Why are Korean Names Two Syllables?

(To read more about Korean names, here is a list of all posts related to Korean names.)

Dear Korean,

I want to know what the deal with the two syllable names. After almost 8 months of teaching and living here in Korea 99.9% of the names I come across are two syllable names. Why the two syllables all the time? And why is it ok to break that rule sometimes?

Jo-Anna

Jo-Anna is correct that most Korean names are two syllables, like, for example, Jin-yeong [진영]. Why the two syllables? 

Actually, this question was partially answered in the previous post that explained dollimja [돌림자]. To recap: generally, Koreans follow a convention in which they use one of the syllables to signify the generational level, and the other syllable is given as the "true" name. Thus, a traditional Korean "given" name ends up being two syllables: one to show your generational level, the other your "true" name.

Dollimja tradition is somewhat weakened today, but the convention for two syllables stayed. For Koreans, it just looks normal for a given name to have two syllables. So even in case of a given name that do not follow the dollimja system, Koreans tend to name their children with two syllables. For example, purely Korean names, by definition, do not follow dollimja, because dollimja requires Chinese characters. Yet even Korean people with purely Korean names tend to have two-syllable first names. (E.g., Ha-neul [하늘] or Na-rae [나래]).

Deviation from this rule can come in two forms: a single-syllable given name, or a given name with 3+ syllables. Single-syllable name is generally still in the dollimja framework. Certain clans (e.g. Yangcheon Heo [양천 허씨]) consciously reject the "generational syllable," and name their children with a single syllable. Certain others name their firstborn son with the generational syllable only (without a "true" name,) to signify that the child is the first of the generation.

On the other hand, given names with 3+ syllables--which are extremely rare--are almost always a result of the parent's attempt to use a purely Korean word. For example, in 1997 there was a notorious kidnap-murder case involving an 8-year-old girl. Although a murder of an 8-year-old is a sensational news under any circumstance, the murdered girl's name was so unusual that it stayed with Korean public's consciousness like the way Jon-Benet Ramsay's name stayed with American public consciousness. The girl's name? Take a deep breath: 박초롱초롱빛나리, a given name with whopping seven syllables.

Interestingly, because the two-syllable convention is so strong, even Koreans with 3+ syllable given names are usually compelled to use a two-syllable nickname. (For example, in a lot of official forms in Korea, there are only two spaces to fill out one's first name.) The murdered 8-year-old was also known as 박나리, taking the last two syllables of her name.

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

Your One-Stop Guide to Korean Dialects

Dear Korean,

Could you give us a primer on the dialects of South Korea's provinces/areas?

Cactus McHarris 

Certainly! Korea is known as a very homogeneous country, and to some degree it is true. It has been a single country for thousands of years, and it is mostly comprised of a single ethnicity. Yet in other respects, Korea has a great deal of regional variations across the peninsula--and regional dialects are a great window into those variations.

Before we get started: if you cannot read Korean characters, it would make sense to review this post, which provides an overview of how to read Korean alphabet.

First, we should get a sense of how regions are divided in Korea. By "regions," the Korean means a sub-area within the country that is recognized to have similar dialects, cuisines and culture. (E.g. the American South, Japan's kansai.) Let's take a look at this map.

(source)

This map shows Korea's administrative districts, which roughly correlates with Korea's cultural regions. Broadly speaking, there are six regions in Korea:  Seoul/Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chuncheong, Yeongnam, Honam and Jeju. Seoul is the city in the center of Korean Peninsula, in blue; Gyeonggi is the province that surrounds it, colored in olive. Gangwon is the large province to the east of Gyeonggi, colored in tan.

Chungcheong region is in the immediate south of Gyeonggi, and encompasses the two provinces (i.e. Chungcheongbuk-do and Chungcheongnam-do) colored in orange and red. Moving further south, Honam refers to the two provinces of Jeollabuk-do and Jeollanam-do, colored in light and dark purple. Yeongnam refers to the two provinces to the east to Honam, i.e. Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do (colored in light green and yellow.) Finally, Jeju is the large island south of Honam, colored in blue.

Each region of Korea displays a great deal of variation in food, temperament, manners, politics and language, in the form of dialects. We will take a look at the dialects of each region in turn, after the jump. Please be mindful that this is a broad overview, rather than the most precise description. Warning -- unless you have basic knowledge of Korean, much of the rest of the post will be gibberish.

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

Ten Most Influential Korean Movies

Dear Korean,

What are the ten most influential Korean movies?

Sam J.

This highly worthy question has been languishing for years in the Korean's inbox for one simple reason: the Korean is not a big movie person. Sure, he likes movies, and Korean movies. But he cannot write about Korean movies in a way that he could write about, say, Korean pop music.

When in doubt, call in the experts. Pierce Conran, with his blog Modern Korean Cinema, has been providing an excellent resource for devotees of Korean movies abroad, with movie reviews, box office figures and discussions about contemporary issues in Korean movies. And he graciously agreed to enlighten the readers with his top 10 list.

So without further ado, here is Mr. Conran's top 10 most influential Korean movies, after the jump.

