Looking at the situation at Egypt is rather reminiscent of the way America handled Korea. The U.S. is reluctant to do anything too radical with Egyptian president/dictator Hosni Mubarak, because he is an important ally in a war against terror. (Apparently Joe Biden does not consider Mubarak to be a dictator, although it is hard to figure out what else to call a leader who has been ruling for 30 years in a supposedly democratic country.) Similarly, in the name of preventing the spread of communism, U.S. tolerated a series of dictators in Korea all the way from its independence to late 1980s/early 1990s. In fact, nearly all anti-American sentiment in Korea today can be more or less traced to this fact.
The Korean does not know what is the right thing to do here. But he hopes that Barack Obama knows enough history to understand the future implications of American tolerance of autocrats.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 37. Lee Sora
[Read more reviews from the Korean from the Library Mixer. To join, click here.]
[Series Index]
37. Lee Sora [이소라]
Years of Activity: 1995-present
Discography:
Vol. 1 (1995)
Like in a Movie [영화에서처럼] (1996)
About Sorrow and Rage [슬픔과 분노에 관한] (1998)
Flower [꽃] (2000)
Sora's Diary (2002)
Eyelash Moon [눈썹달] (2004)
Winter, Lonely and Warm Songs [겨울, 외롭고 따뜻한 노래] (2008)
Representative Song: The Wind Blows [바람이 분다] from Eyelash Moon
Translation Note: Not sure if the emotion carries over in English. Anyone have a better word for 시리다? "Searing" was a possibility because the sensation is similar, but "searing" is never associated with cold in English. 애타게 is also such a crucial word, but not sure if that was translated right.
In 15 Words or Less: The most special voice in K-pop history.
Maybe she should be ranked higher because... At one point, she was easily the most dominant female star for the stretch of 3 to 4 years.
Maybe she should be ranked lower because... How much weight can we give to a vocalist, as opposed to a singer-songwriter? (See the discussion below.)
Why is this artist important?
We often obsess over shallow forms of creativity. We focus on quick, observable types of creativity and neglect to see the deep, intangible forms of creativity. In pop music, this tendency manifests itself in our worship of singer-songwriters. After all, anyone can sing. Heck, we sound pretty good when we sing in the shower. Composition, now that's creativity. A good singer is nice, but all she is doing is following the commands of the composer. There is no creativity there.
And sometimes, a transcendental talent shows up and slaps some sense into us. Lee Sora is not a singer-songwriter. She is only a singer, although the negative connotation of the word "only" should not apply at all. Her velvety, near androgynous voice that effortlessly rises and falls over several octaves is easily the most special voice in K-pop history. (In fact, the Korean is certain that had K-pop been as internationally as now and/or Lee sung in English during her heyday in the late 1990s, she would have been a world star at the level of, say, Bjork and Enya.) And few, if any, can replicate the emotions she has been able to convey with that voice.
Lee's best songs are always about deep, desperate emotions, held in unknown to anyone. The song The Wind Blows shows this very well. Woman cutting hair is always a significant event. She was holding back tears the whole time while getting her hair cut, and she silently cries on the way back, in an empty street. Express this wrong, and all you have is a cheesy, stupid melodrama. But express this right, and you are accessing one of the most powerful emotions in all of humanity.
This is the point at which we see the true genius of singing. Singing is not merely following the commands of the composer. At its best, singing breathes life into what was no more than a clay doll formed by the composer. Singing turns what was two-dimensional into what is three-, four-, five-dimensional. It requires the ability to envision the end result, the fifth dimension that people cannot even imagine, and using your talent to get to that dimension. When this does happen, it is like magic -- it just happens. But instead of applauding, people simply think it is not hard to raise a rabbit in a hat and pull it out in front of the crowd.
Lee Sora's influence is made even more meaningful by the fact that she shined in the K-pop desert populated by pretty corporate puppets. K-pop had two periods of nadir -- once during mid-1970s to early 1980s when the military dictatorship cracked down on "subversive" songs, and during late 1990s-early 2000s when the corporate groups almost choked out the scene. During the latter nadir when talentless pretty faces crowded the television screens, Lee Sora never lowered herself to vulgar sex appeal. Her voice alone gently reminded everyone in Korea what mattered in music.
Interesting trivia: Right before Lee Sora made her debut, another woman named Lee Sora had already been a popular public personality for a few years -- as a supermodel/talk show host. Much confusion occurred in everyday parlance regarding "Singer Lee Sora" and "Model Lee Sora."
-EDIT 1/31/2011- After some deliberation, the translation of 시린 한기 is changed from "piercing cold" to "searing chill".
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
[Series Index]
37. Lee Sora [이소라]
Years of Activity: 1995-present
Discography:
Vol. 1 (1995)
Like in a Movie [영화에서처럼] (1996)
About Sorrow and Rage [슬픔과 분노에 관한] (1998)
Flower [꽃] (2000)
Sora's Diary (2002)
Eyelash Moon [눈썹달] (2004)
Winter, Lonely and Warm Songs [겨울, 외롭고 따뜻한 노래] (2008)
Representative Song: The Wind Blows [바람이 분다] from Eyelash Moon
바람이 분다
The Wind Blows
바람이 분다
The wind blows
서러운 마음에 텅 빈 풍경이 불어온다
The empty scenary blows into the sorrowful heart
머리를 자르고 돌아오는 길에
On the way back from cutting hair
내내 글썽이던 눈물을 쏟는다
The welled tears drop
하늘이 젖는다
The sky wets
어두운 거리에 찬 빗방울이 떨어진다
In the dark streets, cold raindrops fall
무리를 지으며 따라오는 비는
The rain that chases me in a herd
내게서 먼 것 같아
Seems far away from me
이미 그친 것 같아
Seems already stopped
세상은 어제와 같고
The world is the same as yesterday
시간은 흐르고 있고
The time is still flowing
나만 혼자 이렇게 달라져 있다
And I alone changed like this
바람에 흩어져 버린 허무한 내 소원들은
My futile wishes scattered in the wind
애타게 사라져간다
Desperately disappear
바람이 분다
The wind blows
시린 한기 속에 지난 시간을 되돌린다
In the searing chill, turn back to the times past
여름 끝에 선 너의 뒷모습이
Your back, standing at the end of the summer
차가웠던 것 같아
Seemed so cold
다 알 것 같아
Seemed like I understand it all
내게는 소중했었던 잠 못 이루던 날들이
The sleepless days that were so precious to me
너에겐 지금과 다르지 않았다
To you, they were not different from now
사랑은 비극이어라
What tragedy is love
그대는 내가 아니다
You are not I
추억은 다르게 적힌다
Memories are written differently
나의 이별은 잘 가라는 인사도 없이 치러진다
My departure is held without a goodbye
세상은 어제와 같고
The world is the same as yesterday
시간은 흐르고 있고
The time is still flowing
나만 혼자 이렇게 달라져 있다
And I alone changed like this
내게는 천금같았던 추억이 담겨져 있던 머리 위로
Over the head holding memories worth a thousand gold to me
바람이 분다
The wind blows
눈물이 흐른다
The tear falls
The Wind Blows
바람이 분다
The wind blows
서러운 마음에 텅 빈 풍경이 불어온다
The empty scenary blows into the sorrowful heart
머리를 자르고 돌아오는 길에
On the way back from cutting hair
내내 글썽이던 눈물을 쏟는다
The welled tears drop
하늘이 젖는다
The sky wets
어두운 거리에 찬 빗방울이 떨어진다
In the dark streets, cold raindrops fall
무리를 지으며 따라오는 비는
The rain that chases me in a herd
내게서 먼 것 같아
Seems far away from me
이미 그친 것 같아
Seems already stopped
세상은 어제와 같고
The world is the same as yesterday
시간은 흐르고 있고
The time is still flowing
나만 혼자 이렇게 달라져 있다
And I alone changed like this
바람에 흩어져 버린 허무한 내 소원들은
My futile wishes scattered in the wind
애타게 사라져간다
Desperately disappear
바람이 분다
The wind blows
시린 한기 속에 지난 시간을 되돌린다
In the searing chill, turn back to the times past
여름 끝에 선 너의 뒷모습이
Your back, standing at the end of the summer
차가웠던 것 같아
Seemed so cold
다 알 것 같아
Seemed like I understand it all
내게는 소중했었던 잠 못 이루던 날들이
The sleepless days that were so precious to me
너에겐 지금과 다르지 않았다
To you, they were not different from now
사랑은 비극이어라
What tragedy is love
그대는 내가 아니다
You are not I
추억은 다르게 적힌다
Memories are written differently
나의 이별은 잘 가라는 인사도 없이 치러진다
My departure is held without a goodbye
세상은 어제와 같고
The world is the same as yesterday
시간은 흐르고 있고
The time is still flowing
나만 혼자 이렇게 달라져 있다
And I alone changed like this
내게는 천금같았던 추억이 담겨져 있던 머리 위로
Over the head holding memories worth a thousand gold to me
바람이 분다
The wind blows
눈물이 흐른다
The tear falls
Translation Note: Not sure if the emotion carries over in English. Anyone have a better word for 시리다? "Searing" was a possibility because the sensation is similar, but "searing" is never associated with cold in English. 애타게 is also such a crucial word, but not sure if that was translated right.
