that within 50 years of American occupation, it would turn itself into its current incarnation.
Yet the current incarnation of Korea is magnificent, and completely unexpected. At this point, Korea is one of the wealthiest countries in the world; one of the most influential creators of soft culture, in the form of movies, dramas and the like; one of the soundest democracies in Asia, and a rising regional power.
Of course, a huge caveat must be attached: Korea is not, and never has been, Afghanistan. The two countries’ historical experiences have many significant differences, which must be taken into account in attempting to glean any lessons from the Korean experience and apply them to the Afghan situation of today. Again, because the Korean does not know much about Afghanistan, he is not giving an opinion about what America should do with Afghanistan today one way or the other. With this post, he is only providing a data point to consider.
Regardless, there are still lessons to be learned, because America’s nation building project in Korea was such a remarkable success. How did this happen? What are the lessons to be learned from America’s experience with Korea? The Korean will proceed by listing the eight important lessons to be gleaned from the American involvement in Korean history.
Lesson 1: America can indeed successfully engage a nation-building project.
As explained previously, Korea moved from a destitute, backwards monarchy to a prosperous democracy – indeed, one of the world’s leading countries – in a manner of a few decades. America deserves a huge credit for this development, because …
Lesson 2: America’s help is essential for a nascent democracy.
Despite what Korea’s nationalist historians would like to believe, South Korea would not exist without the United States of America. America removed the murderous Imperial Japan from Korea. America defended South Korea against communist North Korea’s invasion, at great cost to its economy and people. America implanted in Korea a tradition of constitution and democracy. America conferred enormous economic benefit to South Korea, allowing it to develop its economy. At times (but not always), America withdrew its support from dictators who threatened Korea’s democracy – most notably Syngman Rhee, Korea’s first president who was not above constitutional amendments to make himself the lifetime president, rigged elections and torturing/killing his political opponents.
Democracy is a precious weak flower to grow in a fledgling country. It is constantly imperiled by external and internal threats. America can play an indispensable role in removing those threats.
Lesson 3: Healthy economy is essential for democracy.
Having elections is a necessary condition for establishing democracy, but it is far from sufficient. Destitute people do not care who rules them. In fact, they are perfectly willing to sacrifice democracy and freedom if there is a promise that they will not go hungry. (This is exactly what happened in Korea during the reign of Park Chung-Hee.) Only after Korea settled on a relatively high economic ground in the 1980s did the democratization movement in Korea gain steam.
Healthy economy also assists democracy in a subtler and less visible way. In a destitute agrarian society, people rarely move from their place of birth. People’s interactions become high localized and tribal, and politics reflect that – Korean politics was no exception. Until very recently, political leaders always had to have a regional base from which they could count on 90 percent of votes coming their way. But in a prosperous industrialized society, people move and mingle with other people. The sense of nationhood emerges and takes priority over the parochial regionalism. This is essential for people to consider the fate of the nation as a whole, rather than the narrow interest of their own region.
Lesson 4: Understand the power of nationalism and use it toward establishing democracy.
America’s experience in Korea, while resulting in a great success, nonetheless had plenty of miscues that could have been avoided. One such mistake is that it never understood how important nationalism is in just about everywhere outside of America.
Because of America’s frequent mishandling of nationalistic issues backfired on America’s policies so many times, many Americans have a tendency to write off nationalism’s positive – indeed, essential – contribution toward democracy. This is a mistake. Like the Korean alluded previously, democracy only operates among people who agree that they share the same destiny as a single nation. People who do not have such agreement, when given democracy, vote themselves into secession and civil war.
Also recall that healthy economy is essential for democracy. Healthy economy fosters nationalism, but nationalism in turn fosters healthy economy as well. The surest way for a poor country to stabilize its economy is to exploit its cheap labor. The workers must be motivated to work harder, longer, in a poorer condition compared to their counterparts in richer countries. Nationalism provides this motivation. During its rapid economic growth, Korean government did everything it could to connect the power of nationalism with economic growth. Public campaigns emphasized that Korea was fighting an economic war, particularly against North Korea. Leading exporters were given medals from the president as if they won a military battle. To be sure, Korea was not the first country to use nationalism as a fuel for economic growth – but it may well be the most successful example. (Until, perhaps, China gets to where Korea is in the next 20 years or so.)