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

Can Non-Asian Foreigner Succeed in the K-pop Scene?

Dear Korean,

How ready do you think Korea is for a foreigner in the K-pop scene? My definition of a foreigner in Korean market would be someone who isn't Korean and does not look visibly Asian.

Maria J.

The Korean would point out the vaguely racist quality of this question first. "Foreigner," from the perspective of Koreans, has its own definition: anyone who is not Korean. The Korean has no idea why Maria J. had to twist that word and narrow its coverage to someone who "does not look visibly Asian." But be that as it may...

This type of question has been coming in fairly frequently, apparently because a new girl group called The Gloss has a white French girl named Olivia as a member. So is Korea ready for a non-Asian foreigner in its music scene?

Try this for a size:  the number one band of K-pop in 2012 has three members, all of whom young men. Two of this band's members are Korean, but one is not. One of them is a white man from America, named Brad Moore. Mr. Moore has been quite visible in all of the band's activities (including music videos and show programs,) and his whiteness or non-Koreanness has never been a subject of discussion in Korean people's appreciation of the band.

The band's name? Busker Busker.

The Korean is not joking when Busker Busker was the number one K-pop band of 2012. They deserve the moniker based on any serious metric. Busker Busker sold the most number of albums in 2012 in Korea, and their songs were the most downloaded. (They sold significantly more songs online than PSY in 2012 Korea, even with PSY's Gangnam Style.) The band also placed six different songs in the top 10 of Gaon Chart (the most authoritative chart for K-pop) through 2012, and five songs in the top 10 of Billboard's K-pop chart. Busker Busker also took home three Korean Music Awards for 2013, including Best Pop Album and Best Pop Song. In the cafes of Seoul last year, it was practically impossible to avoid Busker Busker's songs, like 벚꽃 엔딩 ["Cherry Blossom Ending", the video above] or 여수 밤바다 ["Yeosu Night Sea"]. And this wildly successful band had a highly visible white member, who is the drummer for the band.

Does this mean that the next non-Asian foreigner will be inevitably successful, or be able to completely avoid Korea's racism? Of course not. But Busker Busker's success is still a significant data point. The number one band of K-pop in 2012 had a member who was a non-Asian foreigner, and Korean pop music scene hardly made a fuss about it. That should have answered the question before it even made its way to the Korean's inbox.

It is fair to wonder if non-Asian foreigners can succeed in the K-pop scene. But it is strange to see that, in discussing this topic, no one among the supposed devotees of Korean pop music brings up the fact that K-pop's number one band has a white member, and it has been that way for a whole year. Maybe they would have noticed if they stopped distracting themselves with shitty music.

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

Looking for Korean Language Tutor in Washington D.C.

Dear Korean,

I am learning Korean and my formal classes at the Korean Cultural Center begin later this year. In the meantime, I would like to immerse myself in dialogue outside a class/ study environment and in the casual setting of the summer social scene.

I am outgoing & meet lots of young-adult Korean-Americans but they do not speak Korean. Am I correct to assume that newly arrived Korean-speaking young adults are very scarce. So, finding a tutor at a university may be too formal but that's the best option I can think of, what do you think?

American Learning Korean

There is an even better option: put out an APB through this blog! If you are interested in becoming a Korean language buddy with ALK, reach out to her at aaraliesels@gmail.com. (The email is posted here with the questioner's permission.)

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

Good Korean Beer is Just Around the Bend

The Korean just returned from another trip to Korea, and he is ready to make a bold prediction:  good beer from Korea is just around the bend.

If the Korean were asked to pick the most significant change in Korea in the past five years, he has an easy winner:  coffee. In the last five years, Korea's coffee went from the range of terrible-to-average, to the range of average-to-pretty-darn-good. To be sure, coffee in Korea is still on the expensive side, easily topping KRW 5,000 for a cup of good drip coffee. But five years ago, good coffee was simply unavailable in Korea, regardless of the price. Starbucks was the only option for a decent cup of coffee, and for many, Starbucks stretches the definition of "a decent cup of coffee."

Not so today. Coffee in Korea, and especially in Seoul, compares favorably to any large American city associated with good coffee. The Korean would dare say that coffee in Seoul is head and shoulders better than coffee in Washington D.C., where he lives. The coffee quality improved outside of Seoul as well. The Korean was able to get a solid cup of espresso near his grandmother's small town, where, just 20 years ago, the Korean Grandmother lived in a house without indoor plumbing. This progress was so remarkable that the Korean came up with a hypothesis connecting liberal education and the progress of coffee.

Korea's beer is ready to make a similar leap. If Korea's coffee was terrible-to-average five years ago, Korea's beer was abominable-to-tolerable just a year ago. The state of beer in Korea was so awful that the Economist took note:  "brewing remains just about the only useful activity at which North Korea beats the South."

