What do Korean Last Names Mean?

Dear Korean,

What do Korean last names mean? I mean, I know most of them come from dynasties—but what does Kim mean? Pak? Cho? And others? I can't believe they exist sui generis!

The Mexican

The Mexican strikes again!

Here in AAK!, the most important policy is that the Korean will do whatever the hell he wants with this blog. The second most important policy is this: whenever Gustavo Arellano, i.e. the Mexican, i.e. the owner of ¡Ask a Mexican! and the inspiration for this blog, sends a question to this blog, that questions gets answered as soon as possible, no matter how long the line is and no matter what the question is. That is right, the Korean has answered numerous questions about Korean names before, but what does it matter? When the granddaddy of all "Ask" blogs asks your blog a question, you answer. That's it.

So what do Korean last names mean? Let's put it this way: Korean language has a Chinese backbone, as just like English has a Latin backbone. In other words, while there are plenty of Korean words that have a stand-alone meaning in Korean, a lot of Korean words have a meaning that one must refer back to Chinese to understand -- that is, those words are Sino-Korean. Sino-Korean words tend to appear in clusters in a given word group. For example, Korean law tends to be heavily laden with Sino-Korean, just like American lawyers speak of a sui generis action that should be so obvious that it is res ipsa loquitur, for example.

Name is another area in which Sino-Korean tends to dominate. Although pure Korean names are gaining popularity in the last several decades, the overwhelming majority of Korean names are Sino-Korean. In fact, this type of questions hits the Korean's inbox fairly frequently:  I have a Korean name; what does my name mean? (In most cases, the questioners are adoptees who are attempting retrace their roots.) And usually, the Korean's answer is:  unless you know the what Chinese characters were used for your name, the Korean can't really say what your name means.

Korean last names are 100% Sino-Korean. That is, all Korean last names have an underlying Chinese character. So the meaning of Korean last names are basically the meaning of the Chinese characters underlying those last names.

Having said that, here are the ten most common Korean last names, the underlying Chinese characters, and what they mean:

• 김 [金] [Kim] - Gold.
• 이 [李] [Lee] - Plum tree.
• 박 [朴] [Park/Pak] - Magnolia tree.
• 최 [崔] [Choi] - Pinnacle.
• 정* [鄭] [Chung/Jung/Jeong] - "Zheng" (name of a Chinese kingdom.)
• 정* [丁] [Chung/Jung/Jeong] - Large nail (as in hammer and nail.)
• 정* [程] [Chung/Jung/Jeong] - To count
• 강 [姜] [Kang] - Ginger.
• 조* [曺] [Cho] - Group, companion.
• 조* [趙] [Cho] - "Zhao" (name of a Chinese kingdom.)
• 윤 [尹] [Yoon] - To rule.
• 한* [韓] [Han] - Korea.
• 한* [漢] [Han] - "Han" (name of a Chinese kingdom.)
• 임* [任] [Im] - To be in charge.
• 임* [林] [Im/Lim] - Forest

*Chung, Cho, Han and Im/Lim are interesting oddballs -- each of those last names actually has two or more different Chinese characters, which are pronounced the same way in Korean.

So there you have it, Mexican. Catch you next time.

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

More on China's Forced Repatriation of North Korean Defectors

Here are some more tidbits on the North Korean defectors front.

- Graduates of Yeomyung School, a South Korean charter school for North Korean defector children, created the most successful online petition to date. At www.savemyfriend.org, a petition to the officials of the United Nations, European Union and the United States has garnered more than 127,000 signatures so far. Please take your time to sign the petition, and share them on your Facebook and Twitter. It will only take a minute.

Cha In-Pyo (center) protesting in front of the Chinese embassy.
(source)

- Backed by the Save My Friend movement, superstar actor Cha In-Pyo and other celebrities organized two protests in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul, on the 18th and on the 21st. National Assemblywoman Park Seon-Yeong has been holding a hunger strike in front of the Chinese embassy since the 21st as well; she plans to continue until China announces that it will treat North Korean defectors as refugees. There are also candle light vigils being held in various cities of Korea.

- The Chinese government is stonewalling. There are reports that nine of the 28 North Korean defectors were already repatriated, although other reports say they are still in China. The Chinese government has refused to verify the whereabouts of those defectors. In a regular briefing held on the 24th, Chinese government official only repeated that China has been handling the issue "in accordance with domestic law, international law and humanitarian principles." When asked which humanitarian principles were followed when China previously repatriated North Korean defectors, the spokesman only repeated that China has been keeping with the principles.

- Korean government is considering what may end up being an extremely helpful measure: issuing temporary South Korean travel certificate to any North Korean defector in China. With the travel certificate, even if the defector is arrested by Chinese police, s/he can credibly claim that s/he is a South Korean citizen. Even if the claim is less than completely credible, it may provide enough cover for the Chinese police to receive bribes and let the defector go. (Apparently, right now the going price is 100,000 yuan per person -- approximately $16,000.)

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

Which Direction is Korean Written?

Dear Korean,

Is Korean written left to right or top to bottom?

Kathy R.

It can be both. Like other East Asian scripts like Chinese or Japanese, Korean script may be written horizontally or vertically. But in today's Korea, overwhelming majority of Korean is written horizontally, to be read from left to right.