But when mishandled, nationalism backfires massively upon America, precisely because nationalism rejects undue influence from any other country, including (ironically) the country that enabled the nationalism to act in the first place. In order to avoid this, America must …
Lesson 5: Maintain unassailable moral authority
By invading a foreign country and trying to establish democracy, America is essentially playing a hero. Then America must look the part. America must constantly prove to the world that it indeed is the shining beacon of democracy that it claims itself to be. Would you respect Superman the same way if you knew that privately, he was a raging alcoholic who beat Lois Lane when drunk?
All kidding aside, it is imperative to America’s mission to demonstrate, time and again, that it genuinely cares about human rights and democracy, and it is not another imperial power that seeks to colonize the world. On this score with Korea, America had both spectacular success and spectacular failure. The good grace that U.S. military earned during Korean War is still extremely valuable. To this day, the easiest way for any homeless man in America to get $20 from the Korean Mother is to say, “I fought in the Korean War.” Koreans of the Korean War-generation essentially elevated America to the pedestal of sainthood, a country that is purely motivated by altruistic concerns that can do no wrong.
On the other hand, America tolerated a number of dictators who did not give a rat’s ass about democracy as long as they were not communists. America stood pat during May 18 in Gwangju, when Korean paratroopers ended up killing hundreds of civilians. On a smaller scale, it did not help that American military stationed in Korea (particularly in the early days) sponsored rampant prostitution near the base or recklessly polluted the land on which their bases were built. It also does not help that American military and the State Department are appallingly incompetent in handling potential PR challenges.
(Big caveat here – The Korean is fully aware that U.S. military in Korea gets a completely bum rap from nationalistic Korean media that is willing to hype up any small wrong for which no attention is given when committed by a Korean person or entity. That is completely unfair. But that does not change the fact that Americans should not be fostering prostitution or causing pollution. Fairness has nothing to do with it – this is what must be done if America wants to build a democracy in a foreign country.)
This goes beyond the direct interaction between America and the occupied country. A nascent democracy will always, always, always look to America for examples of how a democracy would conduct itself – which means the imperative of maintaining moral authority reaches to domestic politics as well. For example, during Cold War, America did itself no favor by maintaining the system of racial segregation – the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. used very skillfully in the Civil Rights Movement.
Lesson 6: At the end of the day, the people must carry themselves to democracy
This is self-explanatory. Democracy necessarily means self-rule, involving the entire voting public. While America’s role is significant and indispensable, the best that America can do is to set the stage – the people must carry themselves over the finish line. This certainly happened in Korea, as it was the relentless protests for democracy that brought down the long chain of military dictatorship.
Lesson 7: It will take a while
Korea’s first democratic government started under America’s auspices in 1948. Korea was not fully democratic until 1993. While America made its share of mistakes that may have delayed the full democratization of Korea, it seems to safe to say that at least a generation is required before a semblance of real democracy takes root in a country that has no previous experience of democracy.
Lesson 8: The result might be worth the cost
Probably the most controversial point. Again, the Korean is not completely informed about the current Afghanistan situation (and welcomes education from better-informed readers.) On top of that, the Korean is very obviously biased, given that he is a beneficiary of American help.
But the Korean thinks that the current Afghanistan situation is not worse than Korean War. Recall that at the time of Korean War, half of Americans believed that this was the precursor to World War III. Their belief was not unfounded – Cold War was just beginning to take shape, and Korea was right in the thick of Russia and China, the leading communist powers at the time. One wrong move, and the war had a potential to escalate toward another global conflict. It was not a small conflict either – America committed 480,000 soldiers, and more than 36,000 died. The war lasted four years. The Afghan conflict is unlikely to escalate toward a world war. It has taken longer, but so far America only committed 68,000 soldiers. Around 1,000 died so far.