But that is about to change. As the Economist noted, a large part of the problem was the governmental regulations that enabled the duopoly of Hite-Jinro and OB in Korean beer market. Together, the two companies hold more than 96% of Korea's market share for beer. However, responding to the Economist article, Korea's National Assembly will soon pass a series of legislation that will slash down those regulations so that microbrewers in Korea will face lower taxes to import the ingredients for beer and distribute the final product. Currently, a brewer must have a minimal capacity to produce 120,000 litres of beer in order to apply for a wholesale license. The new law will halve the minimum required capacity. Also, brewers currently face 72% tax; for microbrewers only, the tax will be lowered to 30%.

Korean people's taste for beer is ready for the change as well. Five years ago, even the imported bottled beer selection was limited to Budweiser, Miller and Heineken, save a few hip bars. Now, regular grocery stores in Korea carry Warsteiner and Hoegaarden. In trendy parts of Seoul, it is not difficult to find a selection of craft beer that would make the hipster bars of Lower East Side green with envy. The logical next step is good local brews, and there are several Korean microbrewers ready for the challenge, such as 7brau and Kapa Brewery. The infrastructure of establishing more microbreweries and distributing different kinds of beer--such as wholesale of brewing equipments--is also taking root as we speak.

So, the prediction: in five years, the beer scene in Korea will be nothing like the one we see today. It will have a diverse selection of interesting beers, brewed in Korea. The revolution is well on its way; when it is completed, you will hardly remember that Korea once was a beer wasteland.

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

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Time Expressions in Korean

Dear Korean,

Anyway I'm after some metaphors involving the concept of 'time' in the language. So far I've gathered:

시간에 쫓기다: 'to be chased by time'
때를 놓치다: 'to miss an opportunity'

The idea behind the sentences is that Korean views time as something to capture or be chased by, likened to an animal in a prey-predator relationship. Can you think of any other examples along the same vein?

Cana X

This is a rather interesting question. Rather than confining the answer to whatever he could think of on his own, the Korean decided to open this question up for a little bit of crowd-sourcing. Korean-speaking readers: what other time-related expressions in Korean refer to time as if it were an animal?

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

Tiger Mothers: Still Superior

Recently, there was an interesting study that revisited the efficacy of Tiger Parenting. Su Yeong Kim, associate professor at University of Texas, sought to quantify and measure whether Tiger Parenting was indeed effective. This is how Kim defined Tiger Parenting:

For Kim’s study, parents and children answered questions during the children’s adolescence about their parenting styles. The vast majority of parents were foreign-born in Hong Kong or southern China, with relatively low educational attainment and a median income of between $30,001 and $45,000 in each of the study’s three phases, spaced out equally over eight years. Three-quarters of their kids were American-born. The study controlled for socioeconomic status and other potentially confounding factors. 

. . . 

Adolescents and parents rated the parents on several qualities, for example, “act loving, affectionate, and caring,” “listen carefully,” and “act supportive and understanding.” Warmth, reasoning, monitoring, and democratic parenting were considered positive attributes, while hostility, psychological control, shaming, and punitive measures were considered negative. These characterizations would be combined through a statistical method known as latent profile analysis to determine Kim’s four parenting profiles: Those scoring highest on the positive dimensions were labeled “supportive;” those scoring low on both dimensions were deemed “easygoing;” “harsh” parents were high on negative attributes and low on positive ones, and “tiger” parents scored high on both positive and negative dimensions.

Poor Little Tiger Cub [Slate] (emphasis added)

The result? "[T]iger moms produced kids who felt more alienated from their parents and experienced higher instances of depressive symptoms. They also had lower GPAs, despite feeling more academic pressure."

As the Korean was reading the article, he could practically hear the cheers and see the tears of joy of the many, many haters of the Tiger Parenting idea. When the Korean wrote the post Tiger Mothers are Superior, the reaction was swift and angry as hell, especially from Asian American. Many significant Asian American bloggers and writers spilled much digital ink claiming that Tiger Parenting was in fact inferior, and and was responsible for all the bad things that happened in their lives. Wesley Yang found notoriety through his New Yorker article, talking about how he heroically defied the yoke of Asian culture upon himself and told younger Asian Americans to do the same. Kim Wong Keltner, in her book Tiger Babies Strike Back, kvetched about how she grew up having "no idea how to connect with other people." So, what does the Korean think about this development? Is he ready to change his mind about the benefits of Tiger Parenting?

Hardly. Tiger Mothers are still superior. And here is why.

(More after the jump.)

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

Ask a Korean! News: Japan Didn't Really Change

The Korean is having a very busy stretch, but he cannot let this one slide:

Osaka Mayor and Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) coleader Toru Hashimoto refused Wednesday to back down from his comments about the necessity of the “comfort woman” system during the war or the desirability of legal brothels in Okinawa for U.S. military personnel.

. . .

On his advice to American officials in Okinawa earlier this month that U.S. military personnel should make more use of sex establishments as a way of controlling their sexual urges, Hashimoto said he did not tell the U.S. that it should use such facilities, or to build such facilities, noting it was only a suggestion.

Hashimoto sticks to guns on sex slaves [Japan Times]

When the Korean wrote the long series on Korea-Japan relations to explain why Koreans are still angry with the Japanese, a lot of people responded:  "Today's Japan is a very different place from the Imperial Japan during World War II. So Koreans should just get over it."