An article from Chosun Ilbo, dated July 9, 1970 about bus companies.
The headline is written horizontally, while the body is written vertically.
(source)

Several decades ago, Korea's newspapers generally employed vertical writing. But that practice was abandoned for the most part by early 1990s. In contemporary Korea, vertical writing in Korean can only be found in old books and newspapers, some scattered old-school literary journals, and decorative materials.

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

What is Korean's Onomatopoeia for English Speaking?

Dear Korean,

I have a Korean workmate who has a desk next to me at work. I was asking him about Korean onomatopoeiae, then I asked him: "When you were a kid were there any nonsense words that you used to pretend to speak English? He said no at first but then I pressed him a little. The he said: "Well, we do, but I'm too embarrassed to say them in front of you." So my question is: What are the nonsense words that Koreans say when they are pretending to speak English?

A. Marris

It's either "swalla swalla" (as if saying "swallow" with the last syllable changed,) or "shalla shalla". This onomatopoeia is not limited to mimicking English sound -- it is used to describe nearly all foreign languages.

A straightforward answer for a straightforward question. If only every question that hits the Korean's inbox were like this.

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

Scattered Thoughts on Jeremy Lin

Unfortunately, the Korean has been handling the most amount of responsibility he has ever handled as an attorney in the last two weeks, right as the whole Jeremy Lin saga has been unfolding. There are several draft posts about Lin that sit in the blog's box, but the Korean figured it was better to air out some of the half-formed thoughts for now rather than trying to write something two months after the fact.

- Lin in the NBA Store.  Last week the Korean was in New York, and stayed at a hotel that was across the street from the NBA Store. The first thing you would see as you stepped into the NBA store would be two rows of Jeremy Lin jerseys ($250 each!), and two salespersons holding up $50 Jeremy Lin warm-up shirts because they ran out of shelf space. And those things were flying off the rack. Unbelievable.

- Other Lin-related New York adventures.  At a restaurant in New York, the bartender asked if the Korean received a lot of love because of Lin. Sure, why not -- we are both over 6 feet and around 200 pounds. In the following dinner, a white New Yorker friend adamantly insisted that Lin was a better passing point guard than everyone in the NBA except Steve Nash -- in other words, better than Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo and Ricky Rubio. The Korean had to tell his friend that he was nuts, and the Korean did not appreciate the fact that his friend made him a race traitor.

- Jeremy Lin on the Lakers?  When Lin graduated from Harvard and was lighting up John Wall in the NBA summer leagues, the Korean wished that Lin would sign with the Korean's favorite team, the Lakers. Looking back, Lin is very fortunate that he did not sign with the Lakers. The New York system under Mike D'Antoni is perfect for him.

(More after the jump.)

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

AAK! PSA: Stop China's Repatriation of North Koreans

First, a little bit of background. As Kim Jong-Un attempts to consolidate his power in North Korea, one of the new regime's focus has been arresting as many North Koreans in China as possible. Right now, North Korea has sent into China a task force of covert agents numbering in the thousands -- a scale simply unprecedented -- who would pretend to be North Korean defectors, only to rat out true defectors to the Chinese police. The Chinese police arrests these defectors and repatriate them back to North Korea. Once back in North Korea, these defectors will face near certain deaths in gulags out of hard labor and starvation. Recently, there was an arrest of 28 North Korean defectors in China, who will be repatriated back to North Korea in just a few days. Right now, even as we speak, these defectors are essentially facing a death penalty if they are sent back to North Korea. Some of the defectors' families in South Korea (who defected before this group of defectors) are pleading that if these defectors are to be sent back to North Korea, they are better off killing themselves in the Chinese prison.

Mr. Joo Seong-Ha, whom regular readers of this blog would know well, decided to do something about this situation. Below is his plea regarding this issue, translated into English. Mr. Joo is hoping that the social services networks worldwide would be plastered with this message, so that the Chinese government would hopefully think twice before condemning North Korean defectors to certain death.

The Korean knows that a lot of AAK! readers came to this blog because of the peerless insight of Mr. Joo. If you learned anything new about North Korea thanks to one of his posts, you owe him -- and now is your chance to return the favor. It will not take much to put up this message on Facebook, Twitter, LinkdIn, or any other social network to which you belong. Please, please carry this message forward. You may end up saving lives. Thank you.

*                  *                  *

Our appeal to the Chinese government and the international community for help. Please stop the repatriation of North Korean defectors! Forced repatriation is ultimately a death sentence.


Please help save the lives of North Korean defectors who are about to be repatriated by The Public Security Bureau of China. The defectors including minors are crying out for help, saying they’d rather die in China than be repatriated. Please help us stop the inhumane repatriation by the Chinese government. Compulsory repatriation will only result in cruel torture, persecution, and public execution. We ask the Chinese government and the global community to help in our effort to protect the human rights and save the lives of the innocent.

From February 8th to the 13th, 28 North Korean defectors were arrested by the Public Security Bureau agents in three cities near the Chinese border. The first group had 10 people (4 men and 6 women) arrested in Shenyang, the second group consisted of 9 people arrested in Yian-ji, and the third group had 12 people arrested in Changchun. Reportedly, the 10 people detained in Shenyang contacted with their family in South Korea by the phone.