Of course, this is no simple mathematics. American tolerance for military casualty has become a lot lower, as the nation came to better understand the enormous human cost of any war. The characteristics of the warfare are also very different. Korea and Afghanistan have had very different history, culture, religion. There can be a million more caveats.
But if Afghanistan can become another Korea of the region, the potential reward for continued American presence can be extremely huge, and therefore must be taken into account. The most important takeaway from America's experience with Korea is this -- in 1953, upon looking at the smoldering rubble that was South Korea, nobody except the most ardent optimist (who must have appeared borderline delusional at the time) would have thought that Korea would be one of the world's leading countries within 50 years.
What if within 50 years, Afghanistan could turn into a top-25 economic power with stable democracy (albeit with occasional brawls in its legislature)? What if U.S. could gain a near-permanent ally in the region in which there is currently no single dominance by any of the world’s powers? What if Afghanistan pumped out annoying yet somehow irresistible soft culture that makes other countries in the region to aspire to be like Afghanistan? What if America can deliver peace, freedom, prosperity and democracy to the 33 million Afghans?
It is, in the very least, something to consider.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
The Korean does not nearly know enough about Afghanistan to offer any specific thoughts as to what to do with Afghanistan right now. But the Korean does know a good deal about America-led nation building, because he knows a lot about Korea. Recently, comparing Afghanistan to Vietnam has been in vogue. The Korean is certain that there are important lessons to be drawn from the Vietnam experience. But he also believes that America would be remiss to ignore the lesson from its Korea experience.
Only Korea bucked this trend. Korea was in desperate poverty for centuries prior to the American occupation. Korea was never strong enough to influence its neighboring countries in any meaningful way. Korea never had any tradition of democracy. There is absolutely nothing in Korea’s history that suggested that within 50 years of American occupation, it would turn itself into its current incarnation.
Yet the current incarnation of Korea is magnificent, and completely unexpected. At this point, Korea is one of the wealthiest countries in the world; one of the most influential creators of soft culture, in the form of movies, dramas and the like; one of the soundest democracies in Asia, and a rising regional power.
Of course, a huge caveat must be attached: Korea is not, and never has been, Afghanistan. The two countries’ historical experiences have many significant differences, which must be taken into account in attempting to glean any lessons from the Korean experience and apply them to the Afghan situation of today. Again, because the Korean does not know much about Afghanistan, he is not giving an opinion about what America should do with Afghanistan today one way or the other. With this post, he is only providing a data point to consider.
Regardless, there are still lessons to be learned, because America’s nation building project in Korea was such a remarkable success. How did this happen? What are the lessons to be learned from America’s experience with Korea? The Korean will proceed by listing the eight important lessons to be gleaned from the American involvement in Korean history.
Lesson 1: America can indeed successfully engage a nation-building project.
As explained previously, Korea moved from a destitute, backwards monarchy to a prosperous democracy – indeed, one of the world’s leading countries – in a manner of a few decades. America deserves a huge credit for this development, because …
Lesson 2: America’s help is essential for a nascent democracy.
Despite what Korea’s nationalist historians would like to believe, South Korea would not exist without the United States of America. America removed the murderous Imperial Japan from Korea. America defended South Korea against communist North Korea’s invasion, at great cost to its economy and people. America implanted in Korea a tradition of constitution and democracy. America conferred enormous economic benefit to South Korea, allowing it to develop its economy. At times (but not always), America withdrew its support from dictators who threatened Korea’s democracy – most notably Syngman Rhee, Korea’s first president who was not above constitutional amendments to make himself the lifetime president, rigged elections and torturing/killing his political opponents.
Democracy is a precious weak flower to grow in a fledgling country. It is constantly imperiled by external and internal threats. America can play an indispensable role in removing those threats.
Lesson 3: Healthy economy is essential for democracy.
Having elections is a necessary condition for establishing democracy, but it is far from sufficient. Destitute people do not care who rules them. In fact, they are perfectly willing to sacrifice democracy and freedom if there is a promise that they will not go hungry. (This is exactly what happened in Korea during the reign of Park Chung-Hee.) Only after Korea settled on a relatively high economic ground in the 1980s did the democratization movement in Korea gain steam.