Is it now? Today's Japan has a mayor of a major city, who is considered a potential future Prime Minister, telling the world that sex slaves are necessary in times of war and the U.S. forces in his own country should visit brothels more often. Today's Japan has a Prime Minister who is a grandson of a Class A war criminal. But rather than having a heightened consciousness about his country's past crimes, he sits in an airplane with the number 731--clear invocation of Unit 731, which conducted live human experimentation during World War II--grinning and giving a thumbs-up. 

The fact that these two leaders think Japan did nothing wrong during World War II was hardly a secret. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo announced to the world that he would withdraw Japan's apology to former Comfort Women, and denied that Imperial Japan forcibly recruited the Comfort Women to serve as sex slaves. Yet the Japanese people overwhelmingly elected Abe, as well as the candidates for the far-right Japan Restoration Party, to which Mayor Hashimoto belongs.

By the way, the former Comfort Women are still holding their weekly protest in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. They have been protesting every week, without fail, for more than 20 years. Commemorating the 1000th Wednesday Protest, this is what the Korean wrote:

The Japanese people I know are wonderful, kind, artistic, gritty and civic-minded people, worthy of deep admiration. But the longer this takes, I cannot draw myself away from this appalling conclusion:  Japan, as a whole, does not think it did anything wrong to these women. I desperately want to believe that the Japanese people are not amoral monsters, who would rather play the cynical waiting game until all of the former Comfort Women die away. But each time the Wednesday protesters are turned away, each time the Japanese Embassy protests a statue commemorating the Comfort women, my faith in human decency, common among all people of all places and times, gets chipped away little by little.

With these two latest scandals, the Korean's faith in the decency of the Japanese people took a very large hit. Did Japan really change? You tell me.

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

AAK! PSA: Fundraiser for Deceased Korean Expat

Dear Korean,

I know this isnt usually your standard fare, but recently our friend Kevin Andresen from the UK has passed away in Korea, an article about which is here. As you can imagine, it is super expensive to send his remains home, so we have started a fundraising website (http://www.gofundme.com/2vigbc) to help us and his mother.

Liam

If you are inclined, please visit the site and donate to help.

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

Why So Many Korean Missionaries?

Dear Korean,

Christianity in Korea is a complex subject, but I have a simple question: why are there so many Korean missionaries?

Mati

Short answer:  it was born that way.

But let's back up a bit first. It is absolutely true that there are a great number of Korean Christian missionaries. Korea sends more missionaries abroad than any other country except for the United States. According to Korea World Missions Association, an umbrella organization for Korea's Protestant missionaries, more than 23,000 Korean missionaries are proselytizing abroad as of January 2012. The top five destinations are China, United States, Japan, the Philippines and India.

So why so many Christian missionaries from Korea? One obvious reason is that Christianity is a significant presence in Korea. According to the official governmental survey in 2005, nearly 30 percent of Koreans were Christians. Among them, approximately 12 percent were Catholics, and 18 percent were Protestants. (For reference: 46.5 percent of Koreans do not have any religion. After Christianity, Buddhism is the biggest religion, as nearly 23 percent of Koreans are Buddhists.)

But more importantly, Christian churches of Korea are enthusiastic about sending missions because missions were the vehicle through which Korea's Christianity began. One must remember that Christianity in Korea has a history of nearly two centuries. Catholicism arrived at Korea in the early 1800s, and the first Korean priest (St. Andrew Kim Taegon, who is also the patron saint of Korea) was ordained in 1845. Protestantism arrived at Korea a bit later, but it was just as successful. The Pyongyang Revival of 1907 was attended by so many people, whose faith was so intense, that Pyongyang came to be known as the "Jerusalem of the East."

Two centuries is a long time, but not quite long enough for people to forget the origin of their faith. Nearly all major congregations in Korea can trace its origin to a missionary who came to Korea in the early 19th century. In addition, for decades after Korean War, Korea saw a constant stream of American missionaries who came to provide humanitarian aid in the war-torn country, and assist the development of Korean churches. 

Thus, missionary work is deeply embedded in Korean churches. It was how they were born, and how they were raised. It is only natural, then, that these congregations would consider serving missions to be one of the most important duties as Christians.

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

Still Think Asian Pop Stars Can't Go Mainstream?

Dear Korean,

I am an avid reader of Korean pop news. I know this might be old, but popular Kpop stars such as BoA and Se7en are planning to enter the US mainstream market. Some people have deep doubts about their ability to make it. I, being a skeptic and cynic, too have my doubts. But a part of me wonder, if cross-cultural singers such as Ricky Martin can go mainstream, why can't us Asians? What do you think the problem is? Is it the cultural difference that block Kpop artists way to the Grammy's or is it racism? A friend of mine mentions how Kpop music is "behind" in mainstream America because the idea of pop idol stars', boy band's, girl band's era are over. And BoA and Se7en carries the "dead pop" act that is widespread in Korea that is essentially "old-fashioned" in America. But how the hell do you explain the ugly and painful phenomenon that is the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus?

