"I’m touched by the desperateness of the mother who stood in front of the water canon cars with her dear child.”

The Dong-A Ilbo brings us a story about some stuff that happened somewhere a little while back. They talked to the guy who was there and he was all "whatever." That's pretty much the level of specificity found in this article about a mock-protest staged in an elementary school classroom.

Also in today's paper is a story of a woman who used her baby buggy---and her baby---to stand in the way of the police and their water canons (sic, lol).

At around 1:40 p.m. June 26, police stationed two water canon vehicles in front of Saemoonan Church, downtown Seoul. It was to dismiss the protestors overcrowding the road.

As the police prepared for a second spurt after spouting water for 10 minutes, a housewife suddenly approached the water canon vehicles pushing forth a baby buggy with her child in it.

The police requested the mother to move aside to the footpath, but she stayed right there saying, “I’ll only move aside after the water canon vehicles move away.”

The protesters began to give her a hand. When the combat policemen came toward her, they immediately surrounded the baby buggy blocking access. Police persuaded the mother without using force so as not to provoke the protesters, but she did not yield. Police withdrew the water canon vehicles from the site after a 30-minute-long fuss.

About 40 protesters with baby buggies who took part in the rally on June 25 and were near the Sejong intersection were also faced with a dangerous situation as the rally turned violent.

When the police forced the protesters toward Taepyeong Street, about 100 of them were driven to the rear where baby-buggy members were sitting with their children. Fortunately the protesters and policemen caught sight of them and refrained from physical collision, preventing any casualty.

The article talks about messages of support posted on a website 유모차부대, for example the one that provides this post's title. A Naver search turns up tons of photos of group members strolling through protests with . . . strollers. Here are a few.






Korean babies are absolutely adorable and provide hours of entertainment. I want one. They also make great accessories and are the perfect complement to a lonely and frustrated life, so if you have a vagina you really ought to put it to use, what with Korea's declining birth rate and all. I posted a little something about these mothers at the protests a while back, pointing out the hypocracy of this "살고 싶다!" ("I want to live") crap when a recent study found that only 12% of Korean parents used car seats for their kids and that, LMFAO, Koreans actually fought against car seat legislation. But as any Jeollanam-do resident will point out, traffic safety and beef protests are not related, and complete indifference to well-being in one sector of life does not preclude one for clamoring for it in another. *cough*



Going on over to the Hankyoreh I found the cartoon "Another Gwangju" that puts it all in perspective. I noted back around the anniversary of the Gwangju Massacre that the protestors, amidst their wall-to-wall anti-beef stuff, were trying to cast these latest demonstrations in the same spirit of the democratization movement. I see their point, and maybe if they weren't so batshit insane I'd be more sympathetic. But anyway, the Hankyoreh article goes on to talk about all the police brutality going on nowadays. Pardon my boldness, but I just have to say that police brutality sucks. It's, like, fucked up. But, um, you can't beat the shit out of riot cops and then expect them to sit there and take it.



Ooooh, bad timing, sorry. Incidentally, just as my coworkers vehemently deny there were any anti-American displays at the 5/18 commemoration or that "PD Diary" lied, they also deny that protestors are attacking police. It's worth repeating that understanding Korea's long and unique culture *cough*, as people like me are often implored to do, becomes so much easier when you can completely ignore huge chunks of it. And like I've said before, and like was reiterated on the latest Seoul Podcast, I'm all for being anti-establishment and raging against this machine or that, but the rub is that here all the quote-unquote liberal papers are so off the fucking wall that it's pretty much impossible to get behind their causes. Staggering.

Life's a boar in Wando.

HAHAHAHAHA *cough* This weekend Girlfriend in Jeollanam-do and I visited the drama set in Suncheon, a pretty neat site just outside of "new downtown." It was the subject of my second-ever post and you can see photos from my first visit on my flickr page.



(Top) Photo from last September.
(Bottom) Interesting way to write "Morning Coffee" (모닝커피). Wonder if it derived from the Japanese pronunciation.

The inclement weather meant we had the whole place pretty much to ourselves, just like the last time I was there. The set is just comprised of empty buildings, so there's not much to do beyond walk around, but it's a nice spot worth a visit if you're in the area. As I'm kind of interested in 20th century Korean history, and in looking at stuff from these eras, I think it'd be neat to turn some of these places into "folk village"-type places, with restaurants, movies, exhibits, and other old-timey stuff. There is something a little like that, I guess, in Incheon called the "Sudoguksan Museum of Housing and Living" that looks neat---but whose site seems to crash my browser---though I don't think it'd be too practical to have something like that in Suncheon since not many people pass through. But interests of foreign residents aside, I don't think these kinds of folk museums would work too well because it doesn't seem like a time period too many Koreans would be interested in revisiting in too much detail just yet. Anyway, the weather on Saturday was shitty, but we had a nice time and saw a Oriental Fire-bellied Toad (무당개구리), so that was neat.

Speaking of wild animals in Korea----HAHAHAHAHAHA---searching google news for Jeollanam-do stuff took me to a recent article in the piece of shit Seoul Times about wild boars. Here's the first couple paragraphs, if you're interested.

Wild boars are threatening many cities and rural areas of South Korea due to its fast breeding and disappearance of its predators such as tigers, leopards and wolves.
Ever since 2005, there are nearly 30 cases of wild boars attacking residents and citizens in the city, and the total crop damage last year was worth 6.5 billion won (some 6.2 million US dollars).
In 2006, goats have been cruelly torn and bitten into pieces every night by an unknown creature in remote Saengil Island of Wando-gun, South Jeolla Province. About 20 goats have been killed and residents got scared without knowing what or who this monstrous killer was.

Hmm, well no fucking way Korea would have wild animals, I thought, but the Joongang Ilbo points us to some other good stories about boars going wild in Korea. An interesting article from April, 2006 titled "A hunting ban spurs city boar baby boom" says that a recent study showed twice as many boars in and around Seoul than in other parts of the country. It continues, um, like this:

At least one of seven recent incidents would have been humorous had it not resulted in injuries. In September, a boar weighing about 130 kilograms (290 pounds) burst into a bar in Amsa-dong in southeast Seoul, injured a customer, escaped and then attacked a man in a nearby park. The animal was eventually tracked down and killed after leading pursuers on a day-long chase.

A contemporary article goes into a little more detail, lol:

After police failed to corral the boar after a search by the officers assigned to the area, they mobilized 90 foot patrolmen and two police cars for an expanded search that began at about 7 a.m. By the time the animal was spotted again, at about 11 a.m. at the south end of the Cheonho Bridge, it had traveled back across the river.
The police used hunting dogs and anesthetic guns in their search, but the boar did not give up easily. It was captured at about 11:30 a.m. and, after a struggle with its captors, was stabbed and killed by a knife-wielding professional hunter who had joined the hunt. “We wanted to catch it alive but it just wouldn’t give up,” an officer in the search team said after the wild pig was dispatched.