Healthy economy also assists democracy in a subtler and less visible way. In a destitute agrarian society, people rarely move from their place of birth. People’s interactions become high localized and tribal, and politics reflect that – Korean politics was no exception. Until very recently, political leaders always had to have a regional base from which they could count on 90 percent of votes coming their way. But in a prosperous industrialized society, people move and mingle with other people. The sense of nationhood emerges and takes priority over the parochial regionalism. This is essential for people to consider the fate of the nation as a whole, rather than the narrow interest of their own region.
Lesson 4: Understand the power of nationalism and use it toward establishing democracy.
America’s experience in Korea, while resulting in a great success, nonetheless had plenty of miscues that could have been avoided. One such mistake is that it never understood how important nationalism is in just about everywhere outside of America.
Because of America’s frequent mishandling of nationalistic issues backfired on America’s policies so many times, many Americans have a tendency to write off nationalism’s positive – indeed, essential – contribution toward democracy. This is a mistake. Like the Korean alluded previously, democracy only operates among people who agree that they share the same destiny as a single nation. People who do not have such agreement, when given democracy, vote themselves into secession and civil war.
Also recall that healthy economy is essential for democracy. Healthy economy fosters nationalism, but nationalism in turn fosters healthy economy as well. The surest way for a poor country to stabilize its economy is to exploit its cheap labor. The workers must be motivated to work harder, longer, in a poorer condition compared to their counterparts in richer countries. Nationalism provides this motivation. During its rapid economic growth, Korean government did everything it could to connect the power of nationalism with economic growth. Public campaigns emphasized that Korea was fighting an economic war, particularly against North Korea. Leading exporters were given medals from the president as if they won a military battle. To be sure, Korea was not the first country to use nationalism as a fuel for economic growth – but it may well be the most successful example. (Until, perhaps, China gets to where Korea is in the next 20 years or so.)
But when mishandled, nationalism backfires massively upon America, precisely because nationalism rejects undue influence from any other country, including (ironically) the country that enabled the nationalism to act in the first place. In order to avoid this, America must …
Lesson 5: Maintain unassailable moral authority
By invading a foreign country and trying to establish democracy, America is essentially playing a hero. Then America must look the part. America must constantly prove to the world that it indeed is the shining beacon of democracy that it claims itself to be. Would you respect Superman the same way if you knew that privately, he was a raging alcoholic who beat Lois Lane when drunk?
All kidding aside, it is imperative to America’s mission to demonstrate, time and again, that it genuinely cares about human rights and democracy, and it is not another imperial power that seeks to colonize the world. On this score with Korea, America had both spectacular success and spectacular failure. The good grace that U.S. military earned during Korean War is still extremely valuable. To this day, the easiest way for any homeless man in America to get $20 from the Korean Mother is to say, “I fought in the Korean War.” Koreans of the Korean War-generation essentially elevated America to the pedestal of sainthood, a country that is purely motivated by altruistic concerns that can do no wrong.
A Scene from Gwangju
On the other hand, America tolerated a number of dictators who did not give a rat’s ass about democracy as long as they were not communists. America stood pat during May 18 in Gwangju, when Korean paratroopers ended up killing hundreds of civilians. On a smaller scale, it did not help that American military stationed in Korea (particularly in the early days) sponsored rampant prostitution near the base or recklessly polluted the land on which their bases were built. It also does not help that American military and the State Department are appallingly incompetent in handling potential PR challenges.
(Big caveat here – The Korean is fully aware that U.S. military in Korea gets a completely bum rap from nationalistic Korean media that is willing to hype up any small wrong for which no attention is given when committed by a Korean person or entity. That is completely unfair. But that does not change the fact that Americans should not be fostering prostitution or causing pollution. Fairness has nothing to do with it – this is what must be done if America wants to build a democracy in a foreign country.)