Slightly Confused Non-Crazy Fangirl

This email is from February 23, 2009. Yes, the line of unanswered question is actually that long. More than 1,400 questions, accumulated over four years, about which the Korean thought worthwhile to write a post. By the way, this question is not even the oldest question in the queue--that honor belongs to a question sent to the Korean on September 26, 2008.

Now, about the question itself. If you are wondering, no, the Korean is not planning to answer this question. This guy made the question moot:

(Come on, play it one more time, for old time's sake. 1.5 billion people did it already.)

In the early stages of K-pop, so many critics argued that K-pop could only be a limited attraction within Asia. Others mistakenly took a crabbed view of K-pop, reducing it to upbeat dance music performed by pretty young things--which became another reason why K-pop could never succeed in America. They made all the same points that the questioner raised--that K-pop was too staged, too behind, too Korean, too Asian.

Oh, how they were wrong. We now have a K-pop star, not particularly beautiful, singing entirely in Korean, who became a record-breaking worldwide sensation. Sports stadiums would play his music during breaks in the game. College marching bands would play his song during halftime, and the cheerleaders would dance his dance. For Halloween, American people would dress up not just as him, but as the entire cast in his music video. South Park episodes would feature his looks. Saturday Night Live would make a skit out of his song. He would seamlessly blend in with American icons like Madonna and MC Hammer. He would perform at the White House Christmas party, then in the center stage of the Times Square on the new year's eve.

Amazing how things change in just a few years, right? But just you wait, because K-pop's best days are still ahead.

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

50 Most Influential K-pop Artists: 14. Park Jin-yeong

[Series Index]

14. Park Jin-yeong [박진영]

Also romanized as:  Park Jin Young, JYP

Years of Activity: 1992 - present? (Last album in 2007)

Discography:
Wandering Time [떠도는 시간] (1992) (as Park Jin-yeong and the New Generation [박진영과 신세대])
Blue City (1994)
Entertainer [딴따라] (1995)
Summer Jingle Bells (1996)
Even After a Decade [십년이 지나도] (1998)
Park Jin-yeong 5th (1998)
Game (2001)
Back to Stage (2007)

Representative Song:  Elevator [엘레베이터], from Entertainer

엘레베이터

Elevator

엘리베이터 안에서 우린 사랑을 나누지

In the elevator we make love

그 누구도 모르게 비밀스런 사랑을

A secret love that no one knows

엘리베이터 안에서 우린 사랑을 나누지

In the elevator we make love

지하에서 윗층까지 벨이 울릴때까지

From the basement to the penthouse, until the bell rings

우리는 만났어 처음 만났어 우린 첫눈에 보자마자 반했어

We met, met for the first time, we fell at the first sight

흘러나오는 웃음을 참지못해 서로에게서 도저히 눈을 떼지못해

We couldn't hold the laughs, couldn't take our eyes off of each other

우리는 느꼈어 예 느꼈어 새로운 사랑의 시작을 우린 느꼈어

We felt it, yeah, we felt it, we felt the beginning of a new love

이 설레임 이 두근거림 너무나 오랜만에 느껴보는 이 느낌

This fluttering, this heart-beating, this feeling that I'm feeling for the first time in so long

하지만 더 기쁜건 더 중요한건

But the thing that's even happier, the thing that's even more important

그녀도 분명히 느끼고 있는 것 같다는 것

Is she seems like she is definitely feeling it too

그녀도 분명히 내게 반한 것 같다는 것

She seems like she is definitely into me too

이제 외롭던 날들의 끝인 것

Now the lonely days are over

그래서 우린 나갔어 헤어지기가 아쉬워서 

So we stepped out, but I couldn't let her go

저 저녁식사나라고 하려는데

So I was about to say, hey how about a dinner

그녀가 먼저 (제가 저녁 사드릴께요)

But she first goes (I'll buy you a dinner)

시간이 가는줄도 밤이 깊어가는줄도 모르고 

We forgot the time passing, forgot that the night deepening

수없이 많은 얘기를 나눴고 

Shared so many stories

서로의 맘속에 사랑이 싹트며 서로의 눈을 지그시 바라보며

Love sprouted in our hearts, we gazed into each other's eyes

식당문을 열고 집으로 가기위해 엘리베이터를 탔는데

Opened the restaurant door, to go home, we got on the elevator

엘리베이터 안에서 우린 사랑을 나누지

In the elevator we make love

그 누구도 모르게 비밀스런 사랑을

A secret love that no one knows

엘리베이터 안에서 우린 사랑을 나누지

In the elevator we make love

지하에서 윗층까지 벨이 울릴때까지

From the basement to the penthouse, until the bell rings

(여보세요)

(Hello)

(예 저 진영인데요 저 오늘 재미있으셨어요)

(Hey it's Jin-yeong. Did you have fun today?)

(예 즐거웠어요)

(Yes, I had fun)

(저 그럼 내일 또 만날수 있어요)

(Then can we meet again tomorrow?)

(왜요 또 만나고 싶어요)

(Why, you want to meet again?)

