Should Korean Americans Embrace America?

Dear Korean,

Do you think Korean Americans should completely embrace this country and "become Americans"?

K. Soje


Dear K. Soje,

Yes. As Americans, there should be no question that Korean Americans must embrace America. Thanks for reading!

Alright, alright. That probably is not enough, because we need to figure out what it means to "completely embrace" America and "become Americans." K. Soje perhaps spotted this issue as well, since he put "become Americans" in quotes.

This is a difficult question, because the concept of "becoming American" is particularly elusive. The concept is elusive because for every criterion one can come up with, a plausible counter-argument can be made. Does holding the blue eagle passport make someone American, even though she longs for the destruction of America and will take steps toward her wishes? (For example like Faisal Shahzad, the failed Times Square bomber?) Does being born and raised in America make someone American, even though he defects and joins the enemy military? (For example, like John Walker Lindh?) Does sincerely pledging allegiance to American flag make one an American? (That would exclude American-born and American-raised Jehovah's Witnesses.) Does paying taxes to the American government make one an American? (But many non-American millionnaires pay more taxes to the American government than any average American would, and many poor Americans pay no taxes at all.)

 John Walker Lindh. If the Korean had his way,

his American citizenship would have been revoked.

Let's try stretching this inquiry to the maximum. Does one have to be white to be an American? There was a point in time when the answer to this question was yes. During World War II, more than a hundred thousand ethnic Japanese – majority of them American citizens – were rounded up into concentration camps. When Japanese Americans took to the court to vindicate the rights that were apparently given to them as American citizens under the United States Constituion, but the Supreme Court found a way to interpret the Constitution such that Japanese Americans would remain in detention.

Frankly, the question is far too daunting for the Korean to give a clear answer. It is more likely that the answer will shift over time. During World War II, American citizenship, having been born in America and speaking accentless English was not enough for Japanese Americans to be treated like Americans. But the insane race traitor bitch Michell Malkin aside, race-based internment of American citizens will not likely happen again because the concept of "American-ness" has evolved since the 1940s to be more color-blind.

But the Korean can identify one aspect by which Korean/Asian Americans fare very well. To do that, the Korean will give a story he heard recently from a former federal prosecutor.

This prosecutor was trying to put a band of human traffickers behind bars. These traffickers would recruit people from a poor region of China with a promise to get them to America for $40,000 per person. People who sign up pay half of the required money first. Then they are taken into the hull of a fishing ship, and sail for more than a month inside the boat without seeing daylight. Upon arrival, they are secretly taken into what amounts to a cage in New York Chinatown -- often right on top of or underneath the restaurants and shops that numerous tourists frequent. There, they would be locked up until their family sends the rest of the funds.

There were plenty of other charges that would stick with the traffickers, but the traffickers seemed like they were able to beat one of the charges -- kidnapping. In order to prove kidnapping, the prosecutor had to prove that the smuggled people were detained and moved against their will. And the prosecutor was having a hell of a time trying to prove that they were held against their will because truth is, everyone knew exactly what they were getting into. With the smuggled Chinese people on the witness stand, the defense attorney for the traffickers would fire questions after questions showing that yes, they knew they would be locked up in a hull of a ship without seeing daylight for a month. Yes, they knew they would then be locked up in a den until their family paid. Yes, they paid money to these traffickers even though they knew that they were walking into a situation where they would be certainly locked up in various places for a long period of time. Without coercion, there was no kidnapping.

The prosecutor was able to prevail by convincing the judge that to prove kidnapping, he only had to show that even if the smuggled people consented to being locked up, they could not get out even if they changed their minds. The traffickers were convicted of all charges made, and justice was served. But that is not the point on which the Korean wishes to focus here, for now. Instead, consider this -- even in an intimidating courtroom setting, even after describing the ordeals of being locked up in a ship then in a tiny room for more than a month, even with the prospect of exacting revenge to the traffickers who put them through that ordeal, the Chinese witnesses were unwavering: Yes, they voluntarily paid a huge sum of money to be locked up for at least a month, and indefinitely if their family did not pay, as long as they can come to America.

In some sense, this is the story of all Asian Americans. Yes, the Korean is aware that a few important distinctions exist. Most of us probably came to America via a more comfortable route than through an empty tank in a fishing boat. More importantly, most of us are present in America legally. But these distinctions should not obscure what makes Asian Americans particularly American -- for the most part, we either made a conscious choice to become American, or are born into people who made a conscious choice to become American.