The refugees escaped from North Korea for many different reasons. They had to suffer extended period of financial crisis, wide-spread starvation, electric power shortage, ‘guilt-by-association’ political system, absence of freedom of speech, travel or relocation, and violence against women and children. Some refugees escaped from the prison camps, while others left their country to meet with their families who had settled in South Korea. Most of the refugees want to come to South Korea but a few of them want to start a new life in other countries like the United States, the U.K. and Canada.

The arrested defectors will go through 7 to 10 days of investigation before their repatriation. Therefore, the 10 people arrested in Shenyang are now facing immediate deportation. For a decade, the Chinese Bureau of Public Security has postponed the repatriation until the international community diverts their attention to other issues, and has so far repatriated over 10,000 refugees. The Chinese government is now evading negotiation on this matter with ambiguous answers, saying they cannot confirm the arrest of 28 North Koreans.

Recently, the North Korean government ordered a harsher crackdown on escapees during the 100 days of mourning period for Kim Jong-Il. After repatriation, the defectors will be sent to political prisoner camps and their chances of public execution are imminent. In the prison camp, their human rights of will be cruelly abused as they are subject to forced labor, involuntary abortion, physical violence, sexual assault, public execution, torture, medical experiment and lack of hygienic care. Even though North Korea joined the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and inserted additional ‘respects and protections of human rights’ article into the constitution, it has never followed or adhered to any of the rules.

Most of the refugees want to come to South Korea, and many of them have families already residing in South Korea. For instance, one of the refugees under arrest is a teenager boy who does not have any family or relatives in North Korea but has a brother and a sister in South Korea. In this case, he is a full citizen of South Korea and the South Korean government has the right to ask the Chinese government to send him to South Korea.

Kim Jong-un and his government must admit the sovereign default and the abuse of human rights of its citizens. As a leader, Kim should help promote the well-being of his citizens rather than promote the death of his people.

North Korean defectors left their country due to poverty, autocracy, and many other political reasons. So, their escape from North Korea and their desire to settle in South Korea prove that they qualify for the status of refugee or asylum seeker prescribed by the international law. The Chinese government agreed to the UN’s Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and the UN Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK stipulates ‘the principle of non-refoulement’ that the North Korean defectors seeking asylum should not be put back to dangerous situation. Therefore, the Chinese government must stop the forced repatriation and allow the refugees to continue their lives in other countries.

In an effort to show their opposition to North Korea, the families of the arrested refugees are abstaining from food and drinks, and appealing to the Chinese government while also trying to reach out to the international community. In one extreme case, a father of an arrested female refugee stated that he would rather have his own daughter killed by poison than taken back to North Korea. Her repatriation will only lead to indefinite torture eventually ending with public execution. 

We urge the Chinese government to protect the basic human rights and the lives of all human beings. Also, we encourage the Chinese government to understand and realize the importance of freedom and democracy for all people. Repatriation will cause long and painful suffering to the family members of the refugees. Tens of thousands of people in North and South are already feeling guilty as they failed to save their family. Please help us stop this pain and injustice. 

We appeal to all the people of conscience around the world, including worldwide news media, governments, leaders, and organizations. Please raise public awareness of the North Korean refugee crisis and the devastating effect of the Chinese government’s unjust repatriation. Please help save the lives of North Korean defectors. Show your love for humanity!

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

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Do You Know This Book?

Dear Korean,

I'm trying to locate a 72 page book/manuscript entitled "5-18, the Kwangju Incident" by Arnold A. Peterson, circa 1990. Do you know where I can find a copy, or can you suggest others that I could ask?

Bill D.

That's a toughie. Fortunately, enough well-learned Korea heads visit this blog, so someone might know. Enlightened readers, got anything?

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

Dog Meat, and Cultural Conquistadors

The Korean has already touched upon dog meat in Korea in a previous post, which is one of the most frequently read posts on this blog. But because the post attempted to cover both the facts about Korea's dog meat consumption, the Korean's own opinion, and additional questions regarding that topic, it has become a bit unwieldy.

Recently, the BusanHaps magazine ran a couple of stories about dog meat. The second story was written by Ms. Frankie Herrington, who wishes to abolish dog meat from Korea. The Korean figured that this would be a good chance to present a cleaner and more focused argument about why dog meat consumption in Korea must not be banned, and about how dog meat abolitionists -- both Korean and non-Korean -- are making things worse by standing in the way of reasonable regulations. Haps was gracious enough to allow me to submit the story, which is reproduced below. (Warning:  it's long.)

Just a couple of points to make before we get into the op-ed. The story has been up on the Haps magazine for about three days now, and the discussion in the comments section has been, ahem, lively. In the Korean's opinion, the two takeaways from the discussion on the board so far are:

1. CARE, one of Korea's leading animal rights organizations that opposes regulating the dog meat industry, essentially confirmed the Korean's point in its comment:

"The reality is: passing the Animal Protection Law does very little in terms of enforcement and punishment of cruelty to animals. This is a sad reality. We can prove this by pointing to the fact that dogs are still hanged for food and crammed into cages during transportation, despite clear language in the APL saying it is forbidden. So, why support the APL? Because doing so sends a message of opposition to people who abuse animals. We want to deter people from acting cruelly to animals, even if the law has no real biting power.

Regulating the dog meat industry would also do very little in terms of changing the industry to more humane standards. If the government were to make dog meat "legal" and "regulated," it would be sending a message of compliance; i.e. it is OK to eat regulated dog meat "because the dogs are riased [sic] and killed humanely.""