The pig ended up getting stuffed and mounted, in that order. *cough* The first article also says that in 2004 there were 254,000 wild boars in the country at the time. Damn. The paper also points us to an article about a boar that drowned in the Han River, and to another one that eluded 90 pursuers for 12 hours near the Blue House. Here's a photo of the outcome:



The first article says that they have boar season in some parts of the country, but I don't know anything about that. However, an article from a few years earlier says that boars were protected animals, and even though a naver search turned up results for boar meat, that article says boars were "off the menu." It talks about a bill being drafted, but no word on if it went into effect. A 2005 article says that people are allowed to kill boars only if they damage crops and, at the time, damage gravesites. Also mentioned in that article were Manchurian black bears, which were reintroduced to Jirisan a little while back, and a 2001 article called "10-Year 'Sabbatical' Restores a Mountain" tells us that the wild boar population there was apparently thriving. Searching around for "Jirisan wild boar" doesn't turn up much beyond a little mention of a boar restaurant:

This wild boar dish has no smell typical of boar and does not contain any artificial ingredients. Though the price is a little more expensive than other restaurants, the tender and delicious meat of wild boar here is very distinct, and this restaurant consequently has many guests.

Here's another mention of boars in an article about a 2001 tiger sighting, lol, in Gyeongsangbuk-do. So as not to end on a smarmy note, Wikipedia has a gold-star page on "Mammals in Korea." Cool, but I can't figure out how to open the external reference pages I want to see.

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.

Apt.

This business model applies to about 93% of the things that appear on my blog.



Wikipedia tells us, on the episode's page:

None of the gnomes actually know what the second phase is, and all of them assume that someone else within the organization does.

I regret not wearing a t-shirt with that three-step plan on it every time I read something about English education, like in my last post for example. The clip from whence the above screen capture came is available here.

Jesus Fucking Christ why on earth do they need to shout across the office about something so lackluster as the class schedule? Mercifully the weekend is here.

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.

"Koreans Dominate U.S. Women's Open."

So the Chosun Ilbo says, but since the tournament hasn't begun yet, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The hyperbole says one thing, but the article says another, pointing out that nearly 30% of participants are ethnic Koreans.

I always get really excited when I hear about Korean women golfers and their dominance. I didn't say aroused, I said excited. Excited because we all know what article we'll get to revisit! But before we get to that let's first look at one of the "related articles" the Chosun Ilbo has displayed on the above-linked article. It's from 2004 and called "Culture, Social Factors Behind Success of Korean LPGA Golfers," so you know it's going to be good. It deals with an 82-year-old sociology professor at the University of South Carolina and a thesis he wrote about the success of Korean women golfers, which, as the title suggests, he attributed to cultural and social factors. An excerpt from the CI piece:

Among the factors Shin attributed to the success of female Korean golfers were 1) the Korean "Golf Boom" that began in the 1980s; 2) the toughness of Korean women; 3) the close father-daughter relationship in Korea in which fathers are quite indulgent of their daughters; and 4) excellent hand-eye coordination that is a product of a culture in which women traditionally sew and people use chopsticks.

Holy shit, LOL. But he ain't got shit on this next article, probably my favorite piece of Korean journalism, and soon to be your favorite, too. It was in the Korea Times in 2005, but the link is broken, so instead we have to rely on the wonderful excerpts preserved on Asia Pundit and which I will include below in its entirety in order to better preserve this priceless cultural treasure:

What enables South Korean lady golfers to be so formidable in the U.S. LPGA Tour? It is nothing less than the Koreans' talent to make things skillfully with their hands, a trait handed down from generation to generation for thousands years. Celadon in Koryo and the Yi dynasty are world famous for blue and white china in quality, and you know that pottery involves the same skills as playing golf.

Not to change the subject, South Koreans' special talent to make things skillfully with their hands is also believed to greatly contribute to their making almost a clean sweep of the World Skills Competition. By the same token, Koreans are good at various sports that are played chiefly with the hands: handball, archery and table tennis, to name a few.

Professor Hwang Woo-suk of the Seoul National University who led the first cloning of embryonic human stem cells told in a public lecture that one of his assistants surprised the stem cell big shots of the world with his skills, which were beyond their imagination but actually nothing for Koreans. Professor Hwang, referring to the use of chopsticks, mentioned that the Koreans’ skill with their hands contributed to their success in cloning embryonic human stem cells.

An editor golf fan of an English daily newspaper mentioned that one of the root causes for Korean ladies to play such great golf in the U.S. is closely connected to dexterity, which is also critical to preparing delicious Kimchi, a Korean side dish loved by the people around the world.

Japanese, who also use chopsticks like Koreans, once produced a golf great named Ayako Okamoto, who became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1981 and won 17 events between 1982 and 1992. She was recorded as the first woman from outside the U.S. to top the LPGA tour’s money list in 1987. Among Japanese golfers playing in the PGA of America is Shigeki Maruyama, who is often compared to South Korean golfer Kyung-ju Choi. Despite this, the Japanese do not surpass Koreans in the golf world possibly because they do not attach as much importance to the hands in preparing foods. They use sashimi knife in preparing raw fish, their all-time favorite, instead of directly using hands as Koreans do.

Similarly, the Chinese do not distinguish themselves as much as Koreans in the LPGA tour of America because they do not stress the role of hands in making foods. Their food culture features fire. Mostly they use fire to create taste instead of using their hands.  Among Chinese golfers, Hong Mei Yang became the first Chinese player to win a tournament in the United States in April 2004 by capturing the IOS Futures Golf Classic in El Paso, Texas, the developmental circuit for the LPGA Tour.

Of course, there are some other factors that make all the great achievements possible including tenacity and indomitability, two characteristics of Koreans, along with quite a lot of synergy among the South Korean golfers. But without the dexterity unique to Koreans their great success would be hard to imagine.

Okay, I just pooped my pants. Holy fucking shit. And that's got to be the absolute worst use of "not to change the subject" I've ever seen.

At this point is it even necessary to write "Fuck you, PD Diary"?

The Joongang Ilbo, via The Marmot's Hole, tells us of PD Diary's latest bullshit stunt. It is now saying the errors in its April 29th report on American beef and Mad Cow Disease were the product of poor translations. Just go read the whole JI article, because it's really hard to pick one representative excerpt. But I'll try:

PD Diary also claimed Tuesday that the host of the show made a simple slip of tongue when he called a downer cow “a cow suspected of being infected with mad cow disease.”

Its earlier translation of “dairy cow” as “mad cow disease-infected cow” was not a poor translation, but a translation with interpretation, the program argued.

The episode, seen by many as the catalyst of Mad Bull Shit, was pretty much immediately attacked by papers like the Chosun Ilbo, and was almost unanimously lambasted by foreign bloggers here. Yet, living in Jeollanam-do. it pains me to say that because this article appeared in the Joongang Ilbo, and because attacks against the program are coming from it and other quote-unquote conservative papers, it will be immediately rejected as fabrication by many of my neighbors. After all, they've heretofore refused to believe that any of this hysteria was the product of media manipulation and government deception, and have instead claimed that its been the conservative outlets engaging in yellow journalism to discredit those opposed to President Lee Myung-bak. As I've learned this past week, a common tactic used when discussing controversial issues is to simply refuse to acknowledge the other side. Like on Monday when a colleague tried to discredit my latest KT article by refusing to believe that there were anti-American displays at last month's Gwangju Massacre commemoration. *cough* Learning about and understanding Korea's unique culture and Korea's long history *cough cough cough* appears so much easier when you simply ignore the parts you don't like. Is it vacation yet?