In 15 Words or Less: The most special voice in K-pop history.
Maybe she should be ranked higher because... At one point, she was easily the most dominant female star for the stretch of 3 to 4 years.
Maybe she should be ranked lower because... How much weight can we give to a vocalist, as opposed to a singer-songwriter? (See the discussion below.)
Why is this artist important?
We often obsess over shallow forms of creativity. We focus on quick, observable types of creativity and neglect to see the deep, intangible forms of creativity. In pop music, this tendency manifests itself in our worship of singer-songwriters. After all, anyone can sing. Heck, we sound pretty good when we sing in the shower. Composition, now that's creativity. A good singer is nice, but all she is doing is following the commands of the composer. There is no creativity there.
And sometimes, a transcendental talent shows up and slaps some sense into us. Lee Sora is not a singer-songwriter. She is only a singer, although the negative connotation of the word "only" should not apply at all. Her velvety, near androgynous voice that effortlessly rises and falls over several octaves is easily the most special voice in K-pop history. (In fact, the Korean is certain that had K-pop been as internationally as now and/or Lee sung in English during her heyday in the late 1990s, she would have been a world star at the level of, say, Bjork and Enya.) And few, if any, can replicate the emotions she has been able to convey with that voice.
Lee's best songs are always about deep, desperate emotions, held in unknown to anyone. The song The Wind Blows shows this very well. Woman cutting hair is always a significant event. She was holding back tears the whole time while getting her hair cut, and she silently cries on the way back, in an empty street. Express this wrong, and all you have is a cheesy, stupid melodrama. But express this right, and you are accessing one of the most powerful emotions in all of humanity.
This is the point at which we see the true genius of singing. Singing is not merely following the commands of the composer. At its best, singing breathes life into what was no more than a clay doll formed by the composer. Singing turns what was two-dimensional into what is three-, four-, five-dimensional. It requires the ability to envision the end result, the fifth dimension that people cannot even imagine, and using your talent to get to that dimension. When this does happen, it is like magic -- it just happens. But instead of applauding, people simply think it is not hard to raise a rabbit in a hat and pull it out in front of the crowd.
Lee Sora's influence is made even more meaningful by the fact that she shined in the K-pop desert populated by pretty corporate puppets. K-pop had two periods of nadir -- once during mid-1970s to early 1980s when the military dictatorship cracked down on "subversive" songs, and during late 1990s-early 2000s when the corporate groups almost choked out the scene. During the latter nadir when talentless pretty faces crowded the television screens, Lee Sora never lowered herself to vulgar sex appeal. Her voice alone gently reminded everyone in Korea what mattered in music.
Interesting trivia: Right before Lee Sora made her debut, another woman named Lee Sora had already been a popular public personality for a few years -- as a supermodel/talk show host. Much confusion occurred in everyday parlance regarding "Singer Lee Sora" and "Model Lee Sora."
-EDIT 1/31/2011- After some deliberation, the translation of 시린 한기 is changed from "piercing cold" to "searing chill".
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Ask a Korean! News: North Korean Riot in 1998
It has been a while since the Korean translated from Nambuk Story, a North Korean blog run by Mr. Joo Seong-Ha, a Kim Il-Sung University graduate who defected from North Korea. The Korean has been translating his incredible stories and invaluable insight partly because they are informative, and partly because of a sense of duty that the world needs to know what has happened in Korea, and what is happening now. This story is long, but the world must know. Incredibly, although this happened more than 10 years ago, the story is only getting told now from a defector through Mr. Joo. Below is the translation.
My name is Lee Choon-Gu, 35 years old. I escaped from North Korea and defected into Republic of Korea, my dream world. I am from Hwanghaebuk-do Hwangju-gun.
At this point, I have largely forgotten the hunger and struggle I experienced in North Korea before I defected. But I can never forget the laborer's riot at Hwanghae Steel Refinery at August 1998, in Hwanghaebuk-do Songrim-si. North Korean regime's inhuman barbarism that quelled this riot will forever stain the pages of history.
In early August of 1998, I came to stay with my aunt at Songrim-si to get through the dire food shortage. Songrim-si is known for having one of the largest steel refineries in North Korea. My family came to rely on my aunt's because her little business of carrying around and selling things was doing ok at a place with a high density of laborers, nearly 100,000 employees of the steel mill. The three of us -- myself, wife and child -- abandoned the house at Hwangju-gun, got to help my aunt selling fish and eat what little food available. I was so thankful for my aunt and uncle then. My uncle was working at the automated line within the Hwanghae Steel Refinery.
At this time, the situation was the same everywhere in North Korea. Even in Songrim-si filled with laborers, the monthly food ration amounted to corn power worth a day or two. The laborers did not show up to work, severely dropping the factory's productivity. The factory officials visited my aunt's house several times to persuade my uncle, who could not report to work. The officers said a few words like "Let's try to overcome this difficulty and be loyal to the Dear Leader," but my uncle hardly cared.
I think it was around August 10, 1998. There were rumors all over Songrim-si that there is a public execution by a firing squad, executing eight Hwanghae Steel Refinery officers at the public stadium. Apparently the manager and the secretary of the steel mill began discussing how to feed the laborers, and the assistant managers participated. The conclusion was to sell pressed steel plates to China in exchange for corn.
The manager and the secretary of a steel mill are candidates for Labor Party Central Committee and members of the elite power structure. They were supposed to report something like this to the Central Party, but decided to handle within the steel mill. They knew that the higher-ups would not approve because the steel plates were for the military, etc. At the meeting, the secretary and the manager explained, "We are not being reactionaries; we are trying to produce steel by feeding the laborers and have them participate in production." At the same time, they pleaded the officers to keep it secret.
The steel mill's boat at Nampo seaport took the steel plates to China to be exchanged for corn. The steel mill's assistant manager and other officers were on the boat to negotiate with the Chinese. Of course, the laborers on the boat would not know the specifics of this transaction. They returned with a boat full of corn exchanged with the steel plates, and were about to moor the boat at Nampo.
Suddenly, young men in plainclothes jumped on the boat brandishing handguns, and showed their identification. The ID said Pyongyang Chief Security Bureau Inspection Division, the embedded enforcers who are known to operate through direct orders from the North Korean regime. They arrested everyone on the boat, tied them up and took them away somewhere in a car -- a rare thing to see in North Korea. Apparently, the arrest happened because someone snitched. All this I heard from the laborers from the boat, who were let go because they did not know anything. The streets were filled with indignant murmurs wondering who snitched. The murmurs also voiced the people's praise for the officers' brave decision for the laborers.
Next day at 9 a.m., the city public stadium was filled with laborers and residents with heavy hearts. With my uncle, I saw the eight people to be executed getting dragged out from a truck. Probably because of torture, they could not walk; the plainclothed young men of Pyongyang Chief Security Bureau Inspection Division dragged them to the stakes. Even as they were being tied to the stakes, my uncle who worked at the steel mill could not tell who was who. Although it was summer, everyone was wrapped in thick cotton winter clothes with their eyes covered.
Then the people from some kind of central tribunal read the sentencing statement for death penalty. It said for the treason that violated the Party's sovereign leadership and sold the republic's supplies to a foreign country, the assistant manager and head of sales who were arrested on the boat, and other related assistant managers and head of production -- eight officers -- are to be executed immediately. Suddenly the murmurs grew, expressing a sense of injustice. "Execution is too much; it's not like they were trying to feed themselves."
But some dozen shooters lined up in front of the prisoners with automatic rifles, and sprayed bullets on command. The shrieking sound of bullets lifted up and put down the small stadium, and the shot prisoners all squirted blood, slumping forward. Facing this enormous scene of murder, the people fell quiet. But after the storm passed, the outraged yell of the people began to burst out here and there, swaying the stadium. My uncle and I were also agitated, and joined voices to hurl curses of whose meaning we did not even know.
As if to represent them, a middle-aged woman jumped in front of the microphone that was used to read the sentencing statement. The people around me all pointed to her and said she used to be a nurse for the Great Leader (Kim Il-Sung). My uncle said the woman was a designated nurse for Kim Il-Sung at Bonghwa hospital at Pyongyang, who came back to her hometown Songrim-si to live a high life while earning the trust of the central party. I could feel my gaze sharpening as I heard my uncle, thinking that woman would spout some garbage to justify the execution. I could feel the other people also sending her a hateful glare. But the woman's voice reverberating from the mic was completely unexpected:
"How dare you execute in this barbaric manner? The steel mill officers tried to get the corn only to produce and please the Dear Leader. They should be punished if their method was wrong, but they did not deserve execution. The executed officers tried to feed the laborers to get them to work. They weren't trying to feed themselves. Killing them like this was barbaric ..."
Before she could finish, the plainclothed young men rushed in, dragged the woman away from the microphone. They kicked her with their boots, and put a gag in her mouth. Then they tied her up, dragged her to the stake where one of the prisoner just died. They kicked away the slumped body of the executed prisoner, and tied the woman on the stake. Then a middle-aged, plainclothed man -- not the judge who read the statement -- stepped up. He was directing the men from the Inspection Division. He said icily, "Anyone who disobeys our socialist sovereign system is executed immediately. Everyone behave accordingly." Before he even finished, three shooters fired nine shots at the woman.