As discussed in the op-ed, the Korean's point was that animal rights groups, including CARE, are not actually in the business of improving animals' lives; rather, they are in the business of culture war. By this comment, CARE frankly states that it approaches legislation as a means to send messages, rather than as a means to actually improve the lives of meat dogs.

2.  It is self-evident from the exchanges in the comment section which side of the debate is more serious and level-headed, and which side is hyper-emotional and irrational. Except for a few high notes struck by CARE (which the Korean does appreciate) and one or two other commenters, the behavior of the anti-dog meat crowd has been a display on everything bad about discourse on the Internet.

Having said that, the full op-ed is available after the jump.

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

AAK! PSA: Donate Bone Marrow!

The Korean will give the floor to Debbie Kim:

Dear Korean,

I am hoping that you get a chance to read this email. My name is Debbie Kim and I am writing today to ask a favor.

I'm from the suburbs of Chicago and a boy at our church, who's family I have known for a long time and who battled ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) a few years ago has now been diagnosed with a rare form of another cancer - Myeloid Proliferative Disease. The reason I write is because he needs a bone marrow donation or he will die. For the past 10 days he has undergone extremely high doses of chemotherapy to hopefully destroy any remaining cancerous cells. The next step is to wait if he goes into remission and if he DOES go into remission, he will need a bone marrow transplant immediately. They have tested members of his family, including his parents and his sister and they are not a match. The best chance for patients like Andrew is your own family but if not, typically people within your ethnicity are the next best chance. But there have been cases of non-similar ethnicity matches. So we are trying all venues to get as many people to join the registry with hope that we will find a match. For whatever reason, Asian Americans (or for any ethnic minority) the number of registrants are extremely low. We held a drive at our church this past week and had about 200 people sign up (myself included :)) but want to increase the chances of a match by as many means as possible.

Joining the registry is not something to be taken lightly and more information can be found at www.bethematch.org. Also joining the registry means you are in the database to be matched to anyone in the world, not just our friend Andrew. That being said, joining the registry is very easy - just 4 cheek swabs with a kit with cotton swabs that can be sent directly to your house.

I am reaching out hoping that you can post something to encourage people, especially Asian Americans to join the Bone Marrow Donation Registry at Be The Match (www.bethematch.org). If you need anymore specific information or would like to talk to the families directly, please let me know. I can do my best to answer any questions or direct you to who can best answer them.

Below is the blog for Andrew and his updates. I've also included another blog for another little boy who is also in desparate need for a bone marrow transplant - the heartbreaking piece of this story is they found a match earlier this month but the donor (from Japan) backed out.

http://andrewsfightonestepatatime.blogspot.com
http://www.savingconnor.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/savingconnor

Please, please- even if I get one person to join, that is one more person on the registry who can potentially save a life. I have a child who also has been in the hospital for heart surgeries and I share in the pain and sorrow this family is going through. If it was my child going through this, it would not be beneath me to be begging in the streets with a q-tip looking for a match - so I do this on their behalf and beg you to get the word out.

Thank you,
Debbie Kim

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

Outer Edges of Korea's Racism, and the Tourist Rule

Dear Korean,

I would like to visit Seoul and spend a little bit of time being a tourist over there. One of my good friends from high school wanted to possibly come along if we can work out a time period to do so. However, some of what I have read about Korea's situation with ESL teachers and tourists in general has me somewhat unsure of whether or not it would be a good idea to bring him along.

My question to you is to what extent would bringing him along not be a good idea? There are certain specific cases I have seen written on the Internet suggesting that South Koreans are, generally speaking, somewhat less tolerant of darker skinned people, at least when they work as English teachers. There is also a popular news video I watched about a white tourist from Canada and a South Asian tourist from Indonesia (I believe) having vastly different experiences asking passerbys in Seoul for directions. Seeing how we would both just be there as tourists, and I fully intend on not acting like the generic "dumb tourist" with the map in my hand looking all confused, do you think I might have an issue buying tickets for an exhibit, being served at a restaurant, etc... if I bring along my dark-skinned friend?

Landon G.

First, the video that Landon mentioned is very much worth a look.

Beyond this video, there is no shortage of materials on the Internet discussing racism in Korea, including this blog. Allow the Korean to be quite clear about this: racism in Korea is real. If you are of a different race in Korea, you will be treated differently. That is a fact. But at the same time, the lack of experience that people have with Korea tends to distort the perspective of just how bad racism in Korea is. Like Landon, a lot of people have a problem putting Korea's racism on a scale. This results in a lot of unnecessary worries.

This is not an easy subject for the Korean to write, because he knows firsthand that the racial majority will never have the full understanding of the racial minority. The Korean is a minority in the U.S., and a majority in Korea. The difference of his experience in the two countries -- especially when it comes to how he is perceived, talked about, and treated by other people -- is an uncrossable ocean. If he was not the same person, the Korean in Korea would never understand the Korean in America.

This, in turn, means that the Korean is not fully cognizant of the entire experience that non-Koreans undergo in Korea. Not only does he not know, but also he cannot know, except for occasional glimpses gleaned from what he reads and reflected back into his own experience. This makes it a perilous venture for the Korean to describe the scale of racism in Korea. A lot of non-Asian-Americans are surprised to find out that "Where are you really from?" is quite annoying for Asian Americans. Similarly, as a member of the majority race in Korea, the Korean cannot describe the every last details on the contours of Korea's racism.

