Korea in 1919 National Geographic.

A Dave's poster scanned in an article on Korea from a 1919 edition of National Geographic magazine. There are 25 pages in all, starting with this one. Just change the file name in the url to go to the next one. The next page would become ng26.jpg, for example. Interesting perspective, but as you know National Geographic was pretty objectionable at times in its depiction of strange places and exotic peoples. This article certainly has its moments. My favorite is the caption on page 29: "The Korean peasant woman's neck muscles are as well developed for burden-bearing upon the head as are those of the southern darky." Offensive on a couple of levels right there.

* Update: It's now available here as a .pdf file and here as a collection of images on flickr.

* Update 2: Here's another National Geographic article on South Korea from 1950, right before the war broke out.

So, um, college drop-outs can become English teachers now?

Today's Korea Times tells us:

``Some foreign students have to give up their university studies due to financial difficulties. We will invite those young English-speaking foreigners to our schools for the program,'' Hwang Ik-jung, an official at the education office, told The Korea Times. ``It is very helpful for our country as those students can be emissaries for Korea in the future.''

Talk about mixed signals. People bitch and moan all the time about quote-unquote unqualified teachers, and that term is used as a catch-all under which all foreigners' offenses fall. Foreigners sleeping with Korean women? Unqualified teachers. Foreigners taking drugs? Unqualified teachers. Foreigners earning high salaries? Unqualified teachers. Foreigners teaching private lessons, just like countless Korean teachers and college students? Unqualified teachers. Foreigners coming to South Korea at the invitation of the government and at the behest of the free market? Unqualified teachers.

Korean teachers aren't, of course, painted with the same wide brush domestically. There are plenty of legitimate gripes against foreigners here, and I make them pretty frequently, but you can't just hire white people willy-nilly with no plans in place and expect things to improve. Well, okay Korea can and probably will, but I meant to say they shouldn't. I suspect this won't sit well with the Korean Association of Foreign Language Academies, who told the Korea Times last month:

``The government is under the illusion that an unlimited number of English teachers exists overseas,’’ said Seo Jung-sook, information director of the association. ``Inviting more foreign teachers will eventually degrade the average quality of instructors and drive up costs for us.’’

and

``No hagwon owners want to work with unqualified foreigners. Most hagwon employers terminate contracts of unacceptable foreigners, those guilty of sexual harassment or taking drugs,'' general director Choi Chang-jin said.

``However, many of these `blacklisted' foreigners return and teach English at other hagwon. I have seen a foreigner, who was expelled on drug charges, return here within three days. This is because the government does not keep records on these foreigners,'' Choi said.

I already extended KAFLA an invitation to have intercourse with itself, but I'm a generous man and have no qualms about issuing another, should the opportunity present itself.


Stolen from here.

As most of us know, it was just last fall that foreign teachers---foreign teachers on E-2 visas, I mean---were the subject of a moral panic that arose when a teacher in Gwangju was arrested on child molestation charges for stuff he did in another country. We---foreign teachers on E-2 visas, I mean---were hit with all kinds of new regulations making the visa process more grueling and stringent. But because foreign teachers stopped applying---a recruiter on a Seoul Podcast episode said applicants were down by about 2/3rds---and because the teachers here started leaving, these regulations were greatly relaxed. So much so that I have no idea what they even are, and can't get any clear answers from my higher-ups at the local education office, a cause for concern since I need to renew my visa, like, soon. As I mentioned before, it's worth remembering that the Korean government went ahead and imposed all these regulations, even though foreign embassies were not equipped or interested in complying. We ought to call to mind, too, the arrogance of some officials, who had the gall to say shit like:

“I just don’t understand why [foreign embassies] cannot make some exceptions to accommodate the needs of their own nationals,” Choi [at the Justice Ministry] said. “In Korea, criminal records can be easily obtained online. But they don’t have a centralized system.”

As if South Korea has done anything of late to warrant this sort of consideration from foreign governments.

Also important to remember the statement immigration released last fall, in the middle of the moral panic:

The Korean Government will prevent illegal activities by verifying requirements of native English teacher and tighten their non-immigrant status [...] [and will] eradicate illegal activities of native English teachers who are causing social problems such as ineligible lectures, taking drugs and sex crimes. English teachers, who disturb social order during their staying in Korea such as illegal teaching, taking drugs and sex crimes, will be banned from entering South Korea.[...] [They will] prevent illegal English teaching activities and the taking of drugs and sexual harassment of English teachers, [...] teachers who disrupt the social order by taking drugs, committing sexual harassment and alcohol intoxication.

Um, that in the land where 73% of Korean men drink every day, in the land where rougly half smoke cigarettes, in the land that was labeled a "danger country for women," in the land where human trafficking is permitted to thrive and the sex trade openly plied, in the land where teachers routinely behave very badly, and in the land where private tutoring (.pdf) and after-school academies have long been part of the local culture, immigration decided to come out with that directed at a few thousand residents. Anyway, there have been all kinds of recruitment campaigns to get more foreigners in Korean schools after, paradoxically, the government and other forces had been working so hard to drive them away. Because there is little to no attention paid to how foreign teachers are to be used in schools, and because they often serve no greater purpose than window dressing, I do have to question how effective they'll be. But, given the extremely low abilities of many Korean English teachers, I suppose boatloads of foreigners can't do much worse. And given Koreans' remarkably low test scores, especially considering that education here revolves entirely around teaching toward tests, perhaps it is time for a change.

* Update: Galbijim brought up a good point:

Just wait till these guys see how little 1.6 is in this industry and how much they can make in privates or moonlighting at local hagwons and the govt realizes that they’ve created 600 teachers working illegally.