Ah, forgot to mention that Korea Beat yesterday pointed us to a lengthy Korean-language Wikipedia article on that infamous "PD Diary" episode. Zen Kimchi did a write-up here, and last week Gusts of Popular Feeling looked at PD Diary's long relationship with dishonesty.

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.

Pittsburgh, Gwangju, Mad Cow Disease, and deception, all in the same editorial.

Interesting editorial in yesterday's Chosun Ilbo, titled "Exposing Ex-Minister's Deception Is Child's Play." It was the first I heard of former agriculture minister Kim Sung-hoon and his, um, creative use of numbers and information when writing on Mad Cow Disease. The first two paragraphs:

Former agriculture minister Kim Sung-hoon in an article in a weekly newspaper last month said the U.S. government was concealing the results of tests by Yale University and the University of Pittsburgh showing that at least 250,000 to 650,000 people in the United States have died from the human form of mad cow disease but this was being covered up as deaths from senile dementia.

To repeat the point that has been mentioned countless times already, there has yet to be a single recorded case of a person contracting variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD), or the human form of mad cow disease, after consuming American beef. The Yale and University of Pittsburgh research papers cited by Kim say 5 to 13 percent of senile dementia patients in the United States suffer from standard Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD), which has been officially confirmed to have no relation to beef or mad cow disease. Citing a different disease, Kim said there were 650,000 vCJD victims in the U.S. when in fact there are none. This is an unbelievable act of deception.

The editorial then brings up the Gwangju elementary school students who wrote to Lee Myung-bak offering their support. The Chosun Ilbo's take:

In stark contrast to Kim stands a group of elementary schoolchildren in Gwangju. One of the students there posted a letter on the homepage of Cheong Wa Dae saying they realized much of the information about mad cow disease they had was exaggerated or false. The reason the student wrote the letter was a class teaching them to base their claims on scientific facts. In the beginning, most of the students there are said to have supported illegal acts in order to defend what is right and to topple Cheong Wa Dae and set it on fire.

Startled by all this, their teacher proposed a debate on the issue after researching the topic. The teacher told them they must know their facts before they go about insulting something. After research, they reached the conclusion that Korea should inspect beef being imported but also realized that most of the information they knew about mad cow disease differed from the truth. What thoughts will have passed through Kim’s mind as he watched these children?

For those keeping score at home, this is the second time University of Pittsburgh scientists have shown up on South Korean radar. The first time was back during the Hwang Woo-suk mess, when the name of one of his assistants---Dr. Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh---kept popping up. And so this is, I think, the fourth time I've seen Pittsburgh mentioned in the local media since I've been here. The first time was because of Schatten, the second time was of course because of Pride of Korea Hines Ward, and the third time was because of Byung-hyun Kim's short stint on the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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.

"It's Hyorish."

Talk about your slow news day. A promotional poster for an upcoming album by Lee Hyori, the attractive woman who did some famous thing or other a few years ago, I guess. Hyorish? Seriously, what the fuck. Well, google is my friend and tells me there's more here and here. It's also on Pop Seoul, but I don't want you going over there.

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.

Ugly dog abuse video from Mokpo.

No, I don't mean the abuse of an ugly dog, I mean a teacher I know in Mokpo caught his school's groundskeeper---and his downstairs neighbor---beating one of the dogs on his farm with a big stick.



Eating a dog raised like that should make his dick nice and hard. Make sure you go and read the teacher's account of what happened, and what his coteacher had to say about it. An excerpt:

45 seconds later he's in my house! He just walked right in ranting and yelling and continuing his string of various 'son-of-a-bitch'-like insults. Again, I refused to speak to him, to acknowledge him in any verbal form except "get out. ....GET - OUT .... GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" I repeated this very clearly, very decisively (but without yelling) and with the unmistakeable hand guesture over and over.
INSTEAD, he started advancing on me! He backed me into my own bedroom! He feigned a punch!!!!!! He's fucking CRAZY and I'm surprised he didn't in fact hit me!!! Then he started ranting in setnence-form (far to quickly for me to understand amid all the "song of a bitch" continuing yelling), but he provided me with hand guestures as well -- to his dogs, me watching, me taking photos, one I didn't get, then a throat-slitting motion! He left shortly after, THANK - FUCKING - GOD!

Man, last time we heard about Mokpo they were tormenting animals at a local festival and harassing and assaulting foreigners for putting their trash in the wrong bags. That really is the City of beauty, romanticism, and Dream!

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.

I've attracted the ire of Korean netizen bullies.

Scroll down for updates.

This morning a couple Korean blogs have started linking to me as well as the "Candlegirls" cafe.  The Candlegirls site links to me as a "촛불시위를 비하하는 외국인강사."  Another blog, in an entry called "광우병 촛불집회를 비하하는 외국인," has posted my name, blog, and Facebook page, as well as the information of the Gwangju News, and has reposted the article I wrote in this month's issue.  It also includes the name, school, and contact information of my editor, and has directed readers to email our employers. I'll copy and paste what they wrote in case the link changes.

안녕하세요. 제가 이렇게 글을 올리게 된 계기는 최근에 광주 전남지역 국제교류센터의 외국인들과 지역 영어교육인들을 대상으로 발간되는 ‘Gwangju News’라는 잡지에서, 국내의 광우병 촛불시위 그리고 더 나아가 한국인들을 너무 심하게 조롱하고 있는 한 외국인의 글을 보고 너무 분통이 터져서입니다. 한국인들의 촛불시위가 광우병에 대한 과장과 잘못된 정보, 그리고 그것을 확대하는 정치인과 언론때문이고, 한국 중고학생들은 주체적인 생각없이 그냥 그런 잘못된 정보를 믿고 우르르 거리로 나온 것 뿐이라고 하네요. 그리고 한국에서 광우병으로 병거리고 죽을 확률보다 교통사고로 죽을 확률이 훨씬 많다면서, 광우병 신경쓸 에너지 있으면, 교통사고 문제나 더 신경쓰라고 합니다. 이 글의 저자 Brian Deutsch은 그 전 ‘남대문 화재’ 및 ‘박진희의 코리아나’ 관련 기사에서도 계속 한국에 관해 비아냥거리는 글을 올려서 제가 항의메일을 보냈지만, 이번 기사에서 보여지듯이 아무런 태도의 변화를 보이지 않고, 오히려 노골적으로 더욱 한국을 비하하고 있습니다. 그리고 실제에 이 사람 블러그에 가시면 훨씬 많은 한국을 비하하는 글들을 볼 수 있을 것입니다. 이 밖에 이 잡지의 이번 호에서는 한 주한미군 장교가 ‘효순,미순’의 장갑차 사건을 다루면서, 그 사건은 단순히 교통사고 발생 위험성이 높은 지역에서 우연히 발생한 한 사건이었을 뿐인데, 몇몇 선동가들이 지나치게 사건을 확대시켰다고 주장하고 있습니다. 한국에대해 이렇게 몰이해적이고 한국인을 비아냥 거리는 글들이 계속 실리는데는 이 잡지의 편집장인 JS의 책임이 크다고 할 것입니다. 심지어 저를 비롯한 여러 한국사람들이 반론을 보냈음에도 한국인들의 의견은 무시하고 일방적으로 편협하고 한국을 비아냥 거리는 외국인의 글들을 계속 출간하고 있으니까요. 무엇보다도 제가 기분이 나쁜 것은 이렇게 한국을 비하하는 한국인들이 한국에서 한국인들에게 자기들의 모국어를 가르치면서 많은 돈을 벌면서, 한국과 한국인을 비웃고 있다는 것입니다.이런 몰지각한 외국인의 버릇을 고쳐주기위해서 여러분의 힘이 필요하다고 생각합니다.   먼저 편집장인 JS의 근무처인 xx대와 그녀의 email에 항의합시다. 그리고 순천에 계시는 분들은 Brian Deutsch이 어느 학교나 학원에 근무하는지 확인해서 항의 부탁드립니다. 그리고 그들의 블러그에도 적극적인 항의 부탁드립니다. 한국에 있는 외국인의 시각도 교정하지 못한다면, 어떻게 미국의 부시의 버릇을 잡아주겠습니까?[출처] 광우병 촛불집회를 비하하는 외국인|작성자 개나리꽃