What the Korean can do, with reasonable certainty, is this: set the outer edges of Korea's racism. He cannot describe every corner of the realm that is racism in Korea, but he can at least tell you where that realm ends. That alone should have some value. Again, the Korean would emphasize that Korea's racism is real. But it is ludicrous for anyone to worry about, say, getting pelted by stones on the streets of Seoul just because one has the wrong skin color.

(More after the jump)

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

The Korean's Epistemology: Avoid Truisms, Take Some Risks

Here is another attempt at a running series that may or may not continue. This series will be about more general discussions about epistemology (i.e. study of knowledge,) and how the Korean prefers to approach learning about the world.

This installation of the series was sparked by a Wall Street Journal story about French parents that the Korean shared on his Facebook. An excerpt, just to make sense of the exchange that followed:

The French, I found, seem to have a whole different framework for raising kids. When I asked French parents how they disciplined their children, it took them a few beats just to understand what I meant. "Ah, you mean how do we educate them?" they asked. "Discipline," I soon realized, is a narrow, seldom-used notion that deals with punishment. Whereas "educating" (which has nothing to do with school) is something they imagined themselves to be doing all the time.

One of the keys to this education is the simple act of learning how to wait. It is why the French babies I meet mostly sleep through the night from two or three months old. Their parents don't pick them up the second they start crying, allowing the babies to learn how to fall back asleep. It is also why French toddlers will sit happily at a restaurant. Rather than snacking all day like American children, they mostly have to wait until mealtime to eat. (French kids consistently have three meals a day and one snack around 4 p.m.)

Why French Parents Are Superior [Wall Street Journal]

Upon seeing this link, a reader commented:

It's called neglect and letting the babies cry it out method that has just been proven to be not so great for them and it might even lower their IQ's. What we need is a nice middle. Also, each kid is so different. I could take my first one to a restaurant no problem from when she was a baby, but the second one? She has a very active mind and body all it's own so hard to enjoy a nice sit down meal at a restaurant.

The Korean objects to this comment. But first, he would caution that this post is about epistemology, not about child-rearing or the French. The Korean's objection is about the intellectual approach to the topic of French child-rearing, not about the topic of French child-rearing itself.

The Korean's objection is this:  expressions like "nice middle" or "each kid is so different" do not move the ball forward. Those are truisms that describe everything and explain nothing. Every decision to be made in the world involves some type of balance-finding. Every individual unit -- be the unit a country, a car, a child, or whatever -- bears some kind of difference compared to another individual unit. These are obvious truisms that we already know. Re-asserting these propositions, without doing more, does not add to our knowledge of the world.

These are the questions that do move the ball forward -- where is that "nice middle"? What does the "nice middle" look like? How do we get to that point? If we must balance numerous competing values, exactly where should we strike that balance? What are the principles involved in striking that balance? As to "each individual X is different" -- how much do those differences matter? Are there any unifying themes or trends that connect those individuals? If we do connect those individuals based on those themes or trends, what lessons do we gain, and what things do we lose sight of? Do we lose too much by adopting an overarching theme, such that the overarching theme cannot be applied to those individuals from which the theme was inductively derived?

These are the questions that matter, because these are the questions whose answers truly advance human knowledge. To be sure, those answers may end up reaffirming the truism. For certain issues, for example, the the degree of differences found in individuals may overwhelm any attempt to derive a general rule. When a reader asks the Korean, "There is this one Korean guy I like. What can I do to attract him?", the Korean simply answers: "Do something that he likes." In that situation, the Korean believes that is the right answer -- as far as affairs of the heart goes, the variation among individuals is just too large to derive a general rule that is applicable to a particular individual without fail, even within a relatively defined group of individuals. (In this case, Korean men.) But this is not the same thing as the vacuous, "every person is different" wave-of-the-hand. Exploring a path to find a dead end is not the same thing as abdicating the journey altogether.

Take some intellectual risks! Don't be afraid to chase an idea down a rabbit hole, and form your own ideas and theories. Actually pursue those ideas and write essays, instead of fleetingly thinking of something and flinging the half-formed thought on another pile of Internet comments. Don't be afraid to have those ideas aired out and exposed to relentless criticisms. And when you encounter an idea that you dislike, do not dismiss it by retreating to the comfortable position behind those meaningless truisms. Charge forward, swing your intellectual weaponry, and engage your sparring partners by giving your answers to those questions that matter and telling why his answers to those questions are wrong. That's how we learn anything truly new.

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

What Kind of Technology is Available in the Military?

Dear Korean,

I have a Korean boyfriend and he is in the military service now. But we haven't contacted each other since last year. It's been more than a year since he went into service, and I wonder why he doesn't send me emails or never even called me even once. So, the question is, IS TECHNOLOGY ALLOWED INSIDE THE MILITARY? I just wonder why its been a year but I never heard anything from him.

Military Girlfriend

Answer: it depends on the base. A lot of bases now have regular Internet access, although a lot of them (particularly those on the front line) do not. Completely free Internet access is generally not available, given the understandable security concerns.

After the four-week basic training is over, the soldiers are generally free to use the phone after the day's schedule is over. And of course, if it has been a year, the boyfriend in question would have already had one or two regular furloughs. So, given that Military Girlfriend has not heard from her guy for over a year, the Korean would say it is safe to assume that she no longer has a boyfriend.