(네 저 내일 그럼 어디 갈까요)

(Yeah, so where should we go tomorrow?)

(어 63 빌딩)

(Hm, the 63 Building)

그후로 오랫동안 우린 만났어

For a long time thereafter we met

서로의 맘속에 들어갈수록 들어가서 들여다볼수록

As we got into each other hearts, as we looked into them inside

점점 더 빠져 들었어 이제 돌이킬수가 없어

We got into it deeper and deeper, can't go back now

호기심을 넘어 좋아하는 걸 넘어 사랑을 향해 다가가고 있어

Getting over curiosity, getting over liking, we are approaching love

이제는 때가 됐다 생각이 들어서 

I thought it was the right time

카페에서 마주보고 앉아 있다가 

We were sitting across from each other at the cafe

일어나서 그녀에게 다가가 우리 이제 이렇게 앉자며 옆에 앉았어

I got up, approached her, and said let's sit like this now, and sat next to her

자연스럽게 그녀의 가는 어깨 위에 살며시 팔을 올리려고 하는데

I was trying to naturally put my arm on her slender shoulders, and then

그녀가 먼저 살며시 내게 기댔어

She first quietly leaned into me

와 두 뺨에 흐르는 눈물

Wow, tears rolled down my cheeks

좋아 그럼 용기를 내서 뽀뽀를 해보기로 마음을 먹고 

Alrighty then, I got up the courage to try kissing her

눈을 맞추며 조금씩 다가가는데

We lock eyes, and get closer to each other

(박진영 씨 싸인 좀 해주시겠어요)

(Mr. Park Jin-yeong, can I get your autograph?)

그래서 나는 모든걸 잊고 깨끗이 마음을 비우고

So I forgot everything, got everything out of my mind,

카페 문을 열고 집에 가려고 엘리베이터를 탔는데

Opened the cafe door, trying to go home, and got on the elevator

(무슨 생각해)

(What are you thinking?)

(너랑 같은 생각)

(Same thing you are thinking.)

(무슨 생각인데)

(What's that?)

(엘리베이터 안에 너랑 나밖에 없다는거)

(That only you and I are in this elevator)

엘리베이터 안에서 우린 사랑을 나누지

In the elevator we make love

그 누구도 모르게 비밀스런 사랑을

A secret love that no one knows

엘리베이터 안에서 우린 사랑을 나누지

In the elevator we make love

지하에서 윗층까지 벨이 울릴때까지

From the basement to the penthouse, until the bell rings

Translation note:  63 Building, or formally known as the Daehan Life Building, was the tallest building in Korea at the time of this song--which presumably means the longest elevator ride.

In 15 words or less:  Korea's Madonna.

Maybe he should be ranked higher because...   If you consider his influence as a businessman, it is arguable that he is one of the few people who created K-pop as we know it today.

Maybe he should be ranked lower because...  What did he do musically? Did he do anything more than adding a bit of different zeitgeist?

Why is this artist important?

We all know who Park Jin-yeong is. Better known now as JYP to his international admirers, he is the head of the "big 3" entertainment companies of Korea, the JYP Entertainment. He is the guy who came up with Rain, Wonder Girls, 2PM and the like. But forget all that for a minute--because Park Jin-yeong, the artist alone, stripped of his business accomplishments, remains a very important figure in the history of K-pop.

The Korean considers Park Korea's Madonna, and the designation does not come lightly. Broadly speaking, Madonna achieved two things in her career:  she compelled people to take dance pop music seriously as an art form, and she revolutionized the portrayal of sex in mainstream music. Park Jin-yeong  achieved those same things in Korea.

History of pop music features a constant tension between the pulls in the opposite directions--the desire to elevate the music to the realm of art, and the desire to sell the music to the masses. The tension separates Nirvana and Justin Bieber, as well as Yoo Jae-ha and Girls' Generation. Like Madonna, Park Jin-yeong subverted that tension. He engaged in the "low" music, but carried himself like he was the second coming of Mozart. The title of his second album, Entertainer [딴따라], said it all. 딴따라 is a derogatory term for "entertainer," reminiscent of the grasshopper in the fable: lazy and overall useless. But Park gladly labeled himself as 딴따라, announcing to the world that he is here to make people respect him.

Park's blatant sexuality was another lightning rod. The risque depiction in Elevator was jaw-dropping for Korea in 1995. He also made waves by declaring repeatedly on television that "sex is just a game." His concerts were more like a burlesque show. Korea, at first, tut-tutted on this brash young pup. But over the next decade and a half, it was JYP who had the last laugh. He managed to become respected while staying true as an entertainer, and sex was never freer in Korea. That's some influence.

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

Korean Fact of the Day: PSY is No. 2

PSY's newest single, Gentleman, shattered the record by surpassing 100 million Youtube views in just four days. But in Korea, PSY is already old and busted. The new hotness? The legendary Jo Yong-pil [조용필]. Jo's Bounce, the title song from his newest album Hello, just took the number 1 spot on one of the Korean music charts (Bugs Real Time Chart) away from Gentleman.