WPO poll: South Korea worst country for widows and divorcees.

The Chosun Ilbo tells us that South Korea was voted the worst country in the world for widows and divorcees, according to a poll conducted by World Public Opinion. From what I can tell the WPO poll, though, isn't exactly about measuring discriminatory treatment, but rather measuring the perception of it, and in this department South Korea was ranked worst among 17 countries. Two excerpts:

"Discrimination against widows and divorced women appears to be a phenomenon of many countries, not just some traditional cultures," says Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org. "People in most countries, including developed ones, recognize there is at least some discrimination."

Poorer treatment may take a variety of forms. In less developed countries, women's rights and development experts have long noted that wherever the wife has trouble securing her property rights after her husband's death, the widow and her children can become impoverished--in extreme cases by being stripped of her land or goods and expelled from the household. Divorce laws that do not recognize the wife's labor as constituting an economic stake in the household can have the same result. In developed countries, since women live longer, gaps in a country's social safety net are more likely to affect women. In the United States, for example, poverty rates for widows and divorced or separated women are far above the average.

and

. . . South Korea has the largest majorities believing that widows (81%) and divorcees (82%) are mistreated in their country. Recently South Korea has enacted legal reforms advancing women's status, and in 2005 its high court granted women for the first time the right to claim an equal share in jointly owned family property. Jeong Han Wool of the East Asian Institute (Seoul) adds: "Up until this year Korea employed a family registry system under which the status of "widow or divorcee" could cause some complications." Such changes may well have raised the salience of the issue in the minds of Koreans.

There is lots more information available on the WPO write-up, including a link to the full .pdf version of their findings. The blog The Grand Narrative has much more on gender issues and sexuality in South Korea, of particular interest here being this post and this post from January on, among other things, the short-lived Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

Awww, Suncheon's two bus terminals become one.

I've been extremely busy and extremely frazzled lately, and haven't had much time to write any big posts. So another bite-sized one for today, this one of interest to only two or three of my readers. Yesterday the Suncheon Express Bus Terminal closed and merged into the larger Intercity Bus Terminal, ending 34 years of division. The Suncheon Internet News has the story here, in Korean, of the plan that was announced back in January. I always wondered why the Express Bus Terminal existed, small as it was. The article says the building will be razed and the site will be incorporated into some kind of cultural public place, which I assume will use up the surrounding lots which have been vacant and blocked off for, like, ever.

In other Suncheon news, the government website brings us this:

Suncheon City has aimed to become the Eco-capital in Korea determined to create the "Green Forest" at the railroad sides in new downtown area. We expects the project.

The City will create the Green Forest at the idle land of the railroad sides that is between Yeonhyang-dong of Suncheon City to Sangsam-ri of Haeryeong-myeon of Jeolla Line, and the well-being natural trail will be provided for citizens.

According to the City, the well-being trail, small sports facilities, and resting places will be prepared at the 850 meters of Green Forest, and 60 thousand trees such as pine trees and camellia trees that are green in four seasons, ginkgo trees, cherry trees, zelkova trees, and royal azaleas will be planted harmoniously.

It continues:

Also the scrapped railroad ground of 2.2Km between Geumdang greenbelt and Eastern Suncheon Interchange(IC), and of 2.3Km between Geumdang greenbelt and Sindae Supporting Complex that will be stayed in downtown by the railroad improvement of Jeolla Line will be the connection green tract of land. The well-being road and bicycle road will be prepared in the ground.

The city expects that if the Green Forest in the new downtown the using citizens of 5,000 persons will be double. Also the City will expense 230 million won to construct and remodel the physical training facilities, resting places, and toilets in Gangnam Children Park which the size is 2,100㎡ and located in the end of new downtown Green Forest.

Okay, to be honest, little of that Engrish mess made sense to me, but I like parks and I like the idea of developing some of the abandoned tracts of Suncheon's downtown, so these ideas sound nice. Read the rest by going here and clicking on number 72. There are two operational train stations in Suncheon, Suncheon Station and Guryegu Station across the river from Gurye county, but believe it or not there are another eight now-defunct stations within the city limits.

New Education Secretary appointee Cheong Jean-gon in trouble, guess why?

I'm not even going to tell you what Cheong Jean-gon (정진곤) confessed to, three days after being nominated, because I really want you to guess. I'll bet you can. Not the first time "you know what" has happened to a public figure. In 2006 the Minister of Education resigned for doing "you know what," and 2007 was a big year in all fields for stuff like "you know what." The Hankyoreh also has the story here, and the Blue House issued a press release here.

Gwangju elementary school students offer their support to President Lee.

A class of elementary school students in Gwangju wrote letters to President Lee Myung-bak offering their encouragement during this difficult time. 데일리안 has the story and the letter's text here, in Korean, and a second article dealing with it and the Candlegirls cafe here. In the letter it says "원어민 선생님께서도 FTA는 한국에 도움을 준다고 말씀하셨고," which is what why the article showed up when I was searching for something else.

GEPIK offers culture tips.

Gyeonggi English Program in Korea (GEPIK) has 33 culture tips up on their site to help teachers adjust to Korea. A few of my favorites:

4. You may be disgusted by some food such as dog meat or dog soup if you keep a dog as a pet but they do not eat every kind of dog.

11. You may be insisted to drink alcohol beyond your capacity.

13. You may be bothered by children and youngsters who want to speak to foreigners, now and then with bad words which are not intended badly.

14. Koreans are against America politically, not socially.

22. Girls and ladies walk sometimes hand in hand or arm in arm. But they are not lesbians. It means kind of affection.

30. Some Koreans are less punctual than Americans but usually they are more tolerant than westerners.

33. Koreans sometimes say yes when they are confused in speaking English.

Hmmm, certainly don't agree with number 13.