This is important because choice goes to the core of America's existence. America began with people who chose to cross the ocean to a new land, to make a new life for themselves and their children. Everything that America stands for -- freedom, equality, pursuit of happiness -- originates from the burning desire to make life better and better for oneself and one's children, as well as the fearless adventurism that drove the future Americans to cross not only the literal ocean, but also the figurative ocean of linguistic and cultural differences. (Yes, the Korean is fully aware that Native Americans and African Americans got a raw deal out of that. But eventually and on balance, what America stands for made the lives of Native Americans and African Americans better, however belatedly.)

Therein lies the genius of America. America constantly renews itself with immigrants, as each wave of new immigrants to America carries the same flame that the Founding Fathers and the first generation of Americans carried. As the newest generation of Americans, Asian Americans may be temporally farthest away from the first Americans. But because Asian Americans can vividly recall and describe their or their parents' desire to make a new life for themselves, they share the closest spiritual connection to the first Americans.

What could be more American than that?

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

Good job, Taeguk Warriors -- there was nobody in the world who could do anything about Suarez's last goal. They achieved what they set out to do (which was to make it to the knockout round,) and that's good enough. Kudos for everyone.

The silver lining? The Korean does not have to think about figuring out whom to root for in a U.S.-Korea game. Who would have thought those two countries could possibly meet in a game in the knockout stage?

-EDIT- Ok Americans, that was a damn poor showing. How do you keep giving up goals in the first five minutes of EVERY period? Jesus Christ.

Ask a Korean! News: Apple v. Samsung

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today is the 60th anniversary of Korean War. The Korean would like to express his gratitude to everyone who fought in the war and kept Korea alive to become the prospering democracy that it is now.

There is an ad in New York Times Square thanking soldiers in Korean War. Also, President Lee Myung-Bak of Korea wrote an op-ed thanking the involvement of the United Kingdom on the Times today.

Only because commenter Goku asked, here is a little video of a nighttime activity that the Korean and the Korean Wife did on their honeymoon. The Korean will warn now that it gets a little freaky:

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Bikes?

The Korean just came back from his honeymoon with the Korean Wife, so let's ease back into things with a softball Wiki post:

Dear Korean,

Where can I get a decent bike around here? I'm a fairly serious rider and all I can find around here are overpriced Taiwanese made bicycles or super cheap hunks of steel being passed off as "MTB"s. I left my decent bikes in the States thinking I'd have choices over here but so far I've been unable to find anything comparable.

J

J, the last bicycle that the Korean had in Korea probably does not suit your taste, since it still had training wheels. Readers, any ideas?

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

And with that, dear readers, the Korean is off to get married. He will be out of communication for the next three weeks or so. There will be no updates on the blog or replies to the emails -- unless, like everything else on this blog, the Korean feels like putting something up or responding to emails.

The Korean would like to thank you all for reading this humble blog. Be well, and keep the questions coming!

IMF Bailout of Korea During East Asian Financial Crisis (Part I)

Dear Korean,

I've often heard from my parents about the IMF-Korea bail out and how it was "actually" some big conspiracy that pushed Korea further into debt. They also mention how everyone in Korea united and melted their gold jewelry to pay off the debt. As much as I love my parents, I know they have rather slanted views when it comes to Korean history, economics, and/or politics. I would like to know, as objectively as possible, about the IMF-Korea bail out and how Koreans reacted to it and feel about it to this day.

2nd Generation

Dear 2nd Generation,

The Korean always found it a good policy to listen to someone who knows better than you do. So for this question, the Korean consulted with Wangkon936, who is a regular guest blogger at a popular Korea-related blog and far more knowledgeable about the East Asian Economic Crisis than the Korean himself, at least as far as the economics part is concerned.

Since this is a big topic, it will proceed in several parts. Wangkon936 will first discuss the mechanics of how the financial crisis started, followed by the Korean's discussion of the crisis' sociological impact Korean society. Below is Wangkon936.

*                *                *

It is not an exaggeration to say that East Asian Financial Crisis was a traumatic event for Korea. Not too long ago before the crisis, Korea became the 11th largest economy in the world and its per capita GDP had reached a milestone of $10,000.  The reform programs mandated by the IMF was humiliating to the country who had thought that they had turned a corner from decades of economic hardship and struggle and was close to reaching the exclusive club of the advanced economies of the world.

The sudden, almost hurricane or earthquake-like change in fortune was hard for most Koreans to bear, let alone understand.  So in an attempt to explain what they could not many Koreans viewed the crisis as being fueled by foreign speculators driving down the value of their currency, foreign lenders prematurely calling in their loans and a foreign IMF that did not care about the businesses they drove into bankruptcy, the people laid off from their jobs or the dreams of the people that all this sudden hardship destroyed.  Some desperate families, in dire economic straits, left their children at orphanages and these kids were called “IMF orphans.”  The acronym “IMF” in Korea became a symbol of every malaise that the country was going through at the time.  It literally became a new word in the Korean vocabulary as to many IMF stood for “I'M Fired.”