This goes beyond the direct interaction between America and the occupied country. A nascent democracy will always, always, always look to America for examples of how a democracy would conduct itself – which means the imperative of maintaining moral authority reaches to domestic politics as well. For example, during Cold War, America did itself no favor by maintaining the system of racial segregation – the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. used very skillfully in the Civil Rights Movement.
Lesson 6: At the end of the day, the people must carry themselves to democracy
This is self-explanatory. Democracy necessarily means self-rule, involving the entire voting public. While America’s role is significant and indispensable, the best that America can do is to set the stage – the people must carry themselves over the finish line. This certainly happened in Korea, as it was the relentless protests for democracy that brought down the long chain of military dictatorship.
Lesson 7: It will take a while
Korea’s first democratic government started under America’s auspices in 1948. Korea was not fully democratic until 1993. While America made its share of mistakes that may have delayed the full democratization of Korea, it seems to safe to say that at least a generation is required before a semblance of real democracy takes root in a country that has no previous experience of democracy.
Lesson 8: The result might be worth the cost
Probably the most controversial point. Again, the Korean is not completely informed about the current Afghanistan situation (and welcomes education from better-informed readers.) On top of that, the Korean is very obviously biased, given that he is a beneficiary of American help.
But the Korean thinks that the current Afghanistan situation is not worse than Korean War. Recall that at the time of Korean War, half of Americans believed that this was the precursor to World War III. Their belief was not unfounded – Cold War was just beginning to take shape, and Korea was right in the thick of Russia and China, the leading communist powers at the time. One wrong move, and the war had a potential to escalate toward another global conflict. It was not a small conflict either – America committed 480,000 soldiers, and more than 36,000 died. The war lasted four years. The Afghan conflict is unlikely to escalate toward a world war. It has taken longer, but so far America only committed 68,000 soldiers. Around 1,000 died so far.
Of course, this is no simple mathematics. American tolerance for military casualty has become a lot lower, as the nation came to better understand the enormous human cost of any war. The characteristics of the warfare are also very different. Korea and Afghanistan have had very different history, culture, religion. There can be a million more caveats.
But if Afghanistan can become another Korea of the region, the potential reward for continued American presence can be extremely huge, and therefore must be taken into account. The most important takeaway from America's experience with Korea is this -- in 1953, upon looking at the smoldering rubble that was South Korea, nobody except the most ardent optimist (who must have appeared borderline delusional at the time) would have thought that Korea would be one of the world's leading countries within 50 years.
What if within 50 years, Afghanistan could turn into a top-25 economic power with stable democracy (albeit with occasional brawls in its legislature)? What if U.S. could gain a near-permanent ally in the region in which there is currently no single dominance by any of the world’s powers? What if Afghanistan pumped out annoying yet somehow irresistible soft culture that makes other countries in the region to aspire to be like Afghanistan? What if America can deliver peace, freedom, prosperity and democracy to the 33 million Afghans?
It is, in the very least, something to consider.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Ask a Korean! Wiki: Tourism of Korea in English
Dear Korean,
My wife and I are planning a vacation to South Korea. Can you recommend any tourist companies and the best time of year to visit? We need an have an English speaking tour guide taking us around South Korea in a bus or shuttle.
Thomas
Dear Thomas,
The Korean never needed a tourist company (much less an English-speaking one) to tour Korea, so he has no idea. Readers, can you help?
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Ask a Korean! News: To Live as a North Korean Defector in South Korea
Another brilliant piece by Joo Seong-Ha, a Kim Il-Sung University graduate who defected North Korea and now a reporter with Dong-A Ilbo:
To Live as a North Korean Defector in South Korea
In July of 2004, 468 North Korean defectors entered Korea from Thailand via a chartered plane. I am sure many recall this incident. This was when it was less than two months since I was officially hired as a staff reporter after having finished the grueling six months of internship.
The desk editor asked me as he was watching the scene on television:
"You got anything to write?"
"I'm not sure, I don't know exactly what I should write."
"Then just write the thoughts you are having as you are watching that."
So I wrote my thoughts. There was no need for a long reflection. Their stories were also mine. The path I have taken will be the path they will take. I finished writing within an hour.