It's also mirrored here.  I'd appreciate it if somebody could translate what this says.  [Update: Rough translation here, thanks "Juicy."] Running it through Babelfish it looks like this guy has taken issue with my tone in several articles and originally sent a letter to the Gwangju News that was apparently ignored (I myself haven't received any feedback on my latest article).  Apparently the guy is also upset that I'm criticizing the country that employs me.  And, it looks like they want to find out my school and send letters of protest there, too.  I'm curious, though, if these people actually took the time to read what I've written, or if they just jumped to conclusions based on the topic.  Regardless, I'm sure we'll be getting tons of emails now, and any inflammatory or threatening ones that come my way will be shared with you here.

* Update 1 (Saturday, June 14, 11:03): Somehow the original poster "개나리꽃이 필때" found out where I work and put that information online.

* Update 2: I discovered the identity of the original poster, and the one who posted all of our information online but I don't think I should post it just yet, because we'd like to investigate this and potentially press charges. Posting the name and information as retribution would perhaps damage any case we have, especially since we're disadvantaged already as foreigners. Needless to say I think you will be quite shocked to find out who it is.

* Update 3 (June 15, 17:30): Okay, so maybe you won't be "shocked" but it's from a surprising source. I can't say anything right now, though I am really itching to do a full write-up as soon as I can because while it came from what is apparently a no-name blogger, I can assure you it's not a random attack, and I am absolutely furious about this and the response from what I'll call "his corner." Thanks for all of your comments. I'm too busy to respond to everyone right now. I have taken out my colleague's name from the original post, and taken out her school. Also, looks like a commenter alerted the blogger to a post on Dave's about this. Yes, he's right, we are all planning a response now.

* Update 4 (Monday June 16, 18:30): The blogger changed it from the original message to:

여러분의 많은 지지 덕분에,

광주 전남지역 국제교류센터의 외국인들과 지역 영어교육인들을 대상으로 발간되는 ‘Gwangju News’에서

'광우병 위험성이 있는 미국쇠고기 수입에 반대하는 한국인의 의견'을 다음달 호에 올리기로 결정했습니다.

한국에 있는 많은 외국인 친구들에게 우리의 생각과 의견을 알릴 수 있도록,

영어 실력이 출중하신 많은 분들이 아래의 메일로 '광우병 위험성이 있는 미국쇠고기 수입에 반대하는 이유'를 보내 주셨으면 합니다.

여러분의 이런 소중한 노력이 국내 외국인들을 설득시키고, 나아가 미국에서의 국내 입장에 대한 좋은 여론을 조성하는데, 소중한 역할을 할 것이라고 생각됩니다. 그럼 ~~^^

Also wanted to remind people that this little campaign was against two foreigners, not just me, and that he's made life quite difficult for us the past three days. I plan to do a full write-up on this whole ordeal, sooner rather than later I hope, once things get back to normal and get resolved a little bit. Sorry, Roboseyo, I don't have a mystery guest blogger, and the culprit isn't Scott Hall.

* Update 5 (July 2, 2008, 13:47): I've written a lengthy update here.

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.

Ha! Way to throw down there, but I don't think a Korean has ever done anything remotely deserving of street cred. Um, well, except that one time.

Okay, so by now we know all about singer Crown J and his "A" bullshit. He's considered one of the hottest acts in show business now because he's sort of involved with the classy Suh In-young of "Jewelry." You know, it was bad enough when I couldn't say "tell me the answer" in class, or "try it one more time." But now when I say or allude to the first letter of the alphabet I get a class full of teenagers throwing down gang signs and going "A" like the Fonz. The singer Crown J pushed the letter and the gesture into pop culture by claiming it represents Atlanta. But he's from Los Angeles. And he's Korean. But he's throwing down A. Because it means Atlanta. But he's from Los Angeles. And getting my students to do it. why why why why why why why why why why why why why j098f2uwfejaksjlejrl2awsjdvzx. Some of them have started tagging their notebooks, their hands, and my desks with this letter. They didn't find anything particularly cool about it two weeks ago when it was just another thing they decided to sleep through.



Yes, I know kids all over the world imitate their pop idols. I guess I find it just a little more obnoxious because it's my native culture they're cheapening for a laugh or a buck. I tried to talk about the idiocy of all this and the ridiculous use of English in pop culture during one of my recent teachers' workshops and hahahahahaha you can guess how effective that was. All of the scholarly journals will talk about how natural it is for a culture to adapt a foreign language to its own purposes, and when an article even mentions Korean and Konglish at all it talks about how English---they dare not say "Engrish" because there's no such thing as incorrect English everybodyknowsthatyouimperialistpig---is a linguistic escape from the rigidity of the Korean language and from the daily grind of Korean young people's lives. So yeah, nothing at all unusual with pop stars going "A" for no fucking reason or t-shirts with all kinds of gibberish on it or with kids walking around saying "terr me terr me" having no god damn idea what they're talking about and no idea how to pronounce the shit in the first place. I guess the problem is that this linguistc escape comes in the form of my native language and culture, and that cheapening one while preserving the sanctity of the other falls neatly in line with how English education itself is handled around here and how native speakers are written into the equation. Sure, I guess I can't call gibberish "wrong" any more than I could call any regional accent in the States "wrong" or my low, informal register on this blog "wrong"---because you can't. But I really want to.



Atlanta Braves baseball caps are insanely popular these days because they're what Crown J wears. If you type in "A모" into Naver, the search engine will finish your thought and suggest the 자. Not sure why you'd do be searching for that, though. I was in an MLB store in the basement of an E-Mart last week and two guys were there looking for Atlanta merchandise. There were only two Braves hats left, and they were tucked behind a row of hats from some other team. The saleswoman said they were the most popular items now. Lol, Oakland Athletics hats are also big sellers, too.