Earlier we read about the cultural tips from the elementary school teachers' guides, the facts on foreign countries provided by VANK, and the dangers of fan death as featured in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Cultural Guidebook For Foreigners.

"57% of Teenagers Don't Know When Korean War Broke Out"

According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, via the Korea Times. An excerpt from their article:

Moreover, 51 percent did not know that the war started with North Korea's invasion of the South. About 14 percent picked Japan as the nation responsible for the war; 13.4 percent, the United States, and 11 percent Russia. About 2 percent even said it was the South invading the North.

While the United States is regarded as the main ally of the country, 28 percent said it was the key ``threat'' for national security, 4 percentage points higher than North Korea.

Telling. And I'll save you the trouble by pointing out that American students don't know much, either, but this isn't a blog on the US.

Update: LOL, the Joongang Ilbo has a better headline.

Colonial-era building demolished in Gangjin.

The Gangjin Shinmun has a caption beneath this photo of this colonial-era building being demolished in Gangjin-eup. How would we translate that, "commerce building," "original commerce building"? I know I have a photo of the building intact lying around here somewhere, because I used to walk past it every day, but as I always recall the facade looking nearly as shoddy as it does in this picture, I can't really say I have a photo of it in better days. Anyway, a couple days ago there was a fire not too far away, and I wonder if that expedited this process?

What the heck, since we're here, here's a photo of Gangjin-eup (pop. 16,000) from atop Boeunsan, to give you an idea of what kind of size we're talking about when we talk about rural towns, and below it is an ordinary shot of the main street:

Were you wearing pants two years ago?

Tuesday Korea time, actually, will be the second anniversary of that. On June 23, 2006, Korea lost to Switzerland in a World Cup match by the score of 2-0. Switzerland's second goal was considered the product of bad officiating, and spawned a rash of netizen and citizen anger that brought down the FIFA webpage, circulated a petition demanding a rematch, and called in a bomb threat to the Swiss Embassy. Lots of good reading on the topic from contemporary sources, including these two posts from The Marmot's Hole, this one from Gusts of Popular Feeling, this one from before the Switzerland game from The Metropolitician, and this one from Ruminations in Korea.

Subscribers to my google feed will have seen a longer version of this post, but I've decided to abbreviate the commentary in the interest of seeming less negative and less off-the-deep-end.

In other news, and on topics that had better not offend anyone because I'm really not in the mood, turns out a Korean singer is against her nude photos being shown in Japan.

With import requests coming in from China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and other places, however, it appears that she will sign contracts to send her photos to all those regions -- except Japan.

I don't know why she feels that way, but the story is funny because it's, like, four years old but is currently the most-viewed item on the Chosun Ilbo site. Every now and then you'll get a random old article pop up in the top-five.

Pronunciation matters.

The Marmot's Hole brings us a story via the Chosun Ilbo about Korean English teachers feeling pressure from students to improve their poor spoken English ability. The teachers' poor spoken English, I mean. Two excerpts from the Marmot's write-up:

According to the Chosun, due to the English craze gripping Korea, students and parents are concerned more about how well the teachers can converse in English than about the quality of class. And with many students having studied abroad or studied English from kindergarten, teachers sometimes find themselves the target of humiliation from their own students.

and

Another stressful element is the ability differences in students. Some teachers wonder how they are to teach when students exhibit such wide differences in language ability. Then there are the districts where early English education is almost nonexistent, and teachers worry how students will fare if teachers begin teaching in English, as they are supposed to do from 2010.

That last excerpt is a glimpse into my world, since I have to teach English in English every day, after all, to classes of mixed-level students who show little interest in being there.

I'm torn. On the one hand it drives me absolutely up the wall that far too many colleagues can't pronounce many of English's sounds. And I'm not even talking about with a "perfect" accent, whatever that's supposed to mean, I just mean in a way to distinguish the distinct sounds and to be understood. I've met far too many teachers who consistently cross over into incomprehensibility---or who permanently reside there---due to poor pronunciation and grammar. While I think it's a good idea to use as much English as possible in the classroom, I sometimes worry about the input the students are receiving in these situations. I do my best to model some tricky sounds in my class, but seeing each group of students once or twice a month does little to combat the poor pronunciation they're getting from other teachers or from TV, and constantly using so many English loan words in Korean doesn't help, either. I had to be a bit of a stickler on my recent speaking exams and give lower grades for poor pronunciation. 마이 패보러트 서브제크트 이즈 마스 isn't English, sorry, and didn't get an A.

On the other hand, though, there's more to knowing a language than simply being able to converse in it. And, you see, I'm trying to be sensitive and positive and not so cynical in this post. If the goal of learning English is purely academic, as it was in Korea for a while, having a decent vocabulary and an understanding of grammar is sufficient. Right now there are mixed signals, though, because while spoken English nominally gets a lot of attention, the emphasis is, largely, still on teaching for tests. But, and I say this knowing it sounds negative and knowing that I myself have sooo much room for improvement, I really have to question the myth of the Korean grammar expert given what I've experienced fairly consistently in school and from reading the papers and around the internet. That causes me to question what, exactly, English teachers learned in school and to what purpose they're being groomed.

Irregardless *cough* one of the users on waygook.org put together a nice little list of pronunciation activities you might modify for your classes or for your teachers' workshops. It's always tricky to bring up pronunciation among teachers, especially when they're the proud sort, but it needs to be done. Often times teachers and students alike will resent remedial lessons, especially when they've spent years working on more advanced stuff, but honestly it's necessary, it's just a matter of tactfully bringing it up. Whether it has a lasting effect remains to be seen.