I gave it to the desk editor, who said,
"This is pretty decent. I am not going to change anything, and I will forward it to the senior editor."
The senior editor published the draft as is. I have been a reporter for six years, but the only first draft of mine that was printed as-is was that "Eye of the Reporter" feature. Below is the article that I wrote.
------------------------------------------------
Some would have been captivated by the strange sceneries flowing outside of the car window, and some would have reaffirmed their resolve as they rehased the images of life in South Korea imagined in the hot safe house in Southeast Asia.
Seeing the 468 North Korean defectors who arrived over two days on the 27th and 28th board the bus on the way to the temporary holding facility, this reporter's thoughts were more complicated than anyone.
What must they be thinking as they ride that bus.
Would they know that the hopes about the future they pictured in their head would collapse one by one into a series of misery, that they would have to overcome innumerable numbers of such misery? Would they know that there is no one who did not wet their pillow with the tears of longing for home, on the night when he first unpacked his only two bags in a 400 square feet rental apartment, covered in snowy dust?
It was the same with this reporter who took his first step into the Incheon International Airport two years ago. There was a moment of decision, swimming across the Duman River swollen with flood. I have experienced six prisons throughout China and North Korea after having been arrested by the Chinese police. But the first night in Korea was truly unforgettable -- the night when, as I saw the flickering, flashy lights of the night street, the anticipation for and the fear of my new life crossed paths.
But two months later, I had to take the first step of settlement as a day laborer who carried wine boxes in and out of the container searing under the August sun. And also as a delivery man, credit card flyerer, quality controller of clothes... I also cannot forget the HR manager's look, asking me "Do you expect your North Korean skills to work here?" when I brought my Kim Il-Sung University diploma for a classified ad that required a college degree.
I had to calmly manage myself in the face of the looks of the "one people" who looked at me like a savage, and had to go to work in the morning with a smile after spending the night tossing and turning in homesickness. Regardless of what pain that afflicted the heart, what grand dream that I carried, the question of survival euphemized as "settlement" was more desperate than anything else. I believe that this beginning of life after defection is the same for everyone.
New stories would endlessly come out even if one would speak for a sleepless month. But that kind of past is meaningless. This reporter has seen anywhere between a woman in her 30s who began work three days after she left Hanawon [the temporary holding facility for North Korean defectors], and a man who has never had a job for more than a year after leaving Hanawon while dreaming of emigrating to America. The defectors who give thanks every day for the pleasure of volunteering for live-alone old people with their hard-earned money, and a defector who went to prison for stealing and selling cars. The lives of defectors who settled in Korea are completely varied.
Many people from North Korea would remember the line from the North Korean movie "The Fourteenth Winter":
"The beginnings of the lives for he and I were the same, but how are we now so far apart."
There is no one who came here without a dream. Now, the beginning is the same. I sincerely hope that my defector brethren, who crossed the line of death cradling bitter misery, would happily settle in this land through the sweat beads of honest effort.
------------------------------------------
I don't know if any of the defectors of that day saw what I wrote. It is unlikely that they did, since newspapers are not available in a defector questioning facility. It feels like it was yesterday when they arrived, but it already has been five years.
The society page of Dong-A Ilbo is currently undertaking a huge project. We tracked down the 468, contacted 233 and created a report. It took three months. As a reporter, I can say that to interview over 200 North Korean defectors who are particularly adverse to interviews is really, truly a fruit of massive effort. A North Korean defectors pictured in that article that went through such effort, their five-years of lives...
At the time, I meant what I wrote: "I sincerely hope that my defector brethren, who crossed the line of death while cradling bitter misery, would happily settle in this land through the sweat beads of honest effort." But the reality was not as I wished for, as they lived just like any other defectors.
Surveying the 200 out of 233, there were only 33 who worked at a same job for more than a year. Average monthly income per family was only $1,400. [Assuming $1 = KRW 1,000] For referece, South Korea's average monthly income per family was $3,300. It is not even half. It has been five years, but 30 percent do not have a job. Of course, many among them are voluntarily jobless.