As the woman, who was alive just earlier, fell into a pool of blood, the people were petrified as if their mouthes froze over. Shivering with terror, they could not even breathe loudly; not even a rustle could be heard in the stadium full of people. My uncle and I, shocked with fear, left the stadium and came home. Even at home, no one -- including my aunt and my wife, who were there also -- tried to say anything. It felt as if the moment we say anything, someone will rush in and bury bullets in us again.
The next day afternoon, the rumor began to spread in Songrim-si that the outraged steel mill laborers risked death, rushed the factory and began protesting. Several thousand laborers gathered to conduct a sitting protest at a road within the factory, chanting, "No more purges of officers" and "Officers who tried to feed us for the mill did nothing wrong." The Songrim-si people did not spare the words of encouragement: "The laborer class is truly a class of their own," "Laborers are fearless." A protest like this in North Korea could not even be dreamed of.
The protesters decided to occupy the factory sitting down, until a representative from the regime heard their demands. As they heard no word until dark, they continued to protest over the night. We fell asleep as we heard news about their protest.
I woke up as my wife was shaking me. As I was opening my eyes, I was startled by the eardrum-piercing noise. The dull roar of caterpillar rang the windows and shook the floor -- it had to be tanks. They must have been moving so closely together that I could not tell how many there were. I looked at the clock; it was nearly 4 a.m. My aunt and uncle, both awake, stared at the outside noise with bewilderment.
"Is there a war?" "I think so." My aunt and uncle spoke to each other. My wife and I looked at each other, widening our eyes with agreement. Korean War started in early morning also; the dark blue daybreak with the sounds of tank seemed like war.
"What do we do? Go find out what happened. We might have to make a run." My uncle and I hurriedly put on our pants as my aunt nagged. Once outside, we began running after the tanks that already passed by. Other people were running in front of and behind us. They were running toward the mill. The steel mill was about a mile and half from our house. We kept hearing the tanks in the mill's direction. The streets were filled with people running toward the mill. As we were running, I asked my uncle -- aren't the tanks going to the protesters? My uncle glanced at me and dismissed the notion right away, saying "What would tanks do there?"
Suddenly, the people stopped running, frozen where they were standing to hear the blasting guns. Hundreds of blasts were mixed with shrieking screams. It was like a dream, as if those screams were piercing my heart. After about ten minutes, the sound of guns and the laboring sound of the tanks stopped, only the sound as if the stationary tanks were starting up again. Then the chaotic sound of crying, inside the mill. The people rushed into the mill, and then stopped, shocked at the scene before them.
The asphalt-paved road inside the steel mill had a river of viscous, dark dead blood. In the middle of every person who cried together, dozens of horrendously squashed dead bodies were strewn about, next to messy piles of severed arms and legs. The rising stink of blood was retching. Hundreds of soldiers were haughtily aiming their guns at a group of men, who appeared to be the protesters. All the bodies looked like they were run over by the tanks or shot.
Soon, the people surrounded the bodies of their family and began wailing. As if there was no protest to begin with, there was only a sea of tears. The people could hear from what the protesters said: a dozen tanks and hundreds of soldiers on trucks came before the sitting protesters. The laborers were ordered to scatter, but they did not budge. Then, following a signal, the protesters fell with the loud sounds of gunfire, and the tanks rolled into the protesting ranks. Dozens of sitting laborers in the front were suddenly swallowed up into the tank's tracks. The frightened protesters screamed and scattered.
The next day, bulletins from Social Security Bureau (currently People's Security Bureau) appeared on the streets. They said the leaders of the protest who threatened the socialist system and caused a disloyal incitement would be judged in the name of the people. It was like a state of martial law, as the young soldiers with guns prowled the alleyways.
Two days later, there was another public execution of three laborers, who were supposedly the leaders of the riot, with a middle school teacher and a young woman. The crime of the middle school teacher and the young woman was to steal a radio from a Korean-Japanese who returned to North Korea from Japan. They were unlucky -- during the state of martial law, they were caught by the security bureau agents who were looking for any excuse to execute someone.
My wife was sitting in the front of the public execution, and she said among the prisoners, her eyes were drawn to the frail-looking young woman. After their crimes and the judgment of execution by firing squad were read, the two plainclothes from the Chief Security Bureau approached the woman. They struck her jaw to dislocate it, and put in her mouth a small spring held in their hand. The small, round spring stretched up, pushing out her mouth. She writhed in pain. Then she was shot several times, dying at the stake. My wife was in shock. Trembling, she could not sleep for several days.
No one in Songrim-si dared to even breathe loudly for the entire August. This is the event that is known to have been suppressed by Pyongyang's Chief Security Bureau.
직접 목격한 북한 노동자 폭동, 탱크로 밀어버린 현장은 [Nambuk Story]
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
* * *
My name is Lee Choon-Gu, 35 years old. I escaped from North Korea and defected into Republic of Korea, my dream world. I am from Hwanghaebuk-do Hwangju-gun.
At this point, I have largely forgotten the hunger and struggle I experienced in North Korea before I defected. But I can never forget the laborer's riot at Hwanghae Steel Refinery at August 1998, in Hwanghaebuk-do Songrim-si. North Korean regime's inhuman barbarism that quelled this riot will forever stain the pages of history.
In early August of 1998, I came to stay with my aunt at Songrim-si to get through the dire food shortage. Songrim-si is known for having one of the largest steel refineries in North Korea. My family came to rely on my aunt's because her little business of carrying around and selling things was doing ok at a place with a high density of laborers, nearly 100,000 employees of the steel mill. The three of us -- myself, wife and child -- abandoned the house at Hwangju-gun, got to help my aunt selling fish and eat what little food available. I was so thankful for my aunt and uncle then. My uncle was working at the automated line within the Hwanghae Steel Refinery.
At this time, the situation was the same everywhere in North Korea. Even in Songrim-si filled with laborers, the monthly food ration amounted to corn power worth a day or two. The laborers did not show up to work, severely dropping the factory's productivity. The factory officials visited my aunt's house several times to persuade my uncle, who could not report to work. The officers said a few words like "Let's try to overcome this difficulty and be loyal to the Dear Leader," but my uncle hardly cared.
I think it was around August 10, 1998. There were rumors all over Songrim-si that there is a public execution by a firing squad, executing eight Hwanghae Steel Refinery officers at the public stadium. Apparently the manager and the secretary of the steel mill began discussing how to feed the laborers, and the assistant managers participated. The conclusion was to sell pressed steel plates to China in exchange for corn.
The manager and the secretary of a steel mill are candidates for Labor Party Central Committee and members of the elite power structure. They were supposed to report something like this to the Central Party, but decided to handle within the steel mill. They knew that the higher-ups would not approve because the steel plates were for the military, etc. At the meeting, the secretary and the manager explained, "We are not being reactionaries; we are trying to produce steel by feeding the laborers and have them participate in production." At the same time, they pleaded the officers to keep it secret.
The steel mill's boat at Nampo seaport took the steel plates to China to be exchanged for corn. The steel mill's assistant manager and other officers were on the boat to negotiate with the Chinese. Of course, the laborers on the boat would not know the specifics of this transaction. They returned with a boat full of corn exchanged with the steel plates, and were about to moor the boat at Nampo.
Suddenly, young men in plainclothes jumped on the boat brandishing handguns, and showed their identification. The ID said Pyongyang Chief Security Bureau Inspection Division, the embedded enforcers who are known to operate through direct orders from the North Korean regime. They arrested everyone on the boat, tied them up and took them away somewhere in a car -- a rare thing to see in North Korea. Apparently, the arrest happened because someone snitched. All this I heard from the laborers from the boat, who were let go because they did not know anything. The streets were filled with indignant murmurs wondering who snitched. The murmurs also voiced the people's praise for the officers' brave decision for the laborers.
Next day at 9 a.m., the city public stadium was filled with laborers and residents with heavy hearts. With my uncle, I saw the eight people to be executed getting dragged out from a truck. Probably because of torture, they could not walk; the plainclothed young men of Pyongyang Chief Security Bureau Inspection Division dragged them to the stakes. Even as they were being tied to the stakes, my uncle who worked at the steel mill could not tell who was who. Although it was summer, everyone was wrapped in thick cotton winter clothes with their eyes covered.
Then the people from some kind of central tribunal read the sentencing statement for death penalty. It said for the treason that violated the Party's sovereign leadership and sold the republic's supplies to a foreign country, the assistant manager and head of sales who were arrested on the boat, and other related assistant managers and head of production -- eight officers -- are to be executed immediately. Suddenly the murmurs grew, expressing a sense of injustice. "Execution is too much; it's not like they were trying to feed themselves."
But some dozen shooters lined up in front of the prisoners with automatic rifles, and sprayed bullets on command. The shrieking sound of bullets lifted up and put down the small stadium, and the shot prisoners all squirted blood, slumping forward. Facing this enormous scene of murder, the people fell quiet. But after the storm passed, the outraged yell of the people began to burst out here and there, swaying the stadium. My uncle and I were also agitated, and joined voices to hurl curses of whose meaning we did not even know.