"Gaya Land: Not Quite the Happiest Place on Earth."

Hmm, I've only gotten two emails regarding my latest KT piece, so that's nice, although I got a few very stern talkings-to at work. *sigh* Expect much more on this matter when I provide an update to my little netizen run-in, but let me just say that with all the negative attention I've drawn these past few weeks, none of my critics have ever attempted to dispute what I've said, but rather have taken exception to saying anything at all. And I can't help but marvel at the arrogance of attacking a guy writing in a foreign language when it's clear they don't understand my points at all. But, like I said, I'll save all that for a big ol' post o' negativity coming up soon.

In other news, I was browsing my "Favorites" the other day and for some reason I had "Where in the World" in there. Not that it's not a nice little blog and doesn't deserve to be in somebody's favorites, but I just couldn't figure out why the hell it was in mine. But s/he did have a neat little post last weekend on "Gaya Land," (가야랜드) a semi-abandoned amusement park in Gimhae.




More photos on the original post, and an article on the dying park here, in Korean. Dead and dying amusement parks are cute and depressing at the same time, though I think back to my days working around decrepit attractions and remember how happy the children were regardless. ExpatKorea has a few threads devoted to abandoned amusement parks and old buildings, the former containing a photo of a woman reenacting the death of a child on one of the attractions:

Korea Times: "2002 Tank Incident and Aftermath."

Um . . . okay, to be fair, I wrote this piece last Friday, before all of this other garbage started happening. So not the most opportune time to have the article appear, but I stand by it nonetheless. An excerpt:

But now that we're six years on from the incident, it's time for some reflection. In the aftermath of the accident, after the U.S. genuinely and sincerely apologized numerous times, paid damages, and followed all protocol dictated by culture and by treaty, we witnessed a display of anti-Americanism and plain old xenophobic hatred that perhaps may never be rivaled here again.

Soldiers were stabbed, kidnapped, beaten up, and showered with rocks and aggression. There were numerous cases of assaults against foreigners, and countless cases of intimidation and discrimination against foreigners and Korean women in the company of foreign-looking men.

Restaurants and businesses prohibited foreigners from entering, with signs that said ``Americans not welcome here'' and ``USFK You are all guilty.''

And the netizens and mainstream media, then as now, distorted facts, fabricated accounts and intentionally mislead the public into taking to the streets with a wild-eyed fervor usually reserved for democratic movements and soccer games.

As with the anti-beef protests of today, when it comes to this incident, opinions seem to be divided according to nationality.

Koreans, in general, still firmly believe the U.S. military committed a grievous error and still contend the incident represented U.S. arrogance and carelessness.

On the other hand, Americans look at the events of 2002 and see that, though the deaths were a tragedy, the public outrage was far too aggressive for such an accident.

Yes, no amount of money can bring those two girls back, but is it not hypocritical to be so outraged in a country ranked the most-dangerous in the world for pedestrians? Is it not hypocritical to protest the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) when South Korea has them with countries that quarter the ROK military?

Is it not hypocritical to bemoan the U.S. military in this case when vehicular homicides involving South Koreans go unnoticed every day? And is it not hypocritical to profess to want to internationalize and welcome foreigners, while at the same time attacking them, blaming them, and forcing them away?

Thus, in order to properly normalize relations between cultures, it is proper that South Korea and its level-headed citizens apologize for the ugly behavior exhibited in the aftermath of this accident.

By popular demand: Naju's Samhanji Theme Park.

Another little installment of "by popular demand," where I do write-ups on the things people are googling to get to my site, but which I hadn't really adequately addressed. I've been getting some hits looking for Naju's Samhanji Theme Park (삼한지테마파크), which I wrote about briefly at the bottom of an earlier post. It is a set used as a filming location for some movies and dramas, most notably---I guess---the historical drama Jumong. From what I can tell there doesn't seem to be a bus directly from Gwangju, but VisitKorea tells us you can take bus 180-1 across from the bus terminal in Naju, alight in Gongsan, and take a cab the rest of the way. There are buses to Naju from Gwangju most hours of the day, and it is usually the first stop on routes to smaller towns like Gangjin and Jangheung. You can find more pages on via a Naver search, and can see some more photos here.



Naju has some other points of interest and historical sites for people passing through. Check my earlier post for details, and my subsequent post on Naju's Gates. There is also a recently-built water park in Nampyeong-eup.

It's whitey season again in Daejeon.

A Korea Times reporter accompanied some Daejeon police as they went around trying to bust foreigners teaching illegally.

Hur Chang-goo, a veteran immigration police officer, hopped in a car with his partner, a female interpreter. Their mission: To catch a foreign national illegally teaching English at a kindergarten.

Tipped off that a Canadian teacher was hired to teach at the private institute, they needed to check it out. On their way, they discussed ways to block any possible attempt by the teacher to flee. The Korea Times accompanied them.

You'll recall that Daejeon was where the local Foreign Language School association (sic) advertised on buses last year that "you are watched," that "private tutoring of English is a legal offense" (lol), and that informants would be rewarded for leading to the capture and deportation of illegal foreign teachers. Well, you might not recall that bullshit anymore, but you should.



Anyway, take a few minutes to read the KT piece. It's ridiculous and infurating, as usual, and I'm definitely tempted to pull out my overworked "Go fuck yourself" stamp for the piece's topic and its "just another day in the neighborhood" tone. But for the time being I just wanted to point out the sequence highlighted by "Ya-ta Boy" on Dave's:

The police officer did not go into the classroom

. . .

The officer failed to secure any concrete evidence that immigration law had been violated.

South Korea wants Japan to give aid to the North.