Interesting that loads of other sites I browsed don't even advertise Atlanta hats. That leads me to believe---and I know this will shock you---that customers here have no idea what they're actually buying, and that they are unaware that the hats with goofy letters actually, like represent actual teams in real life. I wonder if they're classified as fashion items rather than baseball caps.

In Crown J's latest single "Too much" he's teamed up with his love Suh In-young of the group "Jewelry," a girl band whose name its fans and their parents aren't even able to pronounce. You can find the lyrics here with subtitles, and I'm sure a video will turn up eventually. Here's a taste for you:

come on girl do u like it? i like it i like it
i luv you i luv you A~ what u gonna do about that
and
I love you 너 하나만 I need-e- you 널 바라보는 눈빛과 내 말투도
조금씩 그댈 닮아가네요 I love you make this love to me
kevin I`m so in to you I love you

우리 함께 라면 난 기분이 함께 하루 하루라면 매일이
Baby 24/7 all day, i`m clean, so clean

Cool, I'm so proud of my language and what it's come to represent to allow for such creative freedom and such eloquence that would be impossible in these singers' native language.



Ugh, I actually listened to that song (in shifts.) Lol @ "heavy weight every day" and "And your privy," but I think we're the only ones laughing since everyone else is too busy throwing down. Fuck you Crown J, and fuck you to all you half-gyopos cashing in on the quite-unquote toughness you acquired by your years cloistered in LA's Koreatown. Just think, if the Bulldozer's plan goes into effect, these are the kids we'll have over here teaching students English. Wonder how long it will take before the public figures out who the real drug runners are.

The issue of rendering English ridiculous is something I've been working on in my head for quite some time, but it's still too difficult for me to properly get into on this 'umble blog. But as I was putting this little entry together I caught myself laughably trying to defend the quote-unquote purity of hip-hop culture, even as its spent the past two decades glorifying drugs, violence, poverty, and idleness. Can't get too bent out of shape about rendering gangbanging ridiculous when the dude from "Pimp My Ride" has a song called "Get your walk on."

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.

I get letters.

A little while ago a reader of the Gwangju News wrote in with his or her comments on two of the articles. The first paragraph was in regards to an article about the government's seizure of assets held by quote-unquote Japanese collaborators. It was a well-researched piece, and the author was more restrained than I would have been on the topic, because I know I couldn't have gone more than a paragraph without saying "if you actually have to search for the descendants Japanese collaborators, you're trying too hard." The second paragraph was about my piece on the Nazi-themed cosmetic ads by Coreana. I've left out the first paragraph on the other article but have included the bit about me below:

I would like to comment shortly about "Nazi-Themed Cosmetic Advertising" by Brian Deutsch, May Issue, 2008. Basically I respect his opinion about the painful remembrance of Nazi, because we also have the pain remembrance of Japan. But I would like to point on his indication attitude. In my viewpoint, his indication attitude is expressed very arrogantly and it seems that he looked down on Korean, because he insisted that Korean is lacked in awareness of world stance, because Korean is lacked in some awareness of western world. Yes, it's true, but every Korean can't and don't need to know of everything about western culture, like every western can't and don't need to know of eastern and Korean culture. And western also didn't do their best to understand eastern too. It was also proven in his article about Namdaemun, which he wrote that he couldn't understand why Korean was shocked greatly; to such extent they could compare it with the September 11 attack. So I would like to advise him that while he advises Korean to be aware of western culture, he should also try to learn eastern culture in general and Korean culture in particular. If he feels bad about my opinion, he also has to think about Korean who felt so about his article.

You can find the issue with the article in question online here, and you can find the issue with the article about Namdaemun and "Korea's 9/11" here. I ended up not writing a response to his letter for the magazine, because fuck him that's why that kind of stubborn back-and-forth never gets anyone anywhere. I will say now, though, that it's not that I'm arrogant, it's that I'm always right. *cough* But seriously, I don't think I wrote anything that wasn't on the mind of most alert foreigners at the time, and I don't think I did it in a way that was unjustified. I mean, I wasn't ranting about how kimchi smells bad or how I don't like when old women push me, I was talking about comparing the Namdaemun fire to 9/11 and about using a model dressed like a Nazi to sell face cream. As I've said elsewhere, there are few things I dislike more over here than hearing the "you need to learn about Korean culture" refrain, because I don't like having well-reasoned, well-researched opinions dismissed with a single phrase. Or perhaps I resent the implication that is behind the phrase, that a dissenting opinion from a foreigner is unwelcome. I'm not alone though, in hearing that line, not by a long shot, and even the American Ambassador gets it.



That post by James touches on a little of what I've been wanting to talk about lately---the presentation of quote-unquote Korean culture, especially by VANK, and the way it is imagined by Koreans themselves---but all of this Mad Bull Shit has been interfering with a couple half-done posts I'm sitting on. You may have to wait until next week, my friends, because I'm completely exhausted from making and giving my schools' speaking tests, and am fixin to go to the Firefly Festival this weekend, and I swear to God if they have a fucking Mad Bull Shit rally I'm going to use my bamboo sword on something.

HAHAHAHAHA (HAHAHAHAHA) more netizen news.

Damn, it's a big news day for those interested in Korean netizens. The Dong-A Ilbo tells us that netizens are vandalizing the Lee Myung-bak Wikipedia entry. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the article's conclusion, holy fucking shit:

The semi-protection measure has been taken by an administrator selected by Wikipedia.

The measure is a side effect of the collective intelligence among Korean Internet users.

Thanks to "The Goat" for the scoop. You'll remember there have been similar cases of vandalism-gone-wild on articles for the Liancourt Rocks, the Sea of Japan, Yi Sun-shin, and Kenkanryu. Actually, pretty much anything having to do with anything at all Asia- or Korea-related will invite vandalism and race-baiting between Asian nationalities and Hyphenated-Americans, so that's why I always disable comments on my youtube videos.

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.

"Online Accusation Targets Middle School Teacher."

Last week we learned that ubiquitous comedianne Jeong Sun-hee was forced to resign from three of her shows because of some quote-unquote controversial comments regarding anti-beef protesters. Yesterday's Dong-A Ilbo tells us that netizens have targetted a teacher for attempting to allay fears about Mad Cow Disease. A couple of excerpts:

A Web posting on an Internet community yesterday targeted a middle school history teacher who allegedly praised the resumption of U.S. beef imports.

The person who posted the allegation also gave out the teacher’s name, school and cell phone number, urging others to gag the teacher by making protest calls to the teacher and the school.

Once the post was put on the community’s forum, the school and teacher were inundated with angry calls and cursing text messages. The teacher canceled his cell phone service yesterday afternoon.

Comments blasting the teacher continued to be posted, but one anonymous individual urged that no harm come to the teacher, calling the accusation undemocratic cyber-terrorism.

and

A co-worker of the teacher said, “I read the allegation and it’s completely unfounded. Nobody has bothered to check the truth. All they seem to focus on is attacking [the teacher]. We cannot teach anything to our students.”