As if to represent them, a middle-aged woman jumped in front of the microphone that was used to read the sentencing statement. The people around me all pointed to her and said she used to be a nurse for the Great Leader (Kim Il-Sung). My uncle said the woman was a designated nurse for Kim Il-Sung at Bonghwa hospital at Pyongyang, who came back to her hometown Songrim-si to live a high life while earning the trust of the central party. I could feel my gaze sharpening as I heard my uncle, thinking that woman would spout some garbage to justify the execution. I could feel the other people also sending her a hateful glare. But the woman's voice reverberating from the mic was completely unexpected:
"How dare you execute in this barbaric manner? The steel mill officers tried to get the corn only to produce and please the Dear Leader. They should be punished if their method was wrong, but they did not deserve execution. The executed officers tried to feed the laborers to get them to work. They weren't trying to feed themselves. Killing them like this was barbaric ..."
Before she could finish, the plainclothed young men rushed in, dragged the woman away from the microphone. They kicked her with their boots, and put a gag in her mouth. Then they tied her up, dragged her to the stake where one of the prisoner just died. They kicked away the slumped body of the executed prisoner, and tied the woman on the stake. Then a middle-aged, plainclothed man -- not the judge who read the statement -- stepped up. He was directing the men from the Inspection Division. He said icily, "Anyone who disobeys our socialist sovereign system is executed immediately. Everyone behave accordingly." Before he even finished, three shooters fired nine shots at the woman.
As the woman, who was alive just earlier, fell into a pool of blood, the people were petrified as if their mouthes froze over. Shivering with terror, they could not even breathe loudly; not even a rustle could be heard in the stadium full of people. My uncle and I, shocked with fear, left the stadium and came home. Even at home, no one -- including my aunt and my wife, who were there also -- tried to say anything. It felt as if the moment we say anything, someone will rush in and bury bullets in us again.
The next day afternoon, the rumor began to spread in Songrim-si that the outraged steel mill laborers risked death, rushed the factory and began protesting. Several thousand laborers gathered to conduct a sitting protest at a road within the factory, chanting, "No more purges of officers" and "Officers who tried to feed us for the mill did nothing wrong." The Songrim-si people did not spare the words of encouragement: "The laborer class is truly a class of their own," "Laborers are fearless." A protest like this in North Korea could not even be dreamed of.
The protesters decided to occupy the factory sitting down, until a representative from the regime heard their demands. As they heard no word until dark, they continued to protest over the night. We fell asleep as we heard news about their protest.
I woke up as my wife was shaking me. As I was opening my eyes, I was startled by the eardrum-piercing noise. The dull roar of caterpillar rang the windows and shook the floor -- it had to be tanks. They must have been moving so closely together that I could not tell how many there were. I looked at the clock; it was nearly 4 a.m. My aunt and uncle, both awake, stared at the outside noise with bewilderment.
"Is there a war?" "I think so." My aunt and uncle spoke to each other. My wife and I looked at each other, widening our eyes with agreement. Korean War started in early morning also; the dark blue daybreak with the sounds of tank seemed like war.
"What do we do? Go find out what happened. We might have to make a run." My uncle and I hurriedly put on our pants as my aunt nagged. Once outside, we began running after the tanks that already passed by. Other people were running in front of and behind us. They were running toward the mill. The steel mill was about a mile and half from our house. We kept hearing the tanks in the mill's direction. The streets were filled with people running toward the mill. As we were running, I asked my uncle -- aren't the tanks going to the protesters? My uncle glanced at me and dismissed the notion right away, saying "What would tanks do there?"
Suddenly, the people stopped running, frozen where they were standing to hear the blasting guns. Hundreds of blasts were mixed with shrieking screams. It was like a dream, as if those screams were piercing my heart. After about ten minutes, the sound of guns and the laboring sound of the tanks stopped, only the sound as if the stationary tanks were starting up again. Then the chaotic sound of crying, inside the mill. The people rushed into the mill, and then stopped, shocked at the scene before them.
The asphalt-paved road inside the steel mill had a river of viscous, dark dead blood. In the middle of every person who cried together, dozens of horrendously squashed dead bodies were strewn about, next to messy piles of severed arms and legs. The rising stink of blood was retching. Hundreds of soldiers were haughtily aiming their guns at a group of men, who appeared to be the protesters. All the bodies looked like they were run over by the tanks or shot.
Soon, the people surrounded the bodies of their family and began wailing. As if there was no protest to begin with, there was only a sea of tears. The people could hear from what the protesters said: a dozen tanks and hundreds of soldiers on trucks came before the sitting protesters. The laborers were ordered to scatter, but they did not budge. Then, following a signal, the protesters fell with the loud sounds of gunfire, and the tanks rolled into the protesting ranks. Dozens of sitting laborers in the front were suddenly swallowed up into the tank's tracks. The frightened protesters screamed and scattered.
The next day, bulletins from Social Security Bureau (currently People's Security Bureau) appeared on the streets. They said the leaders of the protest who threatened the socialist system and caused a disloyal incitement would be judged in the name of the people. It was like a state of martial law, as the young soldiers with guns prowled the alleyways.
Two days later, there was another public execution of three laborers, who were supposedly the leaders of the riot, with a middle school teacher and a young woman. The crime of the middle school teacher and the young woman was to steal a radio from a Korean-Japanese who returned to North Korea from Japan. They were unlucky -- during the state of martial law, they were caught by the security bureau agents who were looking for any excuse to execute someone.
My wife was sitting in the front of the public execution, and she said among the prisoners, her eyes were drawn to the frail-looking young woman. After their crimes and the judgment of execution by firing squad were read, the two plainclothes from the Chief Security Bureau approached the woman. They struck her jaw to dislocate it, and put in her mouth a small spring held in their hand. The small, round spring stretched up, pushing out her mouth. She writhed in pain. Then she was shot several times, dying at the stake. My wife was in shock. Trembling, she could not sleep for several days.
No one in Songrim-si dared to even breathe loudly for the entire August. This is the event that is known to have been suppressed by Pyongyang's Chief Security Bureau.
직접 목격한 북한 노동자 폭동, 탱크로 밀어버린 현장은 [Nambuk Story]
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Fitness legend Jack LaLanne passed away this week at 96 years old. NPR's in memoriam of LaLanne had this interesting quote from LaLanne:
A nice example that successful Americans have some bit of Tiger Mom in them.
Remembering Fitness Icon Jack LaLanne [NPR]You know, for me, you know, I usually hit the gym around five or six in the morning. To leave a hot bed, leave a hot woman, go into a cold gym takes a lot of discipline, boy, I'll tell you. But the wonderful thing - I hate it, I've never liked to exercise, but I like results.
A nice example that successful Americans have some bit of Tiger Mom in them.
Like a Viiiiiirgin...
Dear Korean,
I've been dating a sexy 22 year old Korean for a little while now. Do young Korean men expect their wives to be virgins?
Melanie
Well Melanie, if you have to ask, that ship must have sailed already right? ;)
Do young Korean men expect their wife to be a virgin? It obviously depends on the person, but the best possible answer is: probably not.
Sexual revolution is a present tense in Korea. Although Korea has been traditionally very conservative, its attitude toward sex between unmarried young couples is changing very, very fast. But that does not mean that the change is happening uniformly, at the same pace, for everyone.
Relevant survey bears out the point about the transitional nature of the sexual revolution. In a 2010 survey that asked about how people felt about a potential spouse's sexual history, the plurality (37.5%) said: "I don't care, but it does not feel good." "I don't care at all" was next at 20.8%, then "I would hate it if my spouse had sex with someone else before me" at 15.4%. Interestingly, "I don't want to know" made a strong showing at 10.1%.
The Korean could write more, but there is nothing more that he could write that is not already covered by the excellent series at The Grand Narrative, Sex and the University. If you are still curious, go take a look.
-EDIT 1/26/2011- Comment from Mr. James Turnbull, proprietor of The Grand Narrative:
I've been dating a sexy 22 year old Korean for a little while now. Do young Korean men expect their wives to be virgins?
Melanie
Well Melanie, if you have to ask, that ship must have sailed already right? ;)
Do young Korean men expect their wife to be a virgin? It obviously depends on the person, but the best possible answer is: probably not.
Sexual revolution is a present tense in Korea. Although Korea has been traditionally very conservative, its attitude toward sex between unmarried young couples is changing very, very fast. But that does not mean that the change is happening uniformly, at the same pace, for everyone.
Relevant survey bears out the point about the transitional nature of the sexual revolution. In a 2010 survey that asked about how people felt about a potential spouse's sexual history, the plurality (37.5%) said: "I don't care, but it does not feel good." "I don't care at all" was next at 20.8%, then "I would hate it if my spouse had sex with someone else before me" at 15.4%. Interestingly, "I don't want to know" made a strong showing at 10.1%.
The Korean could write more, but there is nothing more that he could write that is not already covered by the excellent series at The Grand Narrative, Sex and the University. If you are still curious, go take a look.
-EDIT 1/26/2011- Comment from Mr. James Turnbull, proprietor of The Grand Narrative:
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.Thanks very much for that shout-out TK. Probably a much better post for this specific question though, would be this one (especially the comments).