That takes some balls, doesn't it? Here's today's story from the AP, and here's a little about the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea that took place between 1977 and 1983. Here's some more on the topic, too, from One Free Korea who has some interesting stuff in his "Japan & Korea" category, including a link to February article that quotes a release from North Korea's KCNA which said, in part:

North Korea-Japan relations will never improve if Japan continues to link their improvement with a bilateral dispute over North Korea’s past abductions of Japanese nationals, North Korea’s state-run media said Thursday.

In a lengthy commentary, the Korean Central News Agency said that North Korea has not forgiven Japan for forcing many Korean women into sexual slavery and taking many Korean men to Japan during World War II, and that it will make the country pay.

Whoa really famous American "D.M.C." speaks on Mad Cow, provides comfort, validation to millions.

Looks like NoCutNews was pretty liberal with their translation of rapper DMC's comments on Mad Cow Disease. According to the Metropolitician, posting on The Marmot's Hole, the band members were badgered with questions on American beef, and DMC replied with "Well, I guess no one wants mad cow” and “Gotta protect the people, safety first.” NoCutNews ran with that and put up a story under the headline translated by the Metropolitician as "DMC says ‘In the importation of American beef…the safety of the people is most important" (디엠씨 "미국산 쇠고기 수입 … 자국민 안전이 가장 중요). Not as grievous a manipulation of an ultra-sensitive issue as when a Japanese man's run was labelled a "Repentance Marathon" a few years back. I think that's my favorite one.

In other news, I can't say I agree with the Korea Times' headline "Obama Has Bad Impression of Korea." Something along the lines of "you have a bad impression" is one of those phrases usually thrown in a sentence that borders "you must understand our situation," and is a bit too dismissive and subjective for my taste. To my ears, or eyes rather, "bad impression" seems pretty condescending and implies that his views, somehow, must be corrected, or that will be corrected if he only quote-unquote learned about Korea, as if he as a American doesn't understand what is best for his country politically and economically, and isn't imbibed with authority to speak on certain issues.

Continuing today's theme of "shoddy journalism," the Chosun Ilbo reported yesterday that according to the Center for Disease Control Aretha Vinson did not die of vCJD, as reported on "PD Diary." Ooops. So was "PD Diary" actually right on anything? That paper also says advertisers there and in other conservative papers have become targets of "telephone terror" that is causing severe damage to their businesses. An excerpt:

Travel agencies are not the only victims. Health food, clothing and teaching materials companies that market their products mostly through newspaper ads also suffer. One footwear maker who used to get about 400 orders a day by advertising in newspapers is now only getting malicious calls.

A health food company staffer said, "Our company will go out of business if we fail to put ads on newspapers with large circulation, because we depend largely on orders for sale. If this situation continues, we'll have to close down." A 29-year-old female staffer in the public relations office of a mid-level construction company said, "They put even the telephone numbers of our company's planning office, general affairs department, personnel department and other departments on the Internet to paralyze the operation of the entire company."

Despite a number of huge setbacks I'm still chugging forward with my own little situation, and I hope to get some resolution soon. Unfortunately, as was told to me today, the authorities have their hands full with cases of cyber crime and they might not have to get to mine. *cough* Yeah, that answer didn't really fly with me either, so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

You're doing it wrong.

Dairy farmer dousing himself in milk at a protest in Seoul.

Cultural Guide Book For Foreigners warns of killer fans.

From page 33 of the Cultural Guide Book For Foreigners that just came out, published by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism:

Dangerous electric fans

In summer many go to bed with a fan on. In some cases a fan turned on too long can cause death from oxygen deficiency, hypothermia, or fire from overheating. A fan with a timer can help prevent such dangers: you can set the timer before going to bed for one to two hours' run. Do not forget to have the windows open for ventilation.

Good find, "glimmer."

Perfect fit!

My my my, that's an unfortunate headline for this picture:



As an aside, and because I don't want to devote a whole nother post to this, does anyone know how to search and access Korea Times articles from when the url was still times.hankooki.com? I've tried google news searches and I've tried to see if the articles I'm looking for were mirrored on any other sites, but they weren't. Just curious.

"Grand Sale turning out to be big planning mess."

LOL.

2008 Muju Festival

So . . . um, in other news, I went to the Muju Festival this weekend. On brochures and stuff it's called the "Muju Firefly Festival" (무주반딧불축제), but since there were no fireflies there at all, I don't feel quite right misleading you any longer. Yeah, I don't know how they can get away with that. It was pleasant enough, and Muju-eup is a cute town, but still. I didn't take many pictures because there were flood lights all over the place, meaning some parts were painfully bright and others were pitch black, making the pictures I did take come out weird. Moths and other insects would fly through the beams and would reflect light, giving the illusion of being fireflies, but I didn't spy a single, actual firefly. In unrelated news, did you know the "lightening bug" is the state insect of Pennsylvania? Of course you did.


You're doing it wrong.

Because the trip from Gwangju to Muju took three-and-a-half hours, it was more like a bus tour of southern Jeollabuk-do. Like I said the town was cute, but I was kind of disappointed by the lack of fireflies. I'd like to hear what others thought about it. I found one review from the festival last year, from a guy who says "Under no circumstances should the photos or text be used without the express permission of the Author." So here you go:

We also found a little dark tent, where they were keeping a few fireflies. They were the only 3 fireflies we saw the whole weekend!

The Joongang Ilbo had a preview about it back in February. An excerpt:

The highlight of the festival is an arcade decorated with thousands of sparkling fireflies, which you can stroll under at night. There’s also a special somber session held to pray for the prosperity of the firefly and an environmental speech contest for children.