More after the jump.


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

Ask a Korean! Wiki -- Korean Language Tutors?

Dear Korean,

The American English Professor Husband to Korean Woman and Father of a Very Cute Half Breed Kid with a Half English Half Korean Name (hereinafter referred to simply as "AEPHKWFVCHBKHEHKN") just read The Korean's blog post about learning languages. AEPHKWFVCHBKHEHKN agrees with the Korean, and gives Kudos to the hard-assed realism. People ask how AEPHKWFVCHBKHEHKN learned to speak good Arabic in just a year, and the only answer is pure hard work. (And AEPHKWFVCHBKHEHKN is a big fan of Pinker's book too.)

AEPHKWFVCHBKHEHKN has a question about language tutors. Can the Korean recommend any good tutors or language programs here in Seoul? Does the Korean himself tutor? AEPHKWFVCHBKHEHKN only has a few "free weeks" this summer, so Yonsei's lauded KSL program doesn't work for him. AEPHKWFVCHBKHEHKN asks forgiveness if this information is already on the Korean's blog.

With obsequious thanks to His Munificence, the Korean,
AEPHKWFVCHBKHEHKN

Dear AEPHKWFVCHBKHEHKN,

The Korean is glad you enjoyed the post. But he never had to learn Korean in Korea via tutoring, so he does not know at this time -- but he is sure some of AAK! readers will be able to help you. Readers, any ideas?

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

The Secrets of Lost - Daniel Dae Kim's Korean Accent

Dear Korean,

What did you think of Daniel Dae Kim's pronunciation of Korean in Lost? Given that he didn't grow up in Korea, how was his accent?

Jennifer


Dear Jennifer,

The Korean watched exactly half an episode of Lost so far, pretty much by accident. From that half an episode, the Korean recalls that Mr. Kim's Korean accent was really terrible.

But the Korean is willing to give a fair assessment, so he reviewed these clips:

And the Korean's verdict is...?

Mr. Kim's accent is a lot better than the Korean remembered. Judged only based on these clips, Mr. Kim's Korean is solid. He will have no problem getting himself understood in Korea.

But one can easily tell that Mr. Kim did not grow up speaking Korean. There are three major indicators to that effect. First is that -- and this is probably not Mr. Kim's fault -- sometimes, Korean phrases that Jin is speaking are awkwardly written. For example, in the second clip when the caption reads "How do I lose to both Hurley and Mike?", Jin is saying: "헐리하고 마이크한테 어떻게 질 수가 있어?" This is not incorrect, since Korean phrase literally means "How do I lose to Hurley and Mike?" But the phrase sounds as if Jin is actually looking for a way in which he can lose to Hurley and Mike, not as if Jin cannot believe that he lost to Hurley and Mike. (The Korean's suggested translation: "헐리하고 마이크한테 진다는게 말이 돼?", which would mean "How is it possible that I lost to Hurley and Mike?")

Second, Mr. Kim's rhythm of speaking the language is really, really off. This is more obvious in the second clip: Jin is screaming, but he is not accentuating the right words in the sentence to convey that he is royally pissed off. At some points in the clip, Jin sounds like he is reading a book at the top of his voice. (And the awkwardly written sentences, again, do not help. Because few Koreans would say such phrases, it is not easy to figure out where the proper emphasis should go.) Unfortunately for Mr. Kim, there is really no way to learn that rhythm other than simply being around Korean speakers all the time and picking it up, since the rhythm in Korean speech is not exactly a standard grammatical point.

Lastly, Mr. Kim is having trouble pronouncing certain consonants that are really difficult for English speakers. The most obvious incidence of this is when Jin says in the first clip: "총 맞으면 다 그래." ("That's what happens when you get shot.") Mr. Kim pronounces the word "총" ("gun") like 쫑. Of course, this differentiation is one of the toughest parts about Korean -- personally, the Korean has never seen a English-as-first-language, Korean-as-second-language person to be able to perfectly distinguish ㅈ, ㅊ and ㅉ sounds.

Of course, none of this should take away one bit from Daniel Dae Kim's achievements in Lost. Mr. Kim is a pioneer in successfully providing an image of a strong Asian American male on television, and all Asian American men -- and in particular Korean American men -- owe a little bit to him.

As an aside, Yunjin Kim's Korean accent is pitch perfect, mostly because she is a rare breed who has appeared in both Korean and American movies and television shows.