By the way, Jo Yong-pil is 63 years old, and Hello is his 19th regular album. His musical achievements are enough to easily place him within top five of the most influential K-pop artists of all time. (And no, that should not be a spoiler.) There is a reason why Koreans refer to Jo as the "King of Singers" [가왕].

If you are curious, have a listen at Bounce.

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

When Korea's E-Sports was at the Brink of Death

Dear Korean,

I heard there was a huge scandal regarding E-sports about 2-3 years ago. From what I've heard, the scale of the scandal was so big that it almost put an end to the E-Sports itself. Would you be willing to explain what exactly happened back then? How did the Koreans react to the scandal?

Avid gamer

It has been more than three years since the Korean wrote the post about the popularity of Starcraft in Korea. Incredibly, it is still one of the most frequently read posts of this blog. Consider this post to be a sequel: how illegal gambling and match-fixing nearly destroyed the world's first professional e-sports league in Korea.

First, a quick review on how Starcraft became a professional sport in Korea. Starcraft was released in 1998. For a game released at that time, Starcraft had an ambitious Internet-based multi-player gameplay. This was ambitious because, at the time, it was not clear who would be able to take advantage of this multi-player design. Remember that 15 years ago, only a small portion of the world's population had Internet, and most of those who did have Internet relied on dial-up connection through the phone lines, utterly inadequate for online gaming.

(source)

Korea, however, recognized the potential of the Internet early on, and began a massive public investment in installing a fiber-optic cable network throughout the country. The result was that, by the end of 20th century, Korea had a national broadband network that boasted the fastest Internet in the world by a wide margin. Using the unparalleled Internet infrastructure, Koreans begin playing Starcraft, the best Internet-based multi-player game available. The rest is history: Korea is the forefront of the worldwide e-sports, with televised video games and professional gamers with rock star-like status.

(The lesson: government is good, and it should be in the business of picking winners and losers. If Korean government did not take the initiative in the late 1990s to invest a fortune in installing fiber-optic cables, but waited instead for private companies to build their own, would Korea be a major player in the high-tech industry that it is today? Would Korea have created, seemingly out of thin air, professional e-sports leagues, an entire new multi-million dollar market that can only grow in importance in the age of the Internet? If you say yes, the Korean has some Ron Paul presidential memorabilia to sell to you.)

Starcraft began becoming professional around 2000. Independent Starcraft tournaments began sprouting up, and cable televisions in Korea would broadcast the matches. In fact, in many cases the cable TV stations were the ones hosting the tournaments, with a prize money funded by its sponsors in exchange for advertisement placements. Soon, a pattern emerged: Korea's Starcraft leagues and players operated somewhat like professional golf--a collection of different tournaments, with varying levels of competition, prize money, and prestige.

For the next several years, the popularity of professional Starcraft leagues would grow exponentially. Then came 2007.

(More after the jump.)

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

Korean Statistic of the Day: Reusable Paper

According to Statistics Korea, 81.3% of Korean office workers re-use the paper so that both sides would be printed. While this is a desirable practice overall as a matter of conservation, re-using the paper is sometimes known to cause public disclosure of sensitive information printed previously.

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

Legalized Pot-Stepping

Dear Korean,

I've recently been getting into Korean dramas and picked The Moon Embracing the Sun as my first. In an early episode, they try to find an eligible girl for the prince to marry. In one scene they have a line of young girls entering through the palace gates and stepping on this wooden or stone thing with their right foot as part of their entry pathway. If this is part of real traditional process, why do they do this? I was thinking it might be to test their grace, as girls who slip would be instantly eliminated?

A new Drama fan.

Enough with the depressing North Korea news. Here is an obligatory installment of AAK! where the Korean, bound, gagged and with a gun pointed to his head, is forced to answer a question about Korean dramas.

 

The drama in question is 해를 품은 달, and this is the scene that the questioner is referring to:

(source)

What are the women stepping on? It is actually the lid of a very large, cast-iron pot. In a traditional Korean kitchen, it is common to have a giant pot, about two feet wide or larger, in which the rice for the whole family is cooked. The women are stepping on the lid of such a pot.

This custom was not limited to the royal court, by the way. The pot lid also made an appearance in a wedding for the noblemen. The new bride would be carried from her old family to her husband's house in a carriage, and the carriage would stop inside of the walls of the house. The pot lid would be placed at the ground next to the carriage, such that the new bride would step on the lid first before stepping on the ground.

Why? There are two theories, and either or both may be true. The first is the theory that the questioner guessed--to test the grace and balance of the women who will eventually be the queen. The grace and balance are not just for the sake of physical appearance; it was believed that a graceful walk over the lid would lead to a smooth, peaceful marriage. In the drama Queen Myeongseong [명성황후], the princess-to-be is seen slipping from the lid, portending a rocky marriage. (Remember folks--this is just a drama. There is no record as to whether Queen Myeongseong actually slipped from the lid.)