The arcade doesn't consist of fireflies, though, but instead appears, from photos, to be made out of electric lights. We never did find it, and I haven't seen any pictures from this year that feature it. Let's just play it safe and blame the lack of fireflies on the Japanese like poet Ron Slate:

He is waiting to be seen.
In this world I hardly matter.

What goes into the dark
to be seen? Nothing like me.


There is a festival of fireflies
in Muju-gun in August

where people pray for firefly prosperity,
in Korea, since the Japanese

exterminated their fireflies
experimenting with insecticides.

So anyway my plan was to steal some good photos off the internet, but I couldn't find many of those, either. Here's what I could dig up, and you can find more from this year and years gone by via a Naver search:


Instead of fireflies they strung sparkler-things across the river. The bridge in the background looks new, and perhaps that has replaced the one that used to be the photogenic one strung with lights in previous years.


There was also a narrow, earthen bridge that was kind of treacherous to walk across as there were two lanes of traffic. Nevertheless, they had parades and, it looks like, a wedding ceremony go across it regularly.


We did see these guys. LMFAO at the guy on the right.

It was kind of a cute festival, but nothing you won't find in any other county throughout the country. I also don't think I'd go this far:

As fireflies have a unique identity as an environmental messenger, we believe the Muju Firefly Festival is an unrivaled environmental event in the global market. Therefore will make it a one-stop shop meeting multicultural and multinational needs themed on the environment, culture, and tourism. The more the times and the climate change with worldwide informatization, the more people want the sustenance of cultural and tourism entertainment. The Muju Firefly Festival indeed has a rich fund of resources in its regional culture and natural surroundings. We expect that it will bring about the harmonious well-being of people and nature in the coming eco-conscious times of the new millennium.

Writer, editor of "Expat Living" stabbed with a broken bottle.

Gypsy Scholar tells us that Matthew Lamers was stabbed in the arm with a broken bottle in Hongdae on Saturday. He's the man who edits the "Expat Living" section of the Korea Herald and who has reported on issues of interest to foreigners that would otherwise to without mention in the local media. He's apparently all right, though he didn't go to the police. An excerpt from the original post:

Matt didn't bother to report the 'incident' to the police even though he'd lost a bit of blood, had seen three taxis refuse to help, and had endured the first hospital that he'd visited do little but send him on to another hospital.

"Why didn't you report it?" I asked.

"I've written enough articles about police inaction when foreigners are attacked that I knew nothing would be done," he explained.

He was the one who wrote this story, for example, and he has also written on racism in hagwon hiring practices, on Bill Kapoun, and on other topics related to the foreign community here. As commenter Sonagi pointed out, if a white foreigner is going to be randomly assaulted in Seoul, chances are it will be in Hongdae because of the way it's been portrayed in the media as a wretched hive of foreigner scum and villany.

Required reading, and I never use that term lightly.

Y'all need to make some time and read GI Korea's post "GI Myths: The 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident." He recaps in great detail the events surrounding the deaths of two middle school girls six years ago, and the intense, intense outpouring of anti-Americanism across the entire nation. The article, in our own time of nationwide anti-beef protests and rampant yellow journalism, provides an important reminder of how hateful and how ugly our friends and neighbors can be at the slightest provocation, and is something to keep in mind the next time you hear about Korea's desire to embrace foreigners or its love affair with English. It's exactly why I don't feel at all comfortable around large numbers of angry Koreans, such as we find at the beef protests going on today. Then, after you've read GI Korea's report, go over and read the Metropolitician's take, as well as the vast compilation of material on USinKorea.org's page on the incident and on other anti-American orgies of hate, to appropriate his term.


One of many massive anti-American rallies, this one 50,000-strong.


Here are a couple of excerpts from GI Korea's post, though you really ought to go and read them in context:

Simply telling the truth about what happened on that road side that fateful June morning along Highway 56 would not be enough to cause the general public to join the anti-US groups’ cause to expel USFK from Korea. Instead of the truth to mobilize the masses, the NGOs had to create a perception, and the perception they chose to create was one of a great injustice against the Korean people that everyone could identify with. The NGOs launched a propaganda campaign centered around creating an image of evil, non-apologetic American GI’s mercilessly running over two angelic school girls on their way to a birthday party and getting away with it. This image is so powerful because Koreans love their children just like any culture, but it was also equating the US military with the Japanese Imperial Army that colonized the Korean peninsula prior to the country’s liberation after World War II. Due to this sometime extremely brutal colonial period, many Koreans today still hold a very bitter grudge against the Japanese. The fact that the Eighth United States Army headquarters is based out of Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, which used to be the headquarters of the old Imperial Japanese military only helped to feed this perception. It would be an easy leap of logic for someone in Korea to conclude that the Japanese had disrespected and brutalized Korea than and the US military is doing it now.

. . .

The NGOs decided by spreading simple disinformation through the Internet about what happened would be the most plausible way to implement their strategy. Stories on internet message boards spread about how the American soldiers had intentionally ran over the two girls. The most famous story that made its way around all the Korean internet message boards was how the US soldiers in the convoy that day were laughing at the fact that they had ran over the two girls. The laughing so angered KATUSA (Korean Augmentee to the US Army) soldiers serving with the unit that they started a fight with the laughing soldiers. This story is not supported by any of the witnesses that were at the scene that day and additionally no one can produce the KATUSA soldiers that were allegedly involved in the fight. Despite the lack of evidence to support the claim that KATUSA soldiers fought with laughing GIs that day, it is still a common belief among many Koreans that this story is in fact true.

. . .