Please, no spoilers in the comments. The Korean plans to watch the entire show in one sitting via Netflix one day. 

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

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Where Are You Watching the World Cup?

Dear Korean,

I have a madcap idea of watching all the games of the 2010 World Cup in a bar / restaurant / club of one of the countries playing. Would be great to support a different team each game with local supports. Could you recommend anywhere I could watch the Korea v. Greece game in London? Ideally central.

James

Dear James,

The Korean does not know, but he is certain that AAK!'s UK-based readers do. In fact, let's open up the post to all locations outside of Korea. Fans of Korean football, where are you watching the World Cup?

The Korean personally will be watching the games in Hawaii, where he will be on a honeymoon during the games. (He will take recommendations for either Honolulu or Kona.) For New York, Maru/Yellowstone club in Manhattan Koreatown (32nd St. between 5th and 6th Ave.) has a nice big space with a projector. (But show up early, as it also tends to be very crowded.)

Group B's television schedule is available here.

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

Here is a CNN report on Arizona's crackdown on teachers with accents, which was previously discussed here at AAK!.

ROKS Cheonan -- What You Need to Know, What You Need to Think About

There are many things in the pipeline to be discussed on AAK! -- like the 50 most influential K-pop project, the upcoming World Cup or a litany of really interesting questions -- but right now, any discussion other than the biggest news coming out of Korea feels frivolous. The Korean, of course, is talking about the sinking of ROKS Cheonan.

North Korea is not an easy topic to discuss. The history of inter-Korea relation is long and complicated, but not knowing that history deprives one of the context that one must know to properly assess the situation at hand. Worse, the topic of North Korea is highly emotionally charged on nearly every aspect, which makes the tone of the discussion shrill, hyperbolic and ultimately unhelpful. In discussions about North Korea, commentators often do not think seriously about the consequences, but instead focus on delivering zingers that feels good to say but are wildly implausible and/or extremely dangerous.

More importantly, North Korea is a topic for which the Korean simply cannot give an answer. Many people far more brilliant and knowledgeable than the Korean have searched for an answer, but none has borne fruit. Thus, the Korean prepared a simplified, two-part dossier on this issue. First part will be the basic information that everyone should know in thinking about how to assess the ROKS Cheonan issue, and the second part consists of the relevant questions that we should be asking ourselves in thinking about this issue.

ROKS Cheonan -- What You Need to Know

Here are the basic facts. On March 26 of this year, ROKS Cheonan -- named after the city in Korea -- split in half and sank nearly instantly. Forty-six sailors died or went missing. After an international investigation, it has been more or less confirmed that Cheonan was attacked by a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine. North Korea is vigorously denying the accusations, but at this point there appears to be no other possible culprit. The critical piece of evidence was a remainder of a propeller for a torpedo, which carried Korean lettering.

ROKS Cheonan is being taken out of the water. (Source)

The attack on the Cheonan is the largest-scale attack by North Korea since the late 1980s. Up to late 1980s, North Korea was quite bold in its attempts for terrorism/military action. For example, in 1968 thirty-one North Korean commandos infiltrated Seoul and unsuccessfully attacked the presidential residence, killing many in the process. In 1974, a North Korean assassin fired at the South Korean president during a public address, but only managed to kill the First Lady. In 1983, North Korean spies bombed the South Korean president and his entourage in Myanmar, killing 21 including the Vice Prime Minister. In 1987 North Korean spies left a time bomb on a South Korean airliner which later detonated over the Indian Ocean, killing all 115 aboard.

But from the 1990s and beyond, North Korea was relatively quiet. While there were intermittent episodes of significant saber-rattling -- culminating in North Korea's threat of developing nuclear weapon a few years ago -- a deliberate military strike like this one simply did not happen in the last 20 years or so. The closest analogue would be the two naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002, in which North and South Korean exchanged fire in the sea just south of the Northern Limit Line, which divides the North and the South.

But the attack on the Cheonan is significantly different from those skirmishes. It is true that those naval skirmishes resulted in some casualties and a loss of a ship -- in 2002, South Korea lost six sailors and a gunboat. But in the end, South Korea was easily victorious in the two naval skirmishes by any objective indication. Also, while nothing about the war should be stated cavalierly, the two naval skirmishes were essentially fair fights. North Korean navy provoked South Korean navy, South Korean navy responded and emerged victorious after a battle (although not without some damage.) In contrast, many more died on Cheonan, a more significant ship than a gunboat. More importantly, this was a surprise attack with no forewarning, instead of an outright provocation leading to a battle.