Monday, January 24, 2011
Now Tiger Mom has its own Internet meme. Check it out. And here is another one. A selection of the Korean's favorites:
"Practice more. Suck less."
"Western moms say 'Let it be.' I say 'Make it A.'"
"Doogie was a doctor at 16. What have you done with your life?"
"Wait, did you just clench your fist? You're lucky I'm not Korean."
"Practice more. Suck less."
"Western moms say 'Let it be.' I say 'Make it A.'"
"Doogie was a doctor at 16. What have you done with your life?"
"Wait, did you just clench your fist? You're lucky I'm not Korean."
Friday, January 21, 2011
Did You Ever Have This Conversation?
Just a wee bit of background. About a month ago, the Korean's friends visited from New York. The Korean's friends wanted to have dinner together with another one of their friends. (He is not Korean. Let's call him "V".) That other friend brought a friend, who was a Korean. (Let's call her "M".) The Korean drove and picked up everyone. As we were chatting in the car, an interesting thing happened. Here is the actual conversation, as verbatim as the Korean can remember.
V: Are you going home [=Korea] for the holidays?
M: No. I'll probably go back in February. My friends will actually be available because I'm trying to go at Chinese New Year.
V: I didn't know Koreans celebrated Chinese New Year. Do Korean people call it "Chinese New Year"?
M: No.
V: What do they call it then?
M: Um... Korean New Year (laugh).
V: Really?
M: Yeah.
[Silence for about five seconds.]
TK: Actually, it's called seol or gujeong in Korea.
Now, the conversation itself is trivial. But the point that the Korean wants to make is not. Imagine what would happen if the Korean was not there. V would think Koreans call Lunar New Year a "Korean New Year," because he heard it from a Korean from Korea.
Again, V thinking that is not such a terrible thing, because who really cares what Koreans call Lunar New Year? But the Korean's point is about the manner in which V acquired that knowledge. If V and M were touching on a more serious topic, V would be badly misled.
Did M not know Lunar New Year in Korea is called seol or gujeong? No way -- everyone in Korea knows that. Why did she give the wrong answer then? Who knows? Maybe she didn't feel like saying the word and then hear V mangle the pronunciation as he repeated the word. Maybe she didn't feel like explaining the historical background or etymology of gujeong (which is actually pretty involved and can be fascinating.)
Two points from this:
1. You cannot fully trust the information you glean from a casual conversation. People are often wrong, and often do not care they are wrong. Heck, even the Korean himself is looser with research and facts in a casual conversation. A lot of people also like to emphasize something like "I heard this from college-educated Korean ..." to validate what they heard about Korea. That does not matter either -- both V and M are attorneys with graduate degrees. Didn't matter one bit.
2. More often than not, a member of a culture is not all that knowledgeable in that culture. In fact, this is a form of culturalism also -- turning a person into a representative of the person's culture, and making judgments on that culture (and by extension other people of that culture) based on what that person says or does. This is definitely true with how non-Koreans interact with Korean Americans, but also true with respect to interacting with Koreans in Korea.
Give this some thought. Is anything you think you know based on a casual conversation like this? Then it is time to reexamine that knowledge, and get a second opinion. You know whom to ask.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
V: Are you going home [=Korea] for the holidays?
M: No. I'll probably go back in February. My friends will actually be available because I'm trying to go at Chinese New Year.
V: I didn't know Koreans celebrated Chinese New Year. Do Korean people call it "Chinese New Year"?
M: No.
V: What do they call it then?
M: Um... Korean New Year (laugh).
V: Really?
M: Yeah.
[Silence for about five seconds.]
TK: Actually, it's called seol or gujeong in Korea.
Now, the conversation itself is trivial. But the point that the Korean wants to make is not. Imagine what would happen if the Korean was not there. V would think Koreans call Lunar New Year a "Korean New Year," because he heard it from a Korean from Korea.
Again, V thinking that is not such a terrible thing, because who really cares what Koreans call Lunar New Year? But the Korean's point is about the manner in which V acquired that knowledge. If V and M were touching on a more serious topic, V would be badly misled.
Did M not know Lunar New Year in Korea is called seol or gujeong? No way -- everyone in Korea knows that. Why did she give the wrong answer then? Who knows? Maybe she didn't feel like saying the word and then hear V mangle the pronunciation as he repeated the word. Maybe she didn't feel like explaining the historical background or etymology of gujeong (which is actually pretty involved and can be fascinating.)
Two points from this:
1. You cannot fully trust the information you glean from a casual conversation. People are often wrong, and often do not care they are wrong. Heck, even the Korean himself is looser with research and facts in a casual conversation. A lot of people also like to emphasize something like "I heard this from college-educated Korean ..." to validate what they heard about Korea. That does not matter either -- both V and M are attorneys with graduate degrees. Didn't matter one bit.
2. More often than not, a member of a culture is not all that knowledgeable in that culture. In fact, this is a form of culturalism also -- turning a person into a representative of the person's culture, and making judgments on that culture (and by extension other people of that culture) based on what that person says or does. This is definitely true with how non-Koreans interact with Korean Americans, but also true with respect to interacting with Koreans in Korea.
Give this some thought. Is anything you think you know based on a casual conversation like this? Then it is time to reexamine that knowledge, and get a second opinion. You know whom to ask.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Ask a Korean! News: Testing Makes You Smarter
Suck it, haters:
Long live rote memorization, long live testing!
The Korean emphasized the portion above because of its striking resonance with a point made in Waiting for Superman: Although American students are close to the bottom among industrialized countries in PISA test exams, they led the whole world in the self-assessment of their exam performance. In other words, American students did not really know anything, but thought they knew everything. This is what happens when education focuses too much on self-esteem and too little on actually learning something.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test [New York Times]Taking a test is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques....One of those methods — repeatedly studying the material — is familiar to legions of students who cram before exams. The other — having students draw detailed diagrams documenting what they are learning — is prized by many teachers because it forces students to make connections among facts.
These other methods not only are popular, the researchers reported; they also seem to give students the illusion that they know material better than they do....Dr. Kornell said that “even though in the short term it may seem like a waste of time,” retrieval practice appears to “make things stick in a way that may not be used in the classroom.
“It’s going to last for the rest of their schooling, and potentially for the rest of their lives.”
Long live rote memorization, long live testing!
The Korean emphasized the portion above because of its striking resonance with a point made in Waiting for Superman: Although American students are close to the bottom among industrialized countries in PISA test exams, they led the whole world in the self-assessment of their exam performance. In other words, American students did not really know anything, but thought they knew everything. This is what happens when education focuses too much on self-esteem and too little on actually learning something.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
On one hand, some Americans are feeding organic food that they cooked for their dogs and cats. On the other hand, 16,000 children around the world die from hunger-related issues every day. This isn't normal.
Prof. Chua's daughter Sophia wrote an article for the New York Post, styled as a letter to her mother:
Such a smart girl. She pretty much hit every single point that the Korean hit.
Why I love my strict Chinese mom [New York Post]Dear Tiger Mom,
You’ve been criticized a lot since you published your memoir, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” One problem is that some people don’t get your humor. They think you’re serious about all this, and they assume Lulu and I are oppressed by our evil mother. That is so not true. Every other Thursday, you take off our chains and let us play math games in the basement. But for real, it’s not their fault. No outsider can know what our family is really like.
...
A lot of people have accused you of producing robot kids who can’t think for themselves. Well, that’s funny, because I think those people are . . . oh well, it doesn’t matter. At any rate, I was thinking about this, and I came to the opposite conclusion: I think your strict parenting forced me to be more independent. Early on, I decided to be an easy child to raise. Maybe I got it from Daddy — he taught me not to care what people think and to make my own choices — but I also decided to be who I want to be.
...
Everybody seems to think art is spontaneous. But Tiger Mom, you taught me that even creativity takes effort. I guess I was a little different from other kids in grade school, but who says that’s a bad thing?
...
There’s one more thing: I think the desire to live a meaningful life is universal. ... To me, it’s not about achievement or self-gratification. It’s about knowing that you’ve pushed yourself, body and mind, to the limits of your own potential. You feel it when you’re sprinting, and when the piano piece you’ve practiced for hours finally comes to life beneath your fingertips. You feel it when you encounter a life-changing idea, and when you do something on your own that you never thought you could. If I died tomorrow, I would die feeling I’ve lived my whole life at 110 percent.
Such a smart girl. She pretty much hit every single point that the Korean hit.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tiger Mothers are Superior. Here is Why.
I really wanted to let this one pass until later, because I was in the middle of researching for and writing a big series on education in Korea, which would nicely lead into Korean American educational philosophy. But alas, the world does not turn the way I want. Professor Chua’s story about “Chinese” mothers did not blow over -- it blew up instead. Even in the news cycle that included the most important political assassination/assassination attempt in the last decade, Prof. Chua’s “extreme parenting” story continues to reverberate. In fact, it has a strong likelihood of becoming the defining story concerning education and Asian Americans of 2011, although the year is still very young at this point. That makes this topic simply irresistible -- so here it is.