Out of the 200, 20 live outside of Korea. This is a meaningful number. There are currently 17,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea, and it can be estimated that 10 percent or 1,700 are no longer in South Korea. I do not know how much of this fact the Korean government knows.
While they earned less than half of an average family's income, they scored their life satisfaction at 7.4 out of 10. This is pretty high. There are 38 who scored 10 out of 10. I wonder if the score would break 5 if South Koreans were surveyed. Among the 200, there were only 15 who built a net asset of over $50,000 over the five years. In other words, the vast majority could not escape poverty. But they say they are happy while living as a poor class. How miserable their North Korean lives must have been! Truly a heartbreaking reality.
I myself have been living in South Korea for only two years when I wrote the above article. So I emphasized the "sweat beads of honest effort". Now it has been seven years since I settled in South Korea. Now I question whether if I would write something like "sweat beads of honest effort" if I were asked to write the same article, although I know that there is nothing else to write if I had to write something.
But now I know that there is a limit for a fruit that can be harvested through the defectors' "sweat beads of honest effort". The defectors hide their status, and say they are Chinese-Korean when people point out their strange accents. They are at a lower status than Chinese-Koreans, and powerless to represent the pain they suffer as a minority.
When I was a defector with two years of experience, I had much to say for them. But as years pass by, I increasingly know less about what to tell them. After a few years more, I think I will really have nothing to say.
If you ever meet a defector, do not lecture them about how to live in South Korea. Settlement, in the end, is about absorbing the body blow. One's body must receive and use it, not one's mouth or hand. They must decide how to receive it and use it on their own.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
To Live as a North Korean Defector in South Korea
In July of 2004, 468 North Korean defectors entered Korea from Thailand via a chartered plane. I am sure many recall this incident. This was when it was less than two months since I was officially hired as a staff reporter after having finished the grueling six months of internship.
The desk editor asked me as he was watching the scene on television:
"You got anything to write?"
"I'm not sure, I don't know exactly what I should write."
"Then just write the thoughts you are having as you are watching that."
So I wrote my thoughts. There was no need for a long reflection. Their stories were also mine. The path I have taken will be the path they will take. I finished writing within an hour.
I gave it to the desk editor, who said,
"This is pretty decent. I am not going to change anything, and I will forward it to the senior editor."
The senior editor published the draft as is. I have been a reporter for six years, but the only first draft of mine that was printed as-is was that "Eye of the Reporter" feature. Below is the article that I wrote.
------------------------------------------------
Some would have been captivated by the strange sceneries flowing outside of the car window, and some would have reaffirmed their resolve as they rehased the images of life in South Korea imagined in the hot safe house in Southeast Asia.
Seeing the 468 North Korean defectors who arrived over two days on the 27th and 28th board the bus on the way to the temporary holding facility, this reporter's thoughts were more complicated than anyone.
What must they be thinking as they ride that bus.
Would they know that the hopes about the future they pictured in their head would collapse one by one into a series of misery, that they would have to overcome innumerable numbers of such misery? Would they know that there is no one who did not wet their pillow with the tears of longing for home, on the night when he first unpacked his only two bags in a 400 square feet rental apartment, covered in snowy dust?
It was the same with this reporter who took his first step into the Incheon International Airport two years ago. There was a moment of decision, swimming across the Duman River swollen with flood. I have experienced six prisons throughout China and North Korea after having been arrested by the Chinese police. But the first night in Korea was truly unforgettable -- the night when, as I saw the flickering, flashy lights of the night street, the anticipation for and the fear of my new life crossed paths.
But two months later, I had to take the first step of settlement as a day laborer who carried wine boxes in and out of the container searing under the August sun. And also as a delivery man, credit card flyerer, quality controller of clothes... I also cannot forget the HR manager's look, asking me "Do you expect your North Korean skills to work here?" when I brought my Kim Il-Sung University diploma for a classified ad that required a college degree.