North Korea internally is going through a significant change. The long-time despot Kim Jong-Il is in ill health, and a three-generation succession is a hard sell even in North Korea. Also, what little we know about the announced heir, Kim Jong-Un, does not bode well. The younger Kim is only 27 years old and is apparently fond of shooting things, having majored artillery in Kim Il-Sung University.

Recently, North Korea instituted a currency reform which ended in a disaster, causing runaway inflation and severe disruption of food supply. In a rare gesture, North Korean regime even apologized to its people for the abysmal failure of the currency reform. It is fair to think that the internal instability is connected to this attack. Often, North Korea uses an external threat (that is self-generated unbeknownst to its people) as an excuse to crack down on its people, and this attack could be a part of such a plan.

Also, recent inter-Korea relations have been chilly at best. The last two administrations of Korea were pro-engagement toward North Korea, which over time became fairly unpopular among South Koreans. The current Lee Myung-Bak administration won the election with an explicit promise of taking a harder line against the North. So far Lee has stood firm on his promise, significantly reducing South Korea's aid toward North Korea.

On May 23, Lee administration unveiled the sanction plans against North Korea in response. South Korea will stop all economic aid to North Korea, except for aid aimed toward infants and children. South Korea will also significantly reduce the economic exchange program currently in place. Also, North Korean ships are no longer allowed to pass through South Korean waters. (Previously, the two Koreas had a treaty whereby airplanes and ships could pass through each other's territorial air and waters.) South Korea will resume the propaganda broadcast toward the North, and stated that in case of a naval provocation by the North, South Korea will annihilate the naval base from which the North Korean ship left.

In response, North Korea announced that it will cut off all communications with South Korea, including the Red Cross Communications Representative at Panmunjeom that had been operational for 39 years. It is also making overtures of further provocations/attacks. These measures essentially amount to reverting back to the Cold War posture between the two Koreas.

United States, through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is exploring ways to sanction North Korea. In particular, Clinton is asking China to intervene. Japan is also considering a sanction. UN Securities Council may be called upon to act as well, which will ratchet up the sanctions further.

More after the jump.

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

According to Wall Street Journal, crime rate fell sharply in the United States from 2008 to 2009. Particularly notable is Phoenix, AZ, where violent crime dropped by 17 percent. In particular murder rate dropped by 26.9 percent. Number of reported kidnapping also dropped in Phoenix. Property crimes dropped by 21 percent in Phoenix overall, including 36.3 percent drop in auto theft. All other major cities in Arizona registered a decline in crime rate also.

So yeah, those illegal immigrants were rampaging through the streets of Arizona, right? The Korean would love to see what other BS excuse xenophobes will come up with next.

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Gifts for a Prospective ESL Teachers?

Dear Korean,

A very good friend of mine will be leaving for Korea next month to teach English in Seoul for at least a year. I want to get her a really nice gift that will be useful to her during her stay. But I have no idea where to begin. Any suggestions?

Diya

Dear Diya,

The Korean has always been able to find everything he needed in Korea, so he does not know. Readers, any suggestions?

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

Fascinating article about LPGA star Christina Kim on the Wall Street Journal. An excerpt:

...

It's worth noting, as always with Ms. Kim, what she was wearing Monday night: a low-cut black sheath dress, spectacular jewelry and lacy, high-strapped, 4-inch René Caovilla heels which must have cost at least $1,000 when she bought them in Dubai last December. "They've even got sparklies on the bottom," she told an admiring cluster while demurely balancing on one shoe to show off the sole of the other. A few minutes earlier she had smashed a few 250-yard drives on the range at Chelsea Piers, just behind the party room, wearing said impossible shoes.

...

Ms. Kim was a straight-A student growing up in San Jose, Calif., but decided at 16 to drop out of high school to devote herself to golf. Her father, a South Korean immigrant, first put a golf club in her hands when she was 11 and directed her to swing as hard as she could 500 times a day. Dutifully she did so, in the backyard. After several weeks of this she was finally allowed to hit an actual golf ball at a range. At 17 she shot 62 in qualifying for the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship. At 18 she turned pro and has since won $3.5 million on the Tour.

...

The hardest part of the book to write, she told me, was the section about Koreans. "It's such a weighted topic," she said, referring to whispered insinuations about whether players from South Korea, few of whom speak fluent English, are hurting the LPGA Tour's marketing efforts. Since Ms. Kim understands Korean fairly well and speaks a little, some U.S. players consider her a liaison to the 45-woman South Korean contingent. "But the Koreans, they don't really know what to make of me," she said. "I'm loud, I'm not thin and I say what I think. I've got a bunch of good friends among the Koreans, but it's complicated."