But first, let us go through some caveats. First of all, we must be fair to Prof. Chua. If you still do not know, the original Wall Street Journal article is an excerpt from Prof. Chua’s memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. It is a memoir, not a parenting manual. Prof. Chua did not select the Journal article’s salacious title, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior.” In fact, it was not even an excerpt in a normal sense -- the article is a selection of the most sensational pieces of the book, scissored and stitched together to depict the most incendiary picture of Prof. Chua’s parenting, while the rest of the book actually discusses Prof. Chua’s movement away from such parenting.
Second, I am not trying to discuss exactly what Prof. Chua did with her daughters. Too many people were so outraged and distracted by Prof. Chua’s precise tactics (e.g. calling her child “garbage”) that they failed to see the point that Prof. Chua was making. I actually want to discuss what the Wall Street Journal headline provocatively suggested -- that is, are Chinese mothers superior?
(For the record, I found exactly nothing wrong in Prof. Chua’s methodology. It is hard to be outraged at calling a child “garbage” when I had several mop handles broken into my legs by the time I was 16, when I emigrated from Korea. The reaction of my wife was equally nonchalant: “I used to be thrown out of the house in a T-shirt in the middle of the winter if I didn’t practice violin. It didn’t scar me. People need to get over themselves.” But you don’t have to agree with us to buy into the rest of the post. Please read on.)
But let’s get our terminology straight first, because the term “Chinese mother” is misleading. In fact, Prof. Chua recognizes that she is using the term “Chinese mother” loosely. “Chinese mother” is not about the Chinese ethnicity; it is about a certain mindset present across all different races. But term is still misleading, if only because Americans, to their credit, are very concerned with remaining neutral with different races. So instead of “Chinese mother,” let’s use the other term that Prof. Chua uses -- the “Tiger Mother.”
Again, Tiger Mother can be from any country. Tiger Mothers are found in China, but also in Korea, Japan, Europe, Caribbean Islands and Africa. Most importantly, by all accounts Tiger Mothers used to be abundant in the U.S.
But here, I must give an apology for all non-Asian Tiger Moms, because I will use Asian Americans as my primary example throughout this post. The reason for this is twofold. One, I know Asian Americans well. I would love to discuss African Americans from the West Indies -- whose success is well-chronicled -- but unfortunately, I do not know enough to discuss. Two, Asian American parents tend to be homogeneous when it comes to parenting -- virtually all of them are Tiger Moms. This makes for a neat natural experiment. There are plenty of white American Tiger Moms, but it is difficult to isolate their population and examine their Tiger Cubs.
What are the characteristics of Tiger Mother? Koreans share an apocryphal myth about how mother Tigers push their cub down the cliff, electing to raise only the ones that climb back up. This is a good way of thinking about Tiger Parenting. Under a Tiger Mother, the Tiger Cub will go through what appears to be hellish, almost always against his own desire. Tiger Parenting demands excellence -- almost exclusively academic excellence, punctuated by high-brow hobby such as classical music -- from Tiger Cubs.
The precise extent to which Tiger Moms define excellence is worth mentioning. To Tiger Moms, the word “excellence” means its purest definition, not the watered-down “mark of excellence” given out for simply showing up. Excellence means perfection, or as close to it as humanly possible. Excellence means all A’s. Excellence means top awards, first place.
It must be noted that this demand for excellence is not out of some sadistic desire, but out of a staunch belief that excellence CAN be achieved. Prof. Chua described it well in her book: “Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe that their child can get them. If their child doesn't get them, the Chinese parent assumes it's because the child didn't work hard enough.”
Because excellence is constantly within reach, failure to achieve excellence always reduced to a single reason: laziness. And laziness is the greatest sin for Tiger Mothers. Prof. Chua explains: “That's why the solution to substandard performance is always to excoriate, punish and shame the child. The Chinese parent believes that their child will be strong enough to take the shaming and to improve from it.” Many people are aghast at this, because they lack the imagination to think that parents who love their children would act this way. But for Tiger Moms, not treating your child this way is a sign that they do not love their children. It means that they quit believing in their children, as there is no more potential to mine. This last point is very important. All the toughness of Tiger Moms is backstopped by love and nothing else. All the pain inflicted is not designed to kill. They are designed to strengthen.
Having said all this, let us ask the million dollar question. Are Tiger Moms superior?
Of course they are. And I will show you why, after the jump.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
But first, let us go through some caveats. First of all, we must be fair to Prof. Chua. If you still do not know, the original Wall Street Journal article is an excerpt from Prof. Chua’s memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. It is a memoir, not a parenting manual. Prof. Chua did not select the Journal article’s salacious title, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior.” In fact, it was not even an excerpt in a normal sense -- the article is a selection of the most sensational pieces of the book, scissored and stitched together to depict the most incendiary picture of Prof. Chua’s parenting, while the rest of the book actually discusses Prof. Chua’s movement away from such parenting.
Second, I am not trying to discuss exactly what Prof. Chua did with her daughters. Too many people were so outraged and distracted by Prof. Chua’s precise tactics (e.g. calling her child “garbage”) that they failed to see the point that Prof. Chua was making. I actually want to discuss what the Wall Street Journal headline provocatively suggested -- that is, are Chinese mothers superior?
(For the record, I found exactly nothing wrong in Prof. Chua’s methodology. It is hard to be outraged at calling a child “garbage” when I had several mop handles broken into my legs by the time I was 16, when I emigrated from Korea. The reaction of my wife was equally nonchalant: “I used to be thrown out of the house in a T-shirt in the middle of the winter if I didn’t practice violin. It didn’t scar me. People need to get over themselves.” But you don’t have to agree with us to buy into the rest of the post. Please read on.)
But let’s get our terminology straight first, because the term “Chinese mother” is misleading. In fact, Prof. Chua recognizes that she is using the term “Chinese mother” loosely. “Chinese mother” is not about the Chinese ethnicity; it is about a certain mindset present across all different races. But term is still misleading, if only because Americans, to their credit, are very concerned with remaining neutral with different races. So instead of “Chinese mother,” let’s use the other term that Prof. Chua uses -- the “Tiger Mother.”
Again, Tiger Mother can be from any country. Tiger Mothers are found in China, but also in Korea, Japan, Europe, Caribbean Islands and Africa. Most importantly, by all accounts Tiger Mothers used to be abundant in the U.S.
But here, I must give an apology for all non-Asian Tiger Moms, because I will use Asian Americans as my primary example throughout this post. The reason for this is twofold. One, I know Asian Americans well. I would love to discuss African Americans from the West Indies -- whose success is well-chronicled -- but unfortunately, I do not know enough to discuss. Two, Asian American parents tend to be homogeneous when it comes to parenting -- virtually all of them are Tiger Moms. This makes for a neat natural experiment. There are plenty of white American Tiger Moms, but it is difficult to isolate their population and examine their Tiger Cubs.
What are the characteristics of Tiger Mother? Koreans share an apocryphal myth about how mother Tigers push their cub down the cliff, electing to raise only the ones that climb back up. This is a good way of thinking about Tiger Parenting. Under a Tiger Mother, the Tiger Cub will go through what appears to be hellish, almost always against his own desire. Tiger Parenting demands excellence -- almost exclusively academic excellence, punctuated by high-brow hobby such as classical music -- from Tiger Cubs.
The precise extent to which Tiger Moms define excellence is worth mentioning. To Tiger Moms, the word “excellence” means its purest definition, not the watered-down “mark of excellence” given out for simply showing up. Excellence means perfection, or as close to it as humanly possible. Excellence means all A’s. Excellence means top awards, first place.
It must be noted that this demand for excellence is not out of some sadistic desire, but out of a staunch belief that excellence CAN be achieved. Prof. Chua described it well in her book: “Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe that their child can get them. If their child doesn't get them, the Chinese parent assumes it's because the child didn't work hard enough.”
Because excellence is constantly within reach, failure to achieve excellence always reduced to a single reason: laziness. And laziness is the greatest sin for Tiger Mothers. Prof. Chua explains: “That's why the solution to substandard performance is always to excoriate, punish and shame the child. The Chinese parent believes that their child will be strong enough to take the shaming and to improve from it.” Many people are aghast at this, because they lack the imagination to think that parents who love their children would act this way. But for Tiger Moms, not treating your child this way is a sign that they do not love their children. It means that they quit believing in their children, as there is no more potential to mine. This last point is very important. All the toughness of Tiger Moms is backstopped by love and nothing else. All the pain inflicted is not designed to kill. They are designed to strengthen.
Having said all this, let us ask the million dollar question. Are Tiger Moms superior?
Of course they are. And I will show you why, after the jump.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Ask a Korean! News: Picture from 1992 LA Riot
Los Angeles Times recently ran a story about the new and improved LAPD. But what attracted the Korean's eyes was this photo accompanying the article.
The LA riots predated the Korean, so he really does not know too much about it outside of a couple of documentaries and some news articles. Personal accounts and recommendations for books, etc. are welcome.
-EDIT 8/10/2011- The Korean noticed that this post gets linked out on various message boards every time there is a riot somewhere -- at this time, with respect to the London riot. The link is usually accompanies a statement like how Korean Americans were able to protect themselves with guns during the 1992 LA riot. The Korean will remind you that having guns did not prevent Korean Americans from suffering the heaviest damage as a group in the course of the riot. The Korean's own view of proper gun control is here. The Korean's more detailed view on guns and riot is here.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
These are Korean men who were trying to defend Koreatown during the 1992 LA riot. The article said:
Fortunately, progress has been made:Among the most durable and dispiriting images of that era, however, were those of Korean merchants taking to their rooftops in the opening hours of the riots, arming themselves because they were convinced that they were alone, that the LAPD would not be there for them. They were right.