One of the common themes in the media was that even though the US military apologized for the accident, the apology was not “sincere”[ix]. After the accident every commanding US general in USFK issued an apology after the accident happened, the US Ambassador apologized, an initial solation payment was made to the family, a candle light vigil by US soldiers was held, and a fundraising drive was initiated that raised $22,000 for the girl’s families and another $30,000 for a memorial in their honor. Despite all this, the Korean media declares the US military’s response insincere. Incredibly even President Bush would later go on and apologize for the accident.

Before long the misinformation being put out was not limited to internet message boards and print newspapers, but was on the average Korean’s television screen as well. The networks repeated much of what was already available on-line and is wasn’t too long before the networks produced sensational misinformation of their own making. The most infamous example of misinformation was when the major news network MBC aired footage of someone claiming to be a former Korean Army tank driver who was able to “prove” in an interview that the American soldiers in the AVLB intentionally ran over the girls and then ground guided the vehicle back over the bodies again to make sure they were dead. This interview entered into the common mythology of what happened that even to this day, much like the KATUSA story, many Koreans believe this story to be true.

. . .

The sensationalism by the Korean media of the armoured vehicle accident was made quite clear when on June 29, 2002 North Korean patrol boats deliberately ambushed a South Korean Naval vessel patrolling the maritime border between the two countries. Six South Korean sailors died in the attack and the South Korean government, NGOs, and media did everything possible to minimize the deliberate murder of six South Korean sailors while continuing to sensationalize the accidental death of the two school girls[xiv]. The hypocrisy is quite stunning but when it comes to the Korean media they could care less about hypocrisy and more about ratings and sensationalism of the Highway 56 traffic accident was bringing in those ratings. There would be plenty more sensationalism to come.

The slander and accusations against USFK continued to fly both on the web and through the television networks. The tragic accident had taken on a life of its own as the major media outlets competed with the new start up internet media sites in their rush to condemn these soldiers for murder. The propaganda against USFK would become so effective that US soldiers were being assaulted and spat upon on the streets of Seoul with waiting Korean news cameramen recording it all for the nation to see[xv]. Signs went up all around Seoul refusing service to Americans in restaurants, hotels, and businesses. Massive rallies were held where demonstrators burned and tore American flags.

. . .

Probably the most blatant example of anti-US hate was when three US soldiers on a Seoul subway were assaulted by Korean protesters travelling to a rally on university campus. The protesters beat the soldiers and then abducted them from the subway car and began dragging them towards the anti-US demonstration. Korean policemen were able to free two of the soldiers but the third soldier was dragged into the demonstration held at the university’s sports stadium. He was threatened and forced to make coerce statements against the US by the demonstrators and make forced apologies. Despite everything that happened to them, the soldiers were charged with assault by the Korean police.

. . .

Out of the 30 nations that compose the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Korea ranked as the most dangerous place to drive. The data gathered from 2003 just one year after the armoured vehicle accident showed that Korea had 137 car accidents per 10,000 vehicles on the road. Additionally for every 100,000 people involved in a traffic accident, 15 people died. Each statistic topped the OECD’s rankings. Probably the most dubious statistic is that Korea ranked first in the OECD in traffic related child deaths. 82 children died every day in Korea with 70 percent of those accident involving children walking alongside a road.

As the statistics show, a tragic accident like what happened in June 2002 is not uncommon in Korea and the reasons for these accidents happening has nothing to do with the US military and the Korean police who helped investigate the tragedy realized this. That is why the police concluded with the USFK investigators that this was a tragic accident like many other tragic accidents involving children in Korea; the only difference was that this one involved the US military.

. . .

Korean NGOs demanded that USFK hand over the two soldiers to be tried in Korean courts despite their SOFA status. This demand was especially hypocritical considering that due to Article 2 of the Korean Military Court Act, the Korean military has jurisdiction over all crimes committed by their servicemembers whether they were off duty or not[xxi]. The fact that ROK military personnel never stand trial in Korean courts is an inconvenient fact that many Koreans would rather not acknowledge. A USFK servicemember on the other hand is subject to Korean civilian court for any crime committed while off duty. With the differences in jurisdiction between the Korean and American militaries, it makes you wonder that if the Korean civilian judicial system is not good enough for the Korean military than why should it be good enough to try American soldiers in? This is an inconvenient fact that is left unaddressed by the anti-US groups and their media allies. The hypocrisy is stunning, but like I said before hypocrisy is of little significance in Korea.

The SOFA was activated and the Korean soldier was handled by a ROK military court martial. In 2006 a Korean soldier driving a military truck was involved in a traffic accident where he caused the death of a 53 year old Kurdish politician. Once again the South Korean military activated their SOFA. This is what Colonel Ha Du-cheol told reporters after the accident, “The traffic accident occurred in the line of duty, so we are seeking ways to compensate the victim’s family.” Sound familiar? It should because it is the same thing the US military did after the 2002 armoured vehicle accident, which these groups were demanding SOFA revisions for. However, when a nearly identical situation happens with a Korean soldier it receives a small passage in the newspaper and no righteous indignation from anyone complaining about an unequal SOFA between Korea and Kurdistan.

The Korean military has never allowed one of their soldiers to be tried in a foreign host nation’s civilian courts, which shouldn’t be surprising considering that Korean soldiers do not even stand trial in civilian courts in their own country. Despite all of these inconvenient facts the anti-US groups and their media allies have the nerve to condemn USFK for an unfair status of forces agreement.

When I brought up this incident and its aftermath in one of my teachers' workshops---as I was making the connection between Mad Bull Shit and total indifference toward terrible traffic safety---I got the familiar lines "the US never really apologized," "people were mourning the girls," and "the US was arrogant." They were completely ignorant, though, of the basic facts surrounding the actual accident and of the particulars of the aftermath of hate. "Some Koreans" participated, they said. Well, after kidnappings, stabbings, numerous assaults and innumerable cases of harassment, intimidation, and discrimination, is it too much for us to demand an apology? I'll tell you what, and yes I'm being completely serious, that's something we as a community ought to be fighting for.