I had to calmly manage myself in the face of the looks of the "one people" who looked at me like a savage, and had to go to work in the morning with a smile after spending the night tossing and turning in homesickness. Regardless of what pain that afflicted the heart, what grand dream that I carried, the question of survival euphemized as "settlement" was more desperate than anything else. I believe that this beginning of life after defection is the same for everyone.
New stories would endlessly come out even if one would speak for a sleepless month. But that kind of past is meaningless. This reporter has seen anywhere between a woman in her 30s who began work three days after she left Hanawon [the temporary holding facility for North Korean defectors], and a man who has never had a job for more than a year after leaving Hanawon while dreaming of emigrating to America. The defectors who give thanks every day for the pleasure of volunteering for live-alone old people with their hard-earned money, and a defector who went to prison for stealing and selling cars. The lives of defectors who settled in Korea are completely varied.
Many people from North Korea would remember the line from the North Korean movie "The Fourteenth Winter":
"The beginnings of the lives for he and I were the same, but how are we now so far apart."
There is no one who came here without a dream. Now, the beginning is the same. I sincerely hope that my defector brethren, who crossed the line of death cradling bitter misery, would happily settle in this land through the sweat beads of honest effort.
------------------------------------------
I don't know if any of the defectors of that day saw what I wrote. It is unlikely that they did, since newspapers are not available in a defector questioning facility. It feels like it was yesterday when they arrived, but it already has been five years.
The society page of Dong-A Ilbo is currently undertaking a huge project. We tracked down the 468, contacted 233 and created a report. It took three months. As a reporter, I can say that to interview over 200 North Korean defectors who are particularly adverse to interviews is really, truly a fruit of massive effort. A North Korean defectors pictured in that article that went through such effort, their five-years of lives...
At the time, I meant what I wrote: "I sincerely hope that my defector brethren, who crossed the line of death while cradling bitter misery, would happily settle in this land through the sweat beads of honest effort." But the reality was not as I wished for, as they lived just like any other defectors.
Surveying the 200 out of 233, there were only 33 who worked at a same job for more than a year. Average monthly income per family was only $1,400. [Assuming $1 = KRW 1,000] For referece, South Korea's average monthly income per family was $3,300. It is not even half. It has been five years, but 30 percent do not have a job. Of course, many among them are voluntarily jobless.
Out of the 200, 20 live outside of Korea. This is a meaningful number. There are currently 17,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea, and it can be estimated that 10 percent or 1,700 are no longer in South Korea. I do not know how much of this fact the Korean government knows.
While they earned less than half of an average family's income, they scored their life satisfaction at 7.4 out of 10. This is pretty high. There are 38 who scored 10 out of 10. I wonder if the score would break 5 if South Koreans were surveyed. Among the 200, there were only 15 who built a net asset of over $50,000 over the five years. In other words, the vast majority could not escape poverty. But they say they are happy while living as a poor class. How miserable their North Korean lives must have been! Truly a heartbreaking reality.
I myself have been living in South Korea for only two years when I wrote the above article. So I emphasized the "sweat beads of honest effort". Now it has been seven years since I settled in South Korea. Now I question whether if I would write something like "sweat beads of honest effort" if I were asked to write the same article, although I know that there is nothing else to write if I had to write something.
But now I know that there is a limit for a fruit that can be harvested through the defectors' "sweat beads of honest effort". The defectors hide their status, and say they are Chinese-Korean when people point out their strange accents. They are at a lower status than Chinese-Koreans, and powerless to represent the pain they suffer as a minority.
When I was a defector with two years of experience, I had much to say for them. But as years pass by, I increasingly know less about what to tell them. After a few years more, I think I will really have nothing to say.
If you ever meet a defector, do not lecture them about how to live in South Korea. Settlement, in the end, is about absorbing the body blow. One's body must receive and use it, not one's mouth or hand. They must decide how to receive it and use it on their own.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Eat a dog, save the world? Koreans are all over it!
Also, AAK!'s dog meat post is cited in an article in The Guardian (UK). (HT to Kushibo)
Also, AAK!'s dog meat post is cited in an article in The Guardian (UK). (HT to Kushibo)
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