Not Your 1992 LAPD [Los Angeles Times]After an evening at the station, I turned to head out. As I left, the desk officer was patiently counseling three Korean men. Dressed in suits, one of them with a notepad, they had come in with a concern. The officer spoke with them, resolved their question and shook hands all around before they turned to leave. The entire exchange was conducted in Korean.
The LA riots predated the Korean, so he really does not know too much about it outside of a couple of documentaries and some news articles. Personal accounts and recommendations for books, etc. are welcome.
-EDIT 8/10/2011- The Korean noticed that this post gets linked out on various message boards every time there is a riot somewhere -- at this time, with respect to the London riot. The link is usually accompanies a statement like how Korean Americans were able to protect themselves with guns during the 1992 LA riot. The Korean will remind you that having guns did not prevent Korean Americans from suffering the heaviest damage as a group in the course of the riot. The Korean's own view of proper gun control is here. The Korean's more detailed view on guns and riot is here.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Ask a Korean! News: Assorted North Korean News
There are a lot of news about North Korea recently that suggest the country is rotting to its core. Consider:
- There are reports that in order to allay the hunger from not receiving enough food, North Korean soldiers are eating salt as a snack. (Yes, salt. You read that correctly.) North Korea is collecting food for the military directly from civilian, which has happened only twice in the last 20 years.
- There is a massive crackdown on the widespread use of hallucinogenic drugs, led by none other than the heir apparent Kim Jong-Un. There have been crackdowns on drugs in the past, but this time involves the Security Bureau and the military -- which suggests that North Korean regime considers the drug problem to be a regime-stability issue.
Is North Korea coming to the brink? The Korean actually is not sure. His guess is that North Korea probably was in an equally bad shape during the massive famine in the 1990s, except there is more information available this time thanks to a large number of defectors, the Internet and cell phones. But of course, more information in itself could lead to regime destabilization. No matter how it turns out, we sure are living in interesting times.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
- There are reports that in order to allay the hunger from not receiving enough food, North Korean soldiers are eating salt as a snack. (Yes, salt. You read that correctly.) North Korea is collecting food for the military directly from civilian, which has happened only twice in the last 20 years.
- There is a massive crackdown on the widespread use of hallucinogenic drugs, led by none other than the heir apparent Kim Jong-Un. There have been crackdowns on drugs in the past, but this time involves the Security Bureau and the military -- which suggests that North Korean regime considers the drug problem to be a regime-stability issue.
Is North Korea coming to the brink? The Korean actually is not sure. His guess is that North Korea probably was in an equally bad shape during the massive famine in the 1990s, except there is more information available this time thanks to a large number of defectors, the Internet and cell phones. But of course, more information in itself could lead to regime destabilization. No matter how it turns out, we sure are living in interesting times.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Very, very interesting article that chronicles the history of Korean American grocers in New York. A sample:
Thanks to Edward K. for the article.
Where Did the Korean Greengrocers Go? [City Journal]In the small space on 79th and York, the Kims sold fruit, vegetables, candy, cigarettes, “anything you could squeeze in,” Ron recalls. To compete with the Upper East Side’s other retail options, they sold their goods 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Seo Jun and Sunhee covered almost the entire 168-hour week.
...
But more recently, these stores have been vanishing. The Korean Produce Association reports that it has 2,500 members in the New York–New Jersey area, down from 3,000 a few decades ago. Pyong Gap Min, a professor of sociology at Queens College and author of Ethnic Solidarity for Economic Survival: Korean Greengrocers in New York City, puts the number in the greater New York City area much lower, at fewer than 1,500. The drop has been even more pronounced in neighborhoods like Harlem and Flatbush, where Korean-owned groceries, fish stores, and produce stands once flourished.
What happened? There are two stories behind the Korean greengrocers’ disappearance. One involves a changing New York economy over the last 20 years. The other, a particularly Korean saga, is a story of how immigration can work in America—a testament to how far these new Americans have come in a single generation.
Thanks to Edward K. for the article.
Monday, January 17, 2011
50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 38. Yoo Jae-Ha
[Read more reviews from the Korean from the Library Mixer. To join, click here.]
[Series Index]
38. Yoo Jae-Ha [유재하]
Years of Activity: 1987
Discography:
Because I Love [사랑하기 때문에] (1987)
Representative Song: You in My Arms [그대 내 품에] from Because I Love
Translation Note: This is the most beautiful lyrics in this series so far, and it translates surprisingly well.
In 15 Words or Less: K-Pop's Mozart.
Maybe he should have been ranked higher because... First K-pop artist to have a music festival named after him. First K-pop artist to receive a tribute album. Legions of important K-pop artists who worship his music.
Maybe he should have been ranked lower because... Exactly one album.
Why is this artist important?
Yoo Jae-Ha only had one album released in 1987. On November 1, 1987, less than three months after his album was released, he was tragically killed in a car accident, at age 25. So how influential could he be? The Korean will give three names: Cho Yong-Pil, Kim Hyeon-Sik, Lee Mun-Se. What do they have in common? All three of them are titans of Korean pop music (and ranked on this list somewhere) and ... all three received songs from Yoo Jae-Ha, before Yoo branched out into his solo career.
Yoo Jae-Ha was arguably the first K-pop artist who had been classically trained. He majored in composition at Hanyang University, and could play piano, violin, cello and guitar. His one and only album has an iconic status among the more serious people who enjoy K-pop, as it was the first album in which the musician did everything for the album. And the Korean says everything, he means everything -- write lyrics, compose, play four instruments, master and finish the songs. Yoo's classically inspired, counterpuntal composition elevated Korea's music to another level, serving as a model for the later times. Let's see any of the inane K-pop artists of today could do that.
While Yoo's own life may have been short, he left a massive, lasting impression. Only two years after his death, his family and colleagues established a foundation that held a yearly pop music competition that awarded scholarship to singer-songwriters. Yoo Jae-Ha Music Festival still goes on today; its past winners include influential K-pop artists like Yoo Hee-Yeol [유희열] and Cho Gyu-Chan [조규찬].
In 1997, Yoo Jae-Ha was the first recipient of a tribute album in K-pop history, made for the ten year anniversary of his passing. The luminaries of K-pop such as Shin Hae-Cheol [신해철], Lee Sora [이소라] and Lee Jeok [이적] (again, all of them to be ranked in this list) gladly joined to pay tribute to Yoo. The title song of the album, composed collectively in his memory, says: 이제 그대의 작은 나무/우리에게 큰 그늘을 드리우죠/이 노래 드릴게요/이제 다시 돌아온 그대 위해 [Now your small tree/ gives us a huge shade/ we give this song to you/ who came back to us now].
If you want to talk about influence, no further words are necessary.