While most of you who read this site are bloggers yourselves and will most likely have read GI Korea's page well before you got to mine, I'd encourage the rest of you---especially my new visitors in Jeollanam-do---to pass these reports along to friends, family, and coworkers, in order to put both these latest protests and ourselves as foreigners into some context here.


The popular song "Fucking USA," which attacks the US for allegedly killing civilians in the Korean War and for winning a speedskating match against a Korean.

And, this is an addendum that comes a few minutes after I published my original entry. Turns out, as we pretty much expected, some are planning to incorporate this anniversary into the latest anti-beef protests. Korea Beat has the scoop, and here's an excerpt:

It appears that on June 13th, the sixth anniversary of the deaths of Shin Hyo-sun and Shim Mi-seon, killed after being struck by a US military armored personnel carrier, will become the main focus of the candlelight vigils which have been going on for over one month.

On the 12th the “Citizens’ Committee on Mad Cow Disease” (광우병 국민대책회의) announced that the 37th candlelight vigil to be held in front of Seoul City Hall on the 13th against the importation of US beef would incorporate a memorial ceremony for Hyo-sun and Mi-seon.

The sixth anniversary of Hyo-sun and Mi-seon’s deaths will easily excite anti-American sentiment among the citizenry, and the Committee will, on the 13th and 14th, intensify its calls for banning the import of US beef.

The Chosun Ilbo, according to Korea Beat, also says the relatives of these school girls do not want their children's and grandchildren's names being attached to these protests, and we recall GI Korea mentioning that they did not want their daughters used as symbols in a larger anti-American crusade back in 2002, 2003.

If you'll recall we saw reminders of this tank incident trotted out on May 17th and May 18th in Gwangju, being tied in both with the anti-beef protests and in the larger theme of repelling the foreign invaders, represented by the military and by the KORUS Free Trade Agreement.

Crown J is still a douche.

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something something small face.

One of the most-viewed stories on Naver has to do with Koreans' average face size. It's quite important and considered a significant indicator of attractiveness, and perhaps the highest compliment your student can pay you is "teacher, small face." I was going to do a beefier write-up on it and provide some stats on some other nationalities, but three of the top ten Google results were about Korea, so I'm just gonna call it a local obsession and leave it at that. Actually, hold up, I'll do one more article. Here's something from 2004, about how Koreans' faces are becoming smaller as Koreans' bodies are becoming more western:

Professor Kim Hee-jin from the department of dentistry in Yonsei University explained, “The decrease in face length can be attributed to the diet of preferring soft food such as hamburgers.” and added, “If one gets in the habit of eating food that mainly uses the front teeth when one is young, the jaw muscles which we use for chewing food may become weak and it may cause the size of the jawbone to become smaller.”

As face size becomes smaller and height taller, the life-size index (height/length of head) for Korean people became similar to an eight, which is called the most beautiful proportion.

Holy fucking shit I can't believe I just quoted that. A couple of years ago some website or something compiled what was considered to be the composite attractive Korean face. Yep, certainly looks more "western" these days. *cough*



I wouldn't hit it. There's a .pdf file here with some more composites, and here's a god damn ridiculous commercial with you-know-who's small face.

Kidnapped elementary school student found dead.

The Joongang Ilbo reports that

A 12-year-old girl, kidnapped from her home two weeks ago, was found dead yesterday in her own neighborhood, Daegu Police said yesterday.

Police officials found the body of Hur Eun-jeong at around 5 p.m. yesterday in a valley about two kilometers from her home, the Dalseong Police Precinct of Daegu said. The body was naked and severely decomposed.

The Korea Times broke the story in English last week, saying that police were asking for citizen help in finding those who took the girl from her grandfather's house. However, the KT made no mention of where this all was taking place. The Galbijim blog has a little more information today.

This has been an unpleasantly busy year for crimes against children, or at least a year full of well-publicized crimes against kids. In December two girls, aged 10 and 8, went missing in Anyang and were subsequently molested and murdered by a man who has since confessed to other killings. In Janauary we learned about a daycare center in Seoul that was forcing children to stand outside naked as punishment for misbehavior. In March there was a brutal beating and attempted kidnapping caught on tape.



The man who killed two girls in Anyang (top), and the man who tried to kidnap a girl in an elevator in Goyang.

omigod omigod omigod omigod! they noticed us!

So, the anti-beef protests have made the news back home, and that's news in South Korea. No Cut News has included the above photo of yesterday's paper in an article that says both the New York Times and the Washington Post ran stories on the June 10th protests. It is currently the most-viewed item on Naver news. I guess it's newsworthy because normally when you talk about South Korea in the US, you have to follow it with "no no, I mean the other one." As I said before, if this were happening in France or something, Fox News would advocate a boycott like that. *snaps fingers*

The Washington Post article appears to be this one, while the New York Times piece they mention is here. Gotta love the second-to-last line of the WP piece:

In the streets of Seoul on Tuesday, many protesters complained that Lee's top-down style of decision-making reminded them of the bad old days of military rule.

As if he wasn't elected by the widest margin in Korean history. Also in the "news about news" category, The Marmot's Hole tells us that Yonhap has a story about American netizens' comments at the bottom of a recent Washington Post article. Um . . . they're talking about withdrawing troops from a prosperous, sovereign nation that doesn't want them there anyway, and talking about boycotting goods from a country that doesn't open its market up to American products. And the problem is . . . ? Sadly, now you've got Korean netijuns getting involved, and I'm not in the mood to sift through all that gibberkonglish.