Another student at the school said, “Yes, the teacher talked about beef, but he did not support importing American beef. Our friends and other students admire him. He is an enthusiastic teacher. We’re all shocked that this false accusation was posted on the Internet.”

Hyeon Tae-soo, a sociology professor at Korea University in Seoul, said, “This personal attack and the ensuing witch hunt against a person’s integrity is an unforgivable act. It’s public abuse in the name of democracy.”

Might as well have posted the whole article. If this kind of intimidation keeps up, are the netizens any different than the "monster" Japanese parents we read about last week, dictating school curriculum and policy via bullying? Ironically, this comes on the heels of huge protests celebrating Korea's democratic history and the commemoration of June 10th, comes as these protests are rendered as a matter of national survival and democratic expression, and comes as these beef imports are being represented as blatant disregard for the will of the people. This teacher's actions also contrast with the very vocal Korea Teachers' Union (KTU) and their unabashed anti-beef, anti-American agenda.

This is a lone reported case, so it's unwise to make sweeping generalizations about attacks against teachers, though I have no doubt that a teacher who does not toe the national company line will face severe consequences. Cyberbullying, though, is rather common around here, and Korean netizens can be a very wild, enthusiastic, irritable, inflammatory, and hateful bunch. Off the top of my head I recall them shutting down the FIFA website, driving a teenage girl to suicide, and driving a couple celebrities to suicide, to say nothing of the myriad campaigns to do something or other. On the topic of "witch hunts" we have, as Gusts of Popular Feeling reminds us, the Dog Poo Girl and English Spectrumgate. And on the topic of teachers being disciplined and canned for controversial beliefs, we remember Gerry Bevers, who was not rehired by his university after writing unpopular views about the Liancourt Rocks.

Given the power netizens and citizen journalists have around here to both represent and shape popular opinion, and even to infiltrate the mainstream media, I suspect this type of intimidation against teachers will be an increasingly popular trend. I was going to snidely comment that perhaps this teacher should learn to understand Korea's unique culture, but I couldn't fit it in anywhere. I do know that all of us are getting very interesting lessons in Korean culture throughout all of this, though.

Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, have their kids make Mad Cow art.

Well, this is one way to avoid actually having to teach anything.


The Korean Teachers' and Workers Union certainly is on the ball, and has made no effort to hide its agenda. Because the link has hangeul in it I don't seem to be able to embed it, so just copy-and-paste this into your browser: http://news.eduhope.net/news/view.php?board=교육희망-photo&id=282. Anyway, it looks like this class from "ㄱ" Middle School is keeping busy. Not as busy as the students from this Incheon Middle School who made flagrantly anti-Japanese posters at the behest of their teachers, and then displayed them at subway stations around Seoul and Gyeonggi (pictures here and here).





You can browse the union's webpage here and their newspaper here, and they're both good resources whether you're starting your own blog or looking for decorations for your classroom.

Other rallies in Jeollanam-do.

There were plenty of rallies last night throughout South Korea to commemorate June 10th. The biggest one, of course, was in Seoul, but most of the towns and counties in Jeollanam-do had gatherings as well. An article in the 한겨레 contains a map breaking down where the protests took place:



They also did a little profile on how many people showed up at each location:

광주에선 금남로 삼복서점 앞에서 1만여명이 촛불문화제를 열었다. 민주노총 광주·전남본부 노동자 2천여명은 광주공원 앞에서 사전 집회를 연 뒤 행진해 합류했다. 전남대생들은 동맹휴업을 하고 참여했으며, 전남대 졸업생들도 흰색 와이셔츠에 넥타이를 매고 동참했다. 전남대 145명, 조선대 105명의 교수들이 시국선언을 발표했으며, 목포대 순천대 등 교수들도 시국선언문을 서명을 받고 있다. 여수에서는 건설노조 소속 노동자들과 시민 등 3500여 명이 참여하는 등 전남 22곳 시·군 가운데 16곳에서 8천여명이 참여했다.

I have no idea where these sources are getting their numbers, because each article I looked at gave different figures. The above-quoted 한겨레 story contradicts itself, as the map says 18 of 22 Jeonnam administrative divisions held gatherings, while the article says 16. Naver via Newsis says 18, and Namnu News said demonstrations were planned in 13 Jeonnam cities and counties. Gusts of Popular Feeling has a map from the 서울신문 that says 13, too.



Looks like Jindo didn't do anything last night because fire hasn't been invented there yet. Regardless, I was more interested in finding out where these demonstrations took place and in finding photos of them in blogs and newspapers. I'm sure plenty of others will turn up later, and I'll add them to the post as I find them.

* Gangjin county had one in front of their bus terminal, and the 강진신문 estimates 300 people were there.





* Three thousand turned out in Naju, one of Jeollanam-do's five cities, on the main street in front of Namgomun Gate. :





* According to this blog, 3,000 were at Yeosu's:



* Suncheon had rallies in front of Suncheon Station (pictured below), Suncheon University, and Choeun Plaza.



Here's another shot in front of Suncheon Station from a local paper:



* Not sure where these were taken in Mokpo.

Massive protest underway in Seoul.

Not news to anyone here, but I just wanted to pass along this photo that I noticed on Korea Beat:



I'm kind of afraid to turn on the computer tomorrow morning to find out what happened. You know this isn't going to turn out well, and I'm sure Aesop has a fable about times like this.

One more, with plenty of more to follow tomorrow on the usual news sites:



* Update 1: Matt from Gusts of Popular Feeling stayed up late on a school night to put together a very nice recap of the events in cities nationwide. There are some other photos of the rally in Gwangju here and here and a couple of bad shots of the rally in front of Suncheon Station here. A lot of teachers from my school attended the all-night protest. "It was a lot of fun," my coteacher reported. Here's one participant in Suncheon's rally last night:



I don't understand how some people maintain that these rallies aren't about the Mad Cow scare and that young people aren't being coerced into attending. Perhaps I'd be less flabbergasted if there were nationwide protests on something not directly related to my country, who knows, but I do know that mobs of angry Koreans make me uncomfortable. Of all the things to get worked up about . . . seriously, of all the things to get worked up about, somehow it came to this.

Michael White's autopsy report released to press before family.

Stephannie White has posted on this Dave's ESL Cafe thread that she was contacted by the Seoul Times to comment on her son's autopsy report. A report she had not yet seen. Stay tuned to the thread for updates.

Stephannie White is the mother of Michael White, the 14-year-old boy who died last month under mysterious circumstances at Gyeongsan's Royal Hawaii Sauna. You can browse this category for more posts on the topic.

Mad Bull Shit in the news a little bit more.

There have been articles on the anti-beef rallies in Korea from international sources since last month, but initial reports focused on politics and framed the protests as demonstrations against the President and the FTA. They ignored the yellow journalism and hysteria that we've been privy to here, making me wonder what, exactly, Seoul-based correspondents actually do with their time. Anyway, more stories have come out in the past couple days that address the lunacy going on around here.