Ms. Kim became a divisive figure in South Korea after praising the sex appeal of U.S. speed skater Apolo Ohno. Mr. Ohno is persona non grata there because his gold medal at the 2002 Olympics was awarded only after the South Korean skater who crossed the finish line in front of him was disqualified—unfairly and because of Mr. Ohno, most South Koreans think. The negative press about Ms. Kim in South Korea has, if anything, increased in recent years, she said. Last year she sued a South Korean newspaper for libel, charging it characterized her as a traitor.

None of which helps in finding her place in the world. She remains close to her parents. Last year she bought them a shiny new Mercedes-Benz, and she shares a house with them in Orlando. Her father remains her only golf coach.

"My parents came to this country because they wanted the best possible life for me and my siblings. They want me to be who I am, and that's why I speak out. Writing the book, getting my life down on paper, that's the American side of the Korean-American thing. It has been incredibly liberating," she said. (She admits, however, that she's glad her mother had to read her book with the help of a dictionary and might not get every reference.)

Christina Kim's Wild World [Wall Street Journal]

Click the link for a picture of Kim crushing a driver shot with her heels on.

The World Cup is approaching rapidly. Jamie Trecker at Fox Sports has an excellent rundown of the (South) Korean national team. Well, excellent if one only looks at Mr. Trecker's soccer analysis, because his linguistics skills (for example) appear to be a little rusty.

Take the very language of Korea: it is unique in Asia in that it is NOT ideogrammatically based as Chinese and Japanese are; the hangul (written) alphabet has 24 characters and the spoken (called urimal or gugeo) is what linguists call a "language isolate," meaning that is bears no roots to any other known spoken language on the planet (in comparison, the Romance languages -- of which the six most prominent are Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Catalan -- are rooted in Latin).

No, Mr. Trecker. Korean is in the Altaic language family, which includes Mongolian and Japanese.

But anyway, that's not important. What does Mr. Trecker think about Korea's chances?

PERCENTAGE CHANCE TO PROGRESS: 20%. It's going to be tough. You have to think that Argentina is the group favorite, and Nigeria should get the boost that we expect all African teams to get at this Cup. Greece stinks, but because the Koreans don't score a lot of goals, they could struggle to get on the board.

The Korean thinks that's a fair assessment.

In a related news, the Korean received the shipment this a few days ago. Freakin' sweet.

32 Teams in 32 Days: South Korea [Fox Soccer Channel]

Apropos of nothing...

The Korean attended a concert in which Robert Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust was played. The songs were in German, and had an English translation in the programs.

One part of the music features four grey women, named Need, Guilt, Worry and Sorrow. The Korean was particularly struck by Worry's song -- in essence, it said Worry makes one paralyzed, such that one "starves, food in hand." Recently, the Korean had a lot of worry in his head, which made the song really resonate with him.

So he decided to come home and get the full lyrics, so that he can put it up somewhere and remind himself not to worry. After coming home, the Korean punched in the words he remembered in Google. (He lost the program on the way back.) And...

Nothing! The Korean could not find the English translation of Scenes from Goethe's Faust on the Internet. That was surprising. There was something not available on the Internet?

The Swedru All Blacks F.C. of Ghana sends their well-wishes to Korea's national team.

The All Blacks are singing Team Korea's new cheering song (in very good Korean!), whose original you can listen here.

Ask a Korean! News: How to be a Power Blogger by Mr. Joo Seong-Ha

Another good one from Mr. Joo Seong-Ha of Nambuk Story about being a power blogger.

*                     *                       *

"Tarzan, After Coming to the City, Became a Power Blogger"

(As my blog gained some publicity, a magazine called "Newspapers and Broadcasting" asked me to write an article for their March issue. They have been running a series by "power bloggers" which featured a free writeup on why they blog, what is special about their blog, what they learned, what they plan to do, etc., and they wanted my input this time. At first I politely declined because I did not have enough time, but finally I broke down. The following is the article on the magazine's April issue.)

I am a North Korean defector who came to Korea in 2002. To give an analogy, I am like the character in "Old Boy", living 40 years ago in the past and suddenly jumped into the modern society via time machine. Why 40 years? Because when I speak about my life in North Korea in Korea, it takes people who lived through the 1950s~60s to say, "Oh yeah, we did the same thing back then." Judging from everything I heard so far, the North Korea I lived appears to be most similar to South Korea of the 1960s. Of course, I had no idea that I would write as a "power blogger" like this back then.

The very next day after I left Hanawon [TK: educational facility for fresh North Korean defectors], I bought a computer for my house because I thought I had to learn this thing called the Internet that everyone here uses. But there was no one who taught me how to use a computer. I would just sit at home, clicking things away and mumbling to myself, "So this is the Internet." This is how the "computer-blind" got the first taste of the rumored "Internet."