The second theory is more directly connected to superstition. The lid, for obvious reasons, represents the kitchen and the spirit residing there. By stepping on the lid, the new bride is making an acquaintance with the spirit of the new kitchen, in which she will undoubtedly spend a great deal of time. (Don't shoot me for the sexism here. The Korean is just a messenger.) Considering the more widespread custom involving the noblemen, this is probably the truer purpose of stepping on the pot lid. In fact, in case of a wedding of a noble family, the bride uses two hands to lift up the pot lid three times before leaving her house, as a way of saying farewell to the old kitchen spirit.

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

Can North Korea Back Out Now?

Dear Korean,

Are things so dire in North Korea that war is the only way out?

Paul R.

Normally, the Korean only accepts questions via email and not through Twitter, Facebook or other channels. But this question, sent via Twitter, was just so spot-on that the Korean could not resist. 

(If you have a problem with this, please refer to the AAK! Policies. It is my blog, and I will do whatever the hell I damn well please with it. Don't be surprised if you visit this blog tomorrow and suddenly run into a foot fetish porno site. You just never know.)

Let us elaborate the question just a little bit. As North Korea escalates the tension, there is a fear that Kim Jong-un is putting himself into a position from which he cannot exit without some kind of military action. The thought is: if Kim Jong-un threatens to use force, he can't not use force if he wishes to maintain any level of credibility. 

Is this true? It may well be, but no one really knows. But here is the question we can actually answer: does this have to be true? For that question, the answer is a resounding no--because North Korea previously backed off after having taken even closer step toward the brink: it actually killed American soldiers at Panmunjeom.

(More after the jump.)

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

Korea Fact of the Day: Gaeseong Industrial Complex

Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) is an industrial complex in Gaeseong, North Korea, which is developed jointly by the two Koreas:  South Korea supplies the corporations and capital equipments, and North Korea supplies the workers and the land. Every day, hundreds of South Korean workers--usually middle- and senior-managers--enter and exit North Korea to oversee the operations at the GIC.

As a part of its attempt to raise the tension in the region, North Korea has forbidden South Korean managerial workers from entering North Korea for the last six days. (South Korean workers who were at the GIC, however, were allowed to return home.) Yesterday, North Korea announced that it will shut down the GIC and withdraw all of its workers. Shutting down the GIC is probably the highest level of threat that North Korea may issue, short of actually attacking South Korea. This is because since its founding in 2005, the GIC never closed--not in the face of, for example, the shelling of Yeonpyeong-do in which North Korea actually attacked South Korean territory and killed four people.

Here is a collection of all relevant charts regarding the GIC, created by South Korea's Ministry of Unification. GIC hosts 123 corporations, which manufactured $460 million's worth of products in 2012. It employs over 53,000 North Korean laborers. Last year, nearly 246 vehicles crossed the Armistice Line from South Korea to North Korea every day to deliver supplies to the GIC.

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

"Anonymous" Hacking of NK Website Leads to McCarthyian Witch Hunt in SK

The "hacktivist" group "Anonymous" made news by hacking into North Korea's propaganda websites, and seizing control of North Korean propaganda machine's Twitter and Flickr accounts. (One important note here: regardless of what they claim, it is extremely unlikely that Anonymous hacked into North Korea, as North Korea's propaganda sites are based out China.) 

Anonymous demands that Kim Jong-un resign and install direct democracy in North Korea. At the same time, apparently in order to prove that they indeed hacked into North Korea's propaganda site, Anonymous released the information of the membership of that website--the email addresses, date of birth and other personal information of more than 9,000 members of the propaganda site.

Well, these self-proclaimed freedom fighters probably did not anticipate what would have followed. It was apparent from the email addresses that many of them were of South Korean origin. For example, more than 1,400 email addresses ended in hanmail.net, a large email servicer in South Korea. Out of the 9,000 email addresses, more than 2,000 appear to be of South Korean origin. Seizing upon this, the South Korean far-right wingers engaged in a campaign of Internet stalking to indiscriminately reveal actual names, addresses, occupations and phone numbers of the South Korean individuals who joined the North Korean propaganda site.

As of this moment, there is simply no guarantee that the email addresses that Anonymous revealed in fact belong to North Korean sympathizers. From the emails, the opposite is more likely to be the case, as many of the emails belong to South Korean news organizations. The email addresses even include South Korean National Assembly and the conservative New Frontier Party. There is also the concern that the email addresses were fake or misappropriated. Some of the emails, for example, belong to the email of the webmasters that are publicly on display on large-scale websites.

But such subtleties are completely lost on South Korean right-wingers, who consider North Korean sympathizers to be the absolute evil that must be destroyed at all costs, even if the cost include basic civil liberties for democracy. Already, several South Koreans received a flood of emails and phone calls, shouting obscenities and death threats. South Korea's Supreme Prosecutor's Office vowed to investigate the South Korean members of the site as well, turning this episode into a veritable witch hunt.

Partly because the tyranny of North Korea is so horrific, it is often lost on people that South Korea's own fascist tyranny in the recent past was not much better than North Korea's communist tyranny, and the traces of such fascism still exert strong influences in South Korea. So we might soon see the tragicomedic spectacle of more than 2,000 South Koreans lined up to be prosecuted for daring to browse through a North Korean website.

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