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

Ask a Korean! News: Racial Tension Flaring in Dallas

Oh boy:

The African American community in Dallas has been protesting a gas station run by a Korean-born U.S. citizen in a predominately black neighborhood in South Dallas for over a month, taking issue with what they claim were racial remarks by the station’s owner.

. . .

According to the ministry and the local Korean community, the conflict occurred on Dec. 9, 2011, between the Korean-American owner of a gas station in southern Dallas and a black customer over the sale of gas.

The customer, complaining that the price of gas at the station was much higher than at other stations, demanded he be able to buy gas by smaller amounts than what the owner set as the minimum sales unit. The owner refused and told him to go to another station, to which the customer responded by telling the owner to go back to his country. The owner responded by telling the customer to go back to Africa.

That triggered a boycott of the gas station by the black community in the region, followed by them speaking out against Korean and other Asian immigrant communities.

African Americans in Dallas Target Korean Business [New American Media]

There are other reports that Korean American gas station owner called the customer names first. There are also other reports that the gas station owner is not exactly a first time offender with this incident. Fortunately, Korean American groups moved quickly once this made news -- the president of the Federation of Korean Associations USA, the umbrella group for all the regional Korean American groups, plans to meet with the NAACP on this issue.

The Korean has no interest in the pointless exercise of trying to parse out who said what first. The only point to be made here is this: a lot of Korean Americans, particularly first generation immigrants, have a long way to go in terms of catching up with the way mainstream America feels about racism. Addressing this issue is a task for other Korean Americans, because we are the ones best suited to deal with this issue. 

Was the African American customer wrong to yell at the gas station owner, "Go back to China"? Sure. But the proper response is simply to note the point and move on. It is not productive to lecture other minority communities about what they should or should not do, particularly when it is undeniable that a lot of Korean Americans operate their businesses while having their noses held up on their darker-skinned customers. Avoid the temptation of the dumb tribalism -- which, it must be said, tempts the African American community just as much as it does Korean community -- and get our own house in order first.

-UPDATE Feb. 5, 2012- The gas station owner publicly apologized on a Dallas radio program, attended by African American civic leaders like city councilman Eric Johnson. The Korea Society of Dallas also donated 500 winter coats to NAACP as a gesture of goodwill. Reportedly, there are still a few people picketing the gas station, but the situation is now unlikely to escalate.

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

Today, TK Learned:

. . .that sooner or later, big law firms will get their revenge for allowing their associates to have a Christmas break, and a super-sized linkage post will have to suffice when one has to justify one's salary.

• So THIS is how you mummify Kim Jong-Il. [New York Times]
• And THESE are the kinds of people who will bow before Kim Jong-Il. [Time]
• Good overview of the recently deceased Kim Geun-Tae, arguably the most respected among all of Korea's democratization activists. [Busan Haps]
• The answer: I hope to God they do not. The question: Will Girls' Generation succeed in America? [The Atlantic]
• New Jersey Supreme Court now has a Korean American justice. [Philly.com]
• There are now two Korean American generals in the U.S. military. [Korea Herald]
• The reason why the idea that Groupon was a multi-billion dollar company was stupid. [Bloomberg]
• "I'm not a racist. I eat tacos!" [The Atlantic]
• La mere tigre. [The Economist]
• Having harsh immigration law in your state = arrest Mercedes-Benz executive who was visiting your state to inspect his company's factory in your state. [NPR]
• Study shows class sizes do not matter for achievements. They could have saved money and simply look at Korea's public schooling system, which crushes international exams while having 40 to 50 students in a class. [Washington Post]
• For the first time, Korea's two largest parties have women chiefs. [The Peninsula]

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

Ask a Korean! News: Coffee in Korea -- Some Statistics

There is an interesting new set of statistics about Korea's fervor for coffee, which was discussed in a recent post on this blog. Basically, the Korean's observation that gourmet coffee exploded in the last five years was correct. Between 2006 and 2011, the number of gourmet coffee shops increased nearly 10 times, and the revenue of gourmet coffee shops increased nearly 17 times.

There has been a 15% increase in the total consumption of coffee between 2006 and 2011 such that by 2011, every Korean over 15 years of age drank 1.4 cups of coffee every day. Although the vast majority of coffee consumption still comes in the form of instant coffee mix, between 2006 and 2011 the consumption of coffee beans increased by 19.2% every year.

Most importantly (for the purpose of showing the spread of high-end coffee,) the increase of high-end coffee consumption is coming from outside of Seoul. In the five largest cities in Korea after Seoul, the number of gourmet coffee shops increased by 24.1%, and their revenues by 96.8%. The same numbers for Seoul is 2.3% and 45.2%. Even within Seoul, the increase is not coming from the posh parts of the city, but from the grungier neighborhoods like Dobong-gu and Gangbuk-gu.

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

Ask a Korean! News: Thousands of Anti-Regime Fliers Found in Cheongjin

If North Korea falls in the next few years, remember this moment: reports from North Korea say that thousands of fliers denouncing Kim Jong-Un appeared in several locations in the city of Cheongjin. The fliers directly denounced Kim Jong-Un, saying "Down with Kim Jong-Un" and "There is no future with Kim Jong-Un." The paper quality of the flier was poor, which likely means that the fliers were made within North Korea. North Korean regime blockaded all roads in and out of Cheongjin, trying to find the culprit.