At first, I would take the whole computer to a repair center even with the simplest error, because I had no one to ask. In fact, I did not even know where to fix the computer; there was one time I carried the computer into a laundromat and asked it to be fixed, because the sign of the laundromat said, "Computer Cleaning."

In the Internet world, discovered thusly, I found a help-wanted website on my own, and I applied for my first job through the Internet. Four months after I came to Korea, I became a reporter for a weekly paper. In the following year in 2003, I saw the announcement for a position at Dong-A Ilbo, and sent my resume through the Internet. Ten months after coming to South Korea, I evolved to the level of making a community site at Daum. [TK: similar to Yahoo!.] But that site naturally folded as I began to work for Dong-A Ilbo a few months later.

I did not start the blog because I had any special purpose or plan; it was entirely due to a fellow reporter who began working at the same time as I. He led the way in creating Journalog, Dong-A Ilbo's blog service, and pushed -- nay, begged -- his pushover colleagues to join. At first, I felt a significant pressure hearing that "you need at least an article every 2-3 days to keep the blog from dying." If I had known that soon afterward, I would have to put up one post per day like I do now, I would have never started that blog.

Reading up to this point, some might think, "Huh, there is not much to learn from this guy's life story, and there is nothing special about why he started the blog." Just to fend off the disappointment, I will tell you this now:  even if you read this whole article, there is hardly anything that will help you become a power blogger. The role of bloggers, the conscience or social participation of bloggers -- all the topics that regular power bloggers can easily talk about -- are too difficult for me. I would like to talk about them, but I really just don't know. Because of my ignorance, for this article I will just talk about my own story.

I think the reason why the Nambuk Story: Stories of Pyongyang, Written in Seoul blog became well-known is because it carries my stories that are different from others'. The readers come because the posts cannot be written without the experience of living in the North, and because there are posts that can only be read here. So I have no magic formula for how to become a power blogger; it is not as if I can tell people to try coming back after living in the North.

In the early days of the blog, I would write a post every two or three days. The blog opened on October 21, 2008; it exceeded 100,000 visitors exactly on January 1 of last year. There were a million visitors in late May -- seven months after the blog opened. The number of visitors started exploding in June of last year, when it was being listed on Daum View. Since August, I would have a million visitors every month. The blog exceeded ten million visitors this April. It took 10 months to go from a million visitors to ten million.

Having an average of 30,000 readers every day put a great weight on my shoulders. I started feeling the pressure that I should keep showing something new even if they come every day. I began to get busy.

The reason why reporters don't blog is because they don't have the time. But according to my experience, the more accurate reason is not that they don't have the time, but that they don't have a lot of readers. Once the number of the readers grow and your popularity rises, the time that did not previously exist come to exist.

Being a journalist certainly is a busy occupation. Especially an international desk reporter like myself has a largest turf among reporters. I have to review the entire world's politics, economics, culture, etc. It includes not just the earth, but the oceans and the space as well. In fact, I wrote a number of space-related articles. Other international desk reporters would do the same, but I have North Korea as my turf in addition. I have to examined the international news every day, and I cannot miss a single North Korea-related news.

The scope is so large that sometimes it is difficult maintain the "sense of news". I must also agonize over gaining new North Korea-related information through my own network, as well as over coming up with new feature ideas every week. In addition, I must act as a multi-player appearing on newspaper, television, magazines, the Internet, radio -- virtually all things that may be considered "media". I must write an article every day, write a post for the blog every day, host up to three radio shows per week depending on the schedule, and continue the monthly series on the magazine. Sometimes I also grab the microphone, get out on the streets and make a video news report for Dong-A Newsstation. On top of that, I do a considerable amount of extracurricular activities such as lectures and seminars. All this means that I live as a slave to the time.

In spite of that, I never think that I cannot continue blogging because I'm too busy. I only worry that I cannot keep writing because I ran out of contents. Fortunately, the work of writing for the blog decreases significantly because I post the North Korea-related articles or radio scripts that I wrote on the blog. But I cannot implement the so-called "one source, multi-use" trend. Even though the forms may differ, I don't want to put up the same thing twice on the blog. No matter what the form of the writing is -- through broadcasting, magazines or a newspaper article -- I endeavor to make them all about different things. It would be convenient to repackage a blog post into a magazine article or a broadcasting script, but I have not been able to do that.

Doing all these things means that there are things that I must sacrifice. I can hardly have a dinner-and-drinks with people unless it is very important. About two days out of the week, I sleep about two to three hours.