The first is an opinion piece, I guess, from the Vancouver Sun. Not sure what impact it will have because most North Americans are totally unaware that anything over here is happenign at all. An excerpt:

Since they ended the era of a grim succession of dictators in the 1980s South Koreans have embraced democracy and the right to protest with an enthusiasm that sometimes strays into hysteria.

That certainly seems to be the case with the beef ban situation. Public rage that Lee is risking their health and their lives in an unseemly attempt to suck up to Bush is being fed by a media that revels in sensationalism without any pretense at balanced or professional journalism.

One story in the last few days, for example, said that cheap, poisonous American beef would be used for school lunches. A weeping 13-year-old was quoted lamenting that she had worked so hard to get good grades and now she was going to die.

The Internet has been at least as bad at gestating rumours into perceived fact at record-breaking speed.

Late last week an understandably exasperated American ambassador to Seoul, Alexander Vershaw, commented, quite mildly under the circumstances, "We hope that Koreans will begin to learn more about the science and about the facts of American beef and that this issue can be addressed constructively."

Well, it was as though he'd spat on the South Korean flag.

Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the United New Democratic Party, for one called Vershaw "impolite and arrogant."

You'll remember that Sohn translated the statement wrong, making Koreans believe Vershbow---not Vershaw, lol---said Koreans need to learn more about science, not THE science.

Yesterday I posted a link on Dave's to a AP story, via Fox News, but I'm pretty sure it was a different one than what's there now. Today the story is about the Prime Minister and other officials who may resign over this fiasco.

Several of South Korea's top political leaders, including Prime Minister Han Seung Soo, his Cabinet and top aides to President Lee Myung Bak, may tender their resignations next week over the public outrage at a government decision to resume imports of U.S. beef, Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday.

Fox News also ran a few pictures, including one taken in Jeonju, meaning the AP either had a correspondent there, or they borrowed it from a Korean site.



China View, among other places, tells us that police are on high alert in preparation for tonight's (June 10) huge rally in Seoul. An excerpt:

Protesters nationwide are expected to start at 7 p.m. to mark the 21st anniversary of the June 10 democracy protest, according to the People's Association Against Mad Cow Disease. The historic demonstration in 1987 led the then military regime to adopt a direct presidential election system and conduct political reforms.

"The Lee Myung-bak administration should look directly to the infuriated heart of the people that has made the nation a sea of candles and humbly listen to their voices and immediately set out for renegotiation," the civic coalition said in a statement.

Organizers have declared "non-violence and peace" as the core principles of the protests, but the increasing emergence of labor unions during demonstrations has raised tension on the streets.

Following the death of a blue-collar worker on Monday who immolated himself protesting the beef imports, truck drivers went on strike and took to the streets. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the more radical of the country's two umbrella labor unions, said about 100,000 members will participate in Tuesday's rally.

[Edit: As commenter Matt points out, the man who died in Jeonju is not the same man whose self-immolation was reported earlier this week, so this next paragraph is a bit off.]

If you'll recall, the initial reports said that the men set themselves on fire to protest the compensation they received from the government after being forced off their land, but the media switched it to render the self-immolations as anti-beef demonstrations:


Clearly South Koreans do not need to learn a little more about the science of anything, and to suggest otherwise is an insult to the entire peninsula. Mr. Lee (이병렬) here could not be reached for comment on this matter because he's dead.

I reckon the police'll need to be more than alert to deal with mobs like we saw this past weekend, when protestors attacked riot police with sticks, bats, and shovels. But---I hope---these hooligans are the exception, not the rule, and I'm pretty sure that the candle is still the implement of choice at these things. Besides having candlelight rallies all over this country, the Chosun Ilbo tells us that Koreans have been holding vigils in foreign countries, too.

A Korean news source says that this is just the beginning as rallies among Koreans abroad are being held in London, Frankfurt, and even Sao Paulo, Brazil. Protesters abroad reportedly said that they will continue to hold such gatherings until the much-debated beef issue is resolved at home.

Um, at "home"? Ah, that's right, I forgot . . . Anyway, earlier we saw Mad Bullshiters protesting atop a McDonald's sign, and if I were generous with my credit I'd say that the protestors were hoping to dissuade McDonald's from using American beef when imports resume. More likely, though, they were protesting American beef at an American restaurant that symbolizes American culture and cultural imperialism. The Chosun Ilbo has an article up today about the McDonald's controversy which, as you can guess by now, emerged from misinformation on the part of a government official and which spread via an undiscerning media. An excerpt:

McDonald’s is trying to steer clear of inadvertent involvement in the U.S. beef furor that has swept Korea, after the New Right National Union apologized for a remark by its secretary general Lim Heon-jo that dragged the global hamburger chain into a matter where it appears wholly blameless.
Speaking on an MBC TV talk show last week, Lim said hamburgers sold at McDonald's in the U.S. “are made of beef from cattle older than 30 months as well as intestines.”

That sparked something of a panic in Korea amid already tense public sentiment. Customers gave McDonald’s outlets a wide berth the following day.

McDonald's Korea was forced to post a notice on its homepage the next day denying the allegation, saying that according to official confirmation from McDonald's America, even hamburger patties sold in the U.S. are made from American beef from cattle under 30 months according to McDonald's global standards. “McDonald's Korea has been using beef from Australia and New Zealand in its products since 1995,” it added.

Anyway, back to the topic of Mad Bull Shit in the international media, two lengthy articles came out in the past couple days. One is from Business Week and is called "Korea's U.S. Beef Brouhaha." An excerpt of the article, which focuses on the negative effect this crisis will have on President Lee's mandate:

Could the tensions develop into a full-blown trade war? It's possible, says Han Sangwan, chief economist at think-tank Hyundai Research Institute in Seoul. The beef dispute could become a bigger issue if it's taken up during this year's U.S. Presidential election. The Korean public could inflame tensions, too. "Unless the U.S. shows flexibility over its beef exports to address Koreans' concerns over food safety, a wholesale boycott of U.S. products could follow," says Han. "And that could trigger protectionist retaliation." The collapse of an FTA would mean a "serious chasm between the two," he adds.

Jason Strother had an article in the World Politics Review yesterday, too, titled "South Korean Hysteria Over U.S. Beef Could Endanger Free Trade Agreement." God bless him for the article and for using a map with "Sea of Japan." Anyway, the introduction:

Massive demonstrations have forced South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to renege on a trade agreement made with Washington in April. Lee had pledged to lift his country's five-year-old ban on American beef that was first imposed after an outbreak of mad cow disease in Washington state.

For the past month, tens of thousands of South Koreans have held almost nightly candlelight vigils to express their opposition to the beef deal. They say Lee has put the nation's health at risk because too many restrictions were eased on cow parts that they think are more likely to transmit the brain-wasting virus.

The demonstrators were spurred on by sensational media reports and Internet rumors that schoolchildren would be served unsafe cuts of beef and also that Koreans are genetically more susceptible to contracting mad cow disease than Americans. It's become a case of widespread hysteria.

He also addressed the role of anti-Americanism in fanning the flame, something quite obvious to so many of us:

It's not unusual for South Korean politicians to use the U.S. as a pinching bag when the going gets tough.