If there should be serious anti-regime movement, Cheongjin, the third-largest city in North Korea, may well be the epicenter of such movement. Cheongjin is an industrial center far away from Pyongyang, with a decent-sized middle class who is privy to outside information flowing from the nearby Rajin-Seonbong special economic zone.

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

Happy Lunar New Year!

Hope you all had a delicious bowl of rice cake soup, and some sweet cash for bowing to your elders. Here are some old posts about Korea's celebration of lunar new year, and here is one about how North Korea celebrates the lunar new year.

-EDIT- To add a few questions about lunar new year . . .

Dear Korean,

As you may know, Chinese New Year is around the corner and it is widely seen as one of the largest annual celebrations in the world. It got me thinking, is Korean New Year (Seollal) celebrated among Korean's as widely as Chinese New Year among the Chinese? Or has it fallen out of practice like other traditional holidays?

Kevin B.

The Korean is not sure about calling lunar new year as "Chinese New Year" or "Korean New Year," but at any rate, seollal is still very much widely celebrated in Korea.

Dear Korean,

I'm a Korean American who immigrated to the U.S in late 1980. Maybe I'm wrong or just can't remember, but I'm pretty certain that people didn't celebrate Lunar New Year in South Korea back in the 1970s during Park Chung-Hee times. Would you happen to know when Lunar New Year became a holiday in South Korea?

Sae

The answer is: 1989.  The Korean previously described the vacillation between solar and lunar new year in Korea. Short version of the story is that, although Koreans traditionally celebrated lunar new year, Japan imposed solar new year in the period leading up to the colonial times. But even after the liberation in 1945, Korea could not completely make up its mind about how many holidays to assign on each new year's day. In 1954, Korean government officially relegated the lunar new year to a regular working day, and instead made solar new year's day a three-day holiday. Subsequent Korean governments tried their best to get Korean people to celebrate the solar new year, by claiming that "double new year's day" [이중과세] was wasteful, and solar new year's day was more modern. This policy continued until 1985.

Promotional cartoon from Korean government, circa 1981
The old man is trying to direct people toward the lunar new year,
but over the shining buildings at the end of the road toward
the direction of "solar new year," it says "Modernization."
(source)

But old habits refused to die. In 1985, Korean government made an awkward compromise by designating lunar new year's day as "Folk Tradition Day" [민속의 날], and made it a one-day holiday. In 1989, Korean government finally relented and restored lunar new year's day as the proper "New Year's Day" [seollal, 설날], which was to be a three day holiday. The solar new year's day instead became a two-day holiday. Finally, in 1999, the solar new year's day became a one day holiday, and that is the system that is currently in use.

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

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 22. Kim Chu-Ja

[Series Index]

22.  Kim Chu-Ja [김추자]

Years of Activity: 1969-1988

Discography:
Before It's Late [늦기전에] (1969)

Kim Chu-Ja Stereo Hit Album No. 1 [김추자 스테레오 힛트 앨범 No.1] (1970)

Kim Chu-Ja Stereo Hit Album No. 2 [김추자 스테레오 힛트 앨범 No.2] (1970)

Stereo Hit Album No. 3 [스테레오 힛트 앨범 No.3] (1971)

After Tonight [이 밤이 가면] (1972)

Beautiful Sunday (1973)

Kim Choo Ja (1973)

Where Should I Go (1974)

Kim Choo Ja (1974)

Now (1974)

Deserted Island [무인도] (1974)

Kim Choo Ja (1980)

Kim Choo Ja Vol. 1 (1980)

Kim Choo Ja Vol. 2 (1980)

The Way [가는 길] (1980)

Blow, the Wind [불어라 바람아] (1980)

Kim Chu-Ja Comeback [金秋子 컴백] (1988)

Representative Song:  It's a Lie from After Tonight

거짓말이야
It's a Lie

거짓말이야
It's a lie
거짓말이야 거짓말이야
It's a lie, it's a lie
거짓말이야 거짓말이야
It's a lie, it's a lie
사랑도 거짓말 웃음도 거짓말
Love is a lie, smiles are lies too

거짓말이야
It's a lie
거짓말이야 거짓말이야
It's a lie, it's a lie
거짓말이야 거짓말이야
It's a lie, it's a lie
사랑도 거짓말 웃음도 거짓말
Love is a lie, smiles are lies too

그렇게도 잊었나
Is it really forgotten like that
세월따라 잊었나
Forgotten with the time
웃음 속에 만나고
Met in the smiles and
눈물 속에 헤어져
Parting in the tears
다시는 사랑 않으리
I will never love again
그대 잊으리
I will forget you

그대 나를 만나고
After you met me
나를 버렸지 나를 버렸지
You left me, you left me
거짓말이야 거짓말이야 거짓말이야
It's a lie, it's a lie, it's a lie
거짓말이야 거짓말이야
It's a lie, it's a lie

In 15 words or less:  Queen of the 70s; Korean pop music's first sex symbol.

Maybe she should have been ranked higher because . . .  Few other artists have dominated a decade like Kim Chu-Ja did.

Maybe she should have been ranked lower because . . .  She did not create her own music.