Then the question is -- is this blog worth sacrificing my lifestyle like this? Frankly, this is a tough gig unless one has one's own reasons, like being addicted to it or grasped by a sense of calling. Even the "several tens of thousands of visitors per day" number gets old once you get used to it. I am not a politician, and my blog gets no advertisement, which make being passionate more difficult. I would have quit long time ago if I did not have something like a sense of calling, that I must inform South Korea about North Korea. I also like that, as a bonus, I get to periodically post what I already wrote about North Korea without having to bury them in a pile.

North Korea is an issue that has especially sharp ideological conflicts in South Korea. It is impossible to write something that makes everyone happy. In North Korea-related posts, the negative comments can be chilling. Despite such limitations, I endeavor to keep fairness and objectivity. I consider it to be a characteristic of my blog. Generally, "current issues" blogs clearly divide friends and enemies, and grow their influence by attracting certain types of readers. This would be a really easy way of running a North Korea-related blog. It would attract more attention if it had an extreme viewpoint and a shrill voice. I wanted to make a blog that would not cause one to be turned off, regardless of which side one is. Once I took my stance that way, various kinds of people actually visit my blog. I have a worldwide readership, even including North Korea's current diplomats.

As I run my North Korea-related blog, I only have one principle -- love for North Korean people. With that love, the indignation for those who oppress them flows naturally.

But it is so difficult to live in Korea without having someone on your side. This is especially true for North Korean defectors. One side looks at me crookedly, saying I escaped from North Korea; the other side does the same, saying they doubt my identity.

In addition, I frequently receive all kinds of threats. It would be an easier life to just stick with one, but I cannot bring myself to do that. This is out of self-respect for my life, which has overcome many chances of death. However, I do often think to myself, "I am just inviting trouble -- I could at least just keep quiet."

When I first started blogging, I interviewed with a newspaper. The reporter asked me how long I could maintain the blog, and I replied, "About three years." Of course, that was with the assumption that I would post once in two or three days. Every blog has an upswing and a downswing, because of the limits on personal contents. Even the most excellent ballplayers retire. Bowing out is no shame. To me as well, there will come a day when the blog will fold.

But North Korea itself is a destiny with which I must travel together. Even now, no matter how many articles I write, if I do not write a North Korea-related article in a while the company officers ask, "Why aren't you writing anything recently?" Even though I am a reporter on the international desk, my presence is diminished when I do not write a North Korea article.

As a trainee, the beat to which I was assigned was the "Gangnam line", including Seocho, Gangnam, Songpa and Gangdong. There were other trainees who grew up in Seoul, but they showed no mercy putting me -- who knew nothing about Seoul's geography or general affairs -- into what was known as the most difficult course. I still do not understand why they did that back then. What did they expect from me?

That was about a year-and-a-half since I came to Korea. Because I was living outside of the city at the time, I had no idea where these Gangnam or Gangdong places were -- I went there for the first time during training. I had to visit every police station and hospital twice a day from Seocho to Gangdong, sleeping three to four hours a night. Of course, I went to every district in Seoul for work afterward.

The most memorable thing was the directive to interview the head of Daechi-dong's best private academy regarding the fervor for private education. The person was considerably flummoxed by the strange Dong-A Ilbo reporter with a Korean-Chinese accent who was totally ignorant about Korea's education system but nonetheless boldly fired away questions. I still feel bad for him to this day.

During that hazing process, I told this to my senior reporter over drinks:

"I am a Tarzan who used to live in the mountains, and now I'm in the city. I can run the fastest with bare feet in the jungle, but I can't run like other people wearing sneakers on asphalt."

Seven years later, now I feel confident that I can run as well as anyone on the asphalt as well. Just an aside, but I indeed ran around on the searing asphalt of Bangkok in the 39 degree Celcius heat last month, reporting the anti-government protests. But even so, I still feel comfortable like Tarzan returning to the jungle when I write about North Korea.

Stories of Pyongyang, Written in Seoul is like a jungle for me. It makes me reflect on where I came from, and where I must go. Frankly, I did not think I would feel this way when I started the blog. On the day I return to North Korea, the posts on the blog are the marks and the chronicle of my life to be shown proudly to my hometown folks. I did not leave North Korea because I committed a crime, or because I was hungry. I went on the road after beating my chest over the unimaginable tragedy of the people. My blog is the space where I can show someday that I had done my best to tell the world of their pain when they were oppressed, that my choice of leaving was the correct one.

I write not for today, but for tomorrow.

"도시에 내려온 타잔 파워블로거가 되다" [Nambuk Story]

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