Interesting trivia: Kim Hyeon-Sik [김현식], another titan of K-pop and a close friend of Yoo, would die exactly three years later on November 1, 1990 from liver cirrhosis.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
[Series Index]
38. Yoo Jae-Ha [유재하]
Years of Activity: 1987
Discography:
Because I Love [사랑하기 때문에] (1987)
Representative Song: You in My Arms [그대 내 품에] from Because I Love
그대 내 품에
You in My Arms
별 헤는 밤이면 들려오는 그대의 음성
Your voice heard in star-counting nights
하얗게 부서지는 꽃가루 되어 그대 꽃 위에 앉고 싶어라
To be a crackling white pollen, sitting on your flower
밤하늘 보면서 느껴보는 그대의 숨결
Your breath I try feeling, watching the night sky
두둥실 떠가는 쪽배를 타고 그대 호수에 머물고 싶어라
To ride a fleeting boat, staying in your lake
만일 그대 내 곁을 떠난다면
Should you ever leave my side
끝까지 따르리 저 끝까지 따르리
I will follow to the end, to the end of ends
내 사랑 그대 내 품에 안겨 눈을 감아요
My love you stay in my arms and close your eyes
그대 내 품에 안겨 사랑의 꿈 나눠요
You stay in my arms and share the dream of love
술잔에 비치는 어여쁜 그대의 미소
Your beautiful smile reflected on the glass
사르르 달콤한 와인이 되어 그대 입술에 닿고 싶어라
To be a smooth sweet wine, touching your lips
내 취한 두 눈엔 너무 많은 그대의 모습
Your face, too many for my drunk eyes
살며시 피어나는 아지랑이 되어 그대 곁에서 맴돌고 싶어라
To be a quiet spring haze, circling around your side
만일 그대 내 곁을 떠난다면
Should you ever leave my side
끝까지 따르리 저 끝까지 따르리
I will follow to the end, to the end of ends
내 사랑 그대 내 품에 안겨 눈을 감아요
My love you stay in my arms and close your eyes
그대 내 품에 안겨 사랑의 꿈 나눠요
You stay in my arms and share the dream of love
어둠이 찾아들어 마음 가득 기댈 곳이 필요할 때
When the darkness falls and your full heart needs a place to lean
그대 내 품에 안겨 눈을 감아요
You stay in my arms and close your eyes
그대 내 품에 안겨 사랑의 꿈 나눠요
You stay in my arms and share the dream of love
You in My Arms
별 헤는 밤이면 들려오는 그대의 음성
Your voice heard in star-counting nights
하얗게 부서지는 꽃가루 되어 그대 꽃 위에 앉고 싶어라
To be a crackling white pollen, sitting on your flower
밤하늘 보면서 느껴보는 그대의 숨결
Your breath I try feeling, watching the night sky
두둥실 떠가는 쪽배를 타고 그대 호수에 머물고 싶어라
To ride a fleeting boat, staying in your lake
만일 그대 내 곁을 떠난다면
Should you ever leave my side
끝까지 따르리 저 끝까지 따르리
I will follow to the end, to the end of ends
내 사랑 그대 내 품에 안겨 눈을 감아요
My love you stay in my arms and close your eyes
그대 내 품에 안겨 사랑의 꿈 나눠요
You stay in my arms and share the dream of love
술잔에 비치는 어여쁜 그대의 미소
Your beautiful smile reflected on the glass
사르르 달콤한 와인이 되어 그대 입술에 닿고 싶어라
To be a smooth sweet wine, touching your lips
내 취한 두 눈엔 너무 많은 그대의 모습
Your face, too many for my drunk eyes
살며시 피어나는 아지랑이 되어 그대 곁에서 맴돌고 싶어라
To be a quiet spring haze, circling around your side
만일 그대 내 곁을 떠난다면
Should you ever leave my side
끝까지 따르리 저 끝까지 따르리
I will follow to the end, to the end of ends
내 사랑 그대 내 품에 안겨 눈을 감아요
My love you stay in my arms and close your eyes
그대 내 품에 안겨 사랑의 꿈 나눠요
You stay in my arms and share the dream of love
어둠이 찾아들어 마음 가득 기댈 곳이 필요할 때
When the darkness falls and your full heart needs a place to lean
그대 내 품에 안겨 눈을 감아요
You stay in my arms and close your eyes
그대 내 품에 안겨 사랑의 꿈 나눠요
You stay in my arms and share the dream of love
Translation Note: This is the most beautiful lyrics in this series so far, and it translates surprisingly well.
In 15 Words or Less: K-Pop's Mozart.
Maybe he should have been ranked higher because... First K-pop artist to have a music festival named after him. First K-pop artist to receive a tribute album. Legions of important K-pop artists who worship his music.
Maybe he should have been ranked lower because... Exactly one album.
Why is this artist important?
Yoo Jae-Ha only had one album released in 1987. On November 1, 1987, less than three months after his album was released, he was tragically killed in a car accident, at age 25. So how influential could he be? The Korean will give three names: Cho Yong-Pil, Kim Hyeon-Sik, Lee Mun-Se. What do they have in common? All three of them are titans of Korean pop music (and ranked on this list somewhere) and ... all three received songs from Yoo Jae-Ha, before Yoo branched out into his solo career.
Yoo Jae-Ha was arguably the first K-pop artist who had been classically trained. He majored in composition at Hanyang University, and could play piano, violin, cello and guitar. His one and only album has an iconic status among the more serious people who enjoy K-pop, as it was the first album in which the musician did everything for the album. And the Korean says everything, he means everything -- write lyrics, compose, play four instruments, master and finish the songs. Yoo's classically inspired, counterpuntal composition elevated Korea's music to another level, serving as a model for the later times. Let's see any of the inane K-pop artists of today could do that.
While Yoo's own life may have been short, he left a massive, lasting impression. Only two years after his death, his family and colleagues established a foundation that held a yearly pop music competition that awarded scholarship to singer-songwriters. Yoo Jae-Ha Music Festival still goes on today; its past winners include influential K-pop artists like Yoo Hee-Yeol [유희열] and Cho Gyu-Chan [조규찬].
In 1997, Yoo Jae-Ha was the first recipient of a tribute album in K-pop history, made for the ten year anniversary of his passing. The luminaries of K-pop such as Shin Hae-Cheol [신해철], Lee Sora [이소라] and Lee Jeok [이적] (again, all of them to be ranked in this list) gladly joined to pay tribute to Yoo. The title song of the album, composed collectively in his memory, says: 이제 그대의 작은 나무/우리에게 큰 그늘을 드리우죠/이 노래 드릴게요/이제 다시 돌아온 그대 위해 [Now your small tree/ gives us a huge shade/ we give this song to you/ who came back to us now].
If you want to talk about influence, no further words are necessary.
Interesting trivia: Kim Hyeon-Sik [김현식], another titan of K-pop and a close friend of Yoo, would die exactly three years later on November 1, 1990 from liver cirrhosis.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Korean would particularly like remind Asian American readers: please take a moment today to think about the Civil Rights Movement, and think about the debt that we all owe to Dr. King. It is thanks to his courage that we all live in current day America, the least racist country in the world.
Friday, January 14, 2011
AAK! Wiki: Non-Teaching Jobs in Korea?
Dear Korean,
I am extremely interested in living and working in Korea but the only type of job listings I can find are teaching positions. Teaching wouldn't necessarily be a terrible occupation but I am wondering if it is possible to secure a job in any other field.
Wrenn
Dear Korean,
I see you've discussed jobs as an English teacher many times, but I was wondering, could you possibly enlighten me on the job prospects of a foreigner in Korea who is not looking to teach English? I was looking to (hopefully) live and work in Korea, but teaching really isn't my thing, and I was curious as to what your advice would be going about securing a job and eventually settling in.
Jack
In order for a non-Korean to have a job in Korea, s/he should have a particular advantage over the locals. Obviously, this includes English teaching, because many non-Koreans are essentially born with English speaking skills. It also includes low-paying jobs with harsh working conditions like a deckhand on a fishing boat, because many non-Koreans have a greater willingness to work at those jobs. But readers of this blog probably are not looking to be a deckhand.
In general, a non-Korean had better have a specialized skill to get a job in Korea, like a law degree or sophisticated engineering knowledge. Beyond this, you would be straight up competing with local Koreans on their terms. For this, language barrier alone might be too high to actually break through.
But then again, the Korean has never been a foreigner looking for a job in Korea. So have your say, readers. Do you have a non-teaching job in Korea? What is it, and how did you get that job?
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
I am extremely interested in living and working in Korea but the only type of job listings I can find are teaching positions. Teaching wouldn't necessarily be a terrible occupation but I am wondering if it is possible to secure a job in any other field.
Wrenn
Dear Korean,
I see you've discussed jobs as an English teacher many times, but I was wondering, could you possibly enlighten me on the job prospects of a foreigner in Korea who is not looking to teach English? I was looking to (hopefully) live and work in Korea, but teaching really isn't my thing, and I was curious as to what your advice would be going about securing a job and eventually settling in.
Jack
In order for a non-Korean to have a job in Korea, s/he should have a particular advantage over the locals. Obviously, this includes English teaching, because many non-Koreans are essentially born with English speaking skills. It also includes low-paying jobs with harsh working conditions like a deckhand on a fishing boat, because many non-Koreans have a greater willingness to work at those jobs. But readers of this blog probably are not looking to be a deckhand.
In general, a non-Korean had better have a specialized skill to get a job in Korea, like a law degree or sophisticated engineering knowledge. Beyond this, you would be straight up competing with local Koreans on their terms. For this, language barrier alone might be too high to actually break through.
But then again, the Korean has never been a foreigner looking for a job in Korea. So have your say, readers. Do you have a non-teaching job in Korea? What is it, and how did you get that job?
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
According to a survey by Mastercard, the most favored out-of-country travel destination for Koreans was Japan: 36 percent of Koreans who were planning a travel abroad in the next six months wanted to visit Japan. Australia was next at 28 percent, then the U.S. at 22 percent.
The reverse was true also -- 31 percent of Japanese who were planning a travel abroad in the next six months wanted to visit Korea, the highest among any country.
한국인이 가장 선호하는 해외 여행지는? [Dong-A Ilbo]
The reverse was true also -- 31 percent of Japanese who were planning a travel abroad in the next six months wanted to visit Korea, the highest among any country.
한국인이 가장 선호하는 해외 여행지는? [Dong-A Ilbo]
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
America lost a hero. Major Dick Winters passed away on Jan. 2 at age 92. He was a legendary World War II leader of the Easy Company, a paratrooper company that landed on Normandy, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, rescued people from the Dachau concentration camp and took Hitler's mountain retreat in Austria, the Eagle's Nest.
His WWII heroics was chronicled in the HBO series Band of Brothers, which is the Korean's favorite TV show of all time. He had such a man-crush on Major Winters that when Damian Lewis -- the actor who played Winters -- showed up in a new NBC show (which was really crappy,) the Korean followed the show just for the purpose of watching Major Winters. Alas.
His WWII heroics was chronicled in the HBO series Band of Brothers, which is the Korean's favorite TV show of all time. He had such a man-crush on Major Winters that when Damian Lewis -- the actor who played Winters -- showed up in a new NBC show (which was really crappy,) the Korean followed the show just for the purpose of watching Major Winters. Alas.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