Why is this artist important?
Kim Chu-Ja ruled the 1970s. This short and simple statement is quite enough to describe the entirety of Kim Chu-Ja's spectacular career. To be sure, her career was greatly helped by the genius of Shin Joong-Hyeon, who supplied the trend-setting psychedelic and soul music. But like with Lee Sora, the vessel of creativity matters. Without Kim Chu-Ja, Shin Joong-Hyeon could not have realized his vision either.

And boy, did Kim ever realize Shin's vision. Until Kim Chu-Ja, pop music in Korea featuring a woman was an ossified formula of the Japanese-influenced trot music sung in high pitch by a woman who was standing still, like a plastic mannequin with a voice box. Take, for example, the album cover of Lee Mi-Ja, the epitome of Korean female trot singer who preceded Kim Chu-Ja by about five years:

(source)

In contrast, take a look at Kim Chu-Ja's album cover.

(source)

And of course, this one.

Dayam!
(source)

Even in the conservative Korea of the 1970s, everything about Kim Chu-Ja was sexy. Her sultry, breathy voice charged Shin Joong-Hyeon's songs with implied debauchery. Unlike the emaciated female celebrities that would come to dominate the scene for the next 20 years, Kim Chu-Ja had plenty on her body that she was not afraid to show off in her dances. She wore tight jeans or mini skirts, with cleavage-boasting tops to boot. In short, Kim Chu-Ja was Korea's first female pop star who overtly used her sex appeal.

That is not to say that Kim Chu-Ja was no greater than the cheap pretty dolls that litter the Korean pop music scene today. Ultimately, it was her undeniable musical talent that made her the icon of the decade. But awakening the raw animal spirit that still animates Korean pop music to this day was Kim's defining achievement. If you got into K-pop because of KARA's butt dance, you have Kim Chu-Ja to thank.

Interesting trivia 1:  Kim's song It's a Lie was banned by the military dictatorship, on the allegation that it instigates distrust. The military government also suspected her dance in It's a Lie to be a hand signal for North Korean spies.

Interesting trivia 2:  When Kim refused the marriage proposal by her manager, her manager struck her face with a broken bottle. She received over 100 stitches and six plastic surgery operations as a result.

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

Pop Music Disappointments, and K-Pop

The Korean saw this some time ago:  12 Extremely Disappointing Facts about Popular Music. Just to give a few samples:

• Flo Rida's “Low” has sold 8 million copies – the same as The Beatles' “Hey Jude”
• Creed has sold more records in the US than Jimi Hendrix
• Katy Perry holds the same record as Michael Jackson for most number one singles from an album

The Korean found this to be pretty illustrative of what matters in K-Pop also. No one in his right mind would claim that "Low" is just as significant as "Hey Jude," or Katy Perry is better than Michael Jackson somehow, because the history of Anglophonic pop music is very well known. Yet if an alien landed on Earth tomorrow and studied the Earth's biggest pop stars by simply relying on album sales, she may come to the ghastly erroneous conclusion that puts Creed on the same plane as Hendrix.

The same goes to K-pop. Non-Korean fans of K-pop may well be an alien who just landed on Earth, because the full history of the pop music in Korea is not yet available in English. But know this: Korean pop music is much, much bigger than the pretty faces that are being pushed by media companies with hot stock prices. As there was the Beatles before Michael Jackson, and Elvis before the Beatles, there was Seo Taiji before Dongbangshinki, and Shin Joong-Hyeon before Seo Taiji, with countless other talented artists in between who shaped the course of Korean pop music.

The Korean hopes to have an opportunity to have a full exposition on the history of pop music in Korea in the near future. In the meantime, let's try to have some perspective as we enjoy the music.

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

Suicide in Korea Series: IV. How Suicide Spread in Korea

[Series Index]

The last post discussed the global sociology of suicides, and how its implications are entirely applicable in Korea. In fact, one of the lessons that can be gleaned form the last post is this:  there is nothing particularly "cultural" about Korea's trend of high suicides. This is an important point, because many observers like to make all kinds of arguments about Korea based on Korea's high suicide rate. This is a mistake -- common humanity is quite enough to explain the entirety of Korea's trend of high suicides. The global phenomenon of suicides clearly show that Korea's high level of suicide was something to be expected out of a country that rapidly industrialized. Every single country in the world has seen a dramatic rise in suicide rate as it industrialized. Every single country in the world that industrialized later than others saw its suicide rate faster than the countries that industrialized earlier. It would defy common sense if Korea was an exception.

This does not mean, however, that the precise way in which Korea came to have such high rate of suicide is uninteresting. As long as we do not draw the wrong conclusion -- i.e. Korea is culturally predisposed to high suicides -- the manner in which Korea experienced increased suicide is worth exploring. So in this post, we will take a discursive look at how suicide spread in Korea in the last 15 years or so.

I.  Middle-Aged Men After Post-East Asian Financial Crisis

As the Korean explained in the previous post, if there was anything surprising about Korea's suicide trends, it was that the rate of suicide was extremely low as the country developed economically in the 1980s, not that the rate is as high as it is today. As recently as 1995, Korea's suicide rate was 10.8 per 100,000, lower than the current-day OECD average of 11.1 per 100,000. But by 1998, Korea's suicide rate exploded to 18.4 per 100,000. And it is safe to say that this astonishing rise is entirely due to East Asian Financial Crisis, which completely destroyed most of then-existing social safety nets in Korea.

(More after the jump.)

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