In 2002, then-candidate for president Roh Moo-hyun came out of nowhere to ride to prominence the wave of anger that followed the accidental deaths of two Korean teenagers who got caught up in an American military training exercise.

Last summer, when a group of South Korean Evangelical Christians on a mission trip in Afghanistan were kidnapped by the Taliban, Seoul attempted to dump responsibility on the U.S. as President Roh admitted he was powerless to broker a resolution.

President Lee Myung-bak , who is widely seen as pro-American, is unlikely to resort to the same tactics. But as his enemies become emboldened by voters' fury, playing upon Lee's cozy relationship with Washington could be a way for his political opponents to degrade his popularity even further.

I'd like to see a little more attention paid to the role the Korean media has played in creating and continuing this panic, how certain groups have used sensational accounts of Mad Cow Disease to bootstrap their political agendas onto issues of public safety, and how misinformation still rules the day. For the time being, though, the local blogs remain the best source of information on the Mad Bull Shit front.

* Update: I should point out that the Washington Post ran a story last week that contains the notoriously groan-worthy quotation from a 13-year-old kid:

Cha Yoon-min, 13, attended the protest with his mother, a lawyer in Seoul. "I am afraid of American beef," he said. "I could study hard in school. I could get a good job and then I could eat beef and just die."

I first saw it on The Marmot's Hole and thought he translated it from a Korean source.

"Sicko" at Suncheon's movie theaters.

The 2007 Michael Moore documentary "Sicko" will be shown at Suncheon's two movie theaters tonight and tomorrow night. It will be at Primus tonight at 8 pm and at Lotte tomorrow at 7:30. Tickets are discounted to 3,000 won for adults and 2,500 for students. There is a poster advertising this event on my school's bulletin board, and I can think of no other reason to promote this film at this time other than to celebrate an acclaimed documentary. *cough* Actually, while it has been very well-received, and while I'm sure it's very informative, it's hard for me to think that it's no coincidence that the film is showing up in local theaters now, concerns about privatized health care not withstanding. Moreover, it's hard for me to think there aren't ulterior motives for advertising for it at school, at discounted rates, especially considering the Korea Teachers' Union's very vocal attitudes toward the US and toward American beef. I don't recall prominently-displayed advertisements for movies on domestic social issues, or issues that don't involve some foreign country or other. Just check out that poster . . . while it's not unique to, or designed for Korea, the imagery looks familiar to those who have been hanging around anti-beef protests. I haven't decided yet whether I'll check out one of the shows, or whether it's just a better idea to stay home.

Vigils for Michael White hitting snares.

Stephannie White, mother of 14-year-old Michael White who died in a Gyeongsan sauna last month, has been holding vigils outside the scene of his death every Sunday. Recently she and her companions have run into trouble outside the Royal Hawaii Sauna. An excerpt of an update from their Facebook group:

June 1st vigil: There were only 3 of us today... two women and a pre-teen. There was a crowd of men who were really making us uncomfortable. So I and my friend started taking pictures and DVD video of them. One man especially hid his face and ran away when we did this.

After reviewing the pictures & video, my lawyer has adviced me not to do anymore vigils unless there are at least ten people with me... as this is not a safe thing to do also or with only a couple of people.

A few people had planned to visit Gyeongsan this past weekend, but the vigil was called off because of safety concerns related to the intense anti-beef protests. Another update:

Subject: No Vigil on Sunday~

Thank you all for your interest and concern, but it is better not to have the vigil this Sunday.

There is strong embassy concern for Americans' or those demonstating with Americans so there will NOT be a vigil this Sunday.

Please DO NOT travel to the Oack Su Dong area of Gyeongsan.

Those of you who are on the American services email list should have already gotten an email warning of massive US beef demonstrations.

This warning has more to do with Beef than Mike's issue. But for our own safety, this is not a good weekend.

You can stay updated via the Facebook group and via MightieMike.com. You can also find the transcript of the May 20th interview with Stephannie White here. From the interview comes this tale from among the first vigils:

When we first arrived, there was a group of men across the street at the sauna. When I made arrangements with the police, I told them that I would be across the street from the sauna. That we would not picket, we would not shout, we would not prevent patrons from coming or going from the sauna.

Across the street from the sauna is a park, and so that kind of works well for us. We arrived at the park and began to set up and we noticed on the corner, the sauna’s located on a corner, there was a group of men and they were very intently watching what we were doing. So it seemed like they were very much prepared for us to be there.

They didn’t accost us. They didn’t bother us in any way. But, after a few minutes of us setting up, you know, basically a table, some you know, photographs of Mike, had a sandwich board out, there were some flyers. And, you know, there was some people helping with this…there was…maybe eight to ten people at the set-up point.

And, the men across the street who were intently watching us, there were four men in suits and the rest were like in pullovers and slacks and things. More working Joe type guys. The suits left and the working Joes kind of scattered in the periphery.

The police told me when I went to get permission for this, that they would have a, a car there with a couple of officers to legitimize our presence as well as act as protection, should the people try to give us a hard time. That did not happen. The police did not come.

Video of anti-beef protestors attacking riot cops.

This video has been making the rounds on the internet. It shows a mob of protestors first attacking a bus, then taunting the police and grabbing their shields, then attacking the riot cops who are standing next to it. Looks like they're using baseball bats, sticks, and farm implements. Near the end of the video a guy moves in with a shovel and beats the shit out of the cops pinned against a bus. The English-language version of the Chosun Ilbo has a little story on the increasing violence found at these protests. I'm curious to see how long police will exercise such restraint, and curious to see whether this incident gets as much attention as the cases of quote-unquote police brutality that have made front-page news and have plagued these peaceful demonstrations. *cough cough cough*

중흥골드스파&리조트 - Naju's Jungheung Gold Spa and Resort.

I've been getting some hits off google searches for "Naju Waterpark" and similar terms, so I wanted to do a little post on the waterpark in Naju. I mentioned it back in November but it's buried at the bottom of a long post that nobody cares about. The park is called Jungheung Gold Spa and Resort and is in Nampyeong-eup, which borders Gwangju to the southwest. The facility has a waterpark, indoor swimming and spa facilities, some condos, a golf course, and apparently a little bungee jumping thing. It looks like it'd be worth a visit if you're in the area, but it looks more geared to kids and families. Good pictures are a little hard to come by, but you can take a look at all the rides by going here and clicking through the menu on your left. Holy shit the Tornado looks awesome, and the "Rocket" is one of eight in the world.



From looking at the site I couldn't figure out how to get there. People on Naver have been asking, too, and it looks like somebody posted a timetable of buses to the resort from various places in Gwangju. No idea where the user got it or how accurate it is, but you could always ask at the tourist information booth inside the Gwangju Bus Terminal.

Also in Jeollanam-do, in Jangheung county, is Oksum Waterpark. It's small, kind of a family destination I guess, but it's there. It's on Sumun Beach (수문해수욕장) and is on the border of Boseong county, home of the well-known tea fields. I haven't the faintest idea how to get there by bus.



There's also a little theme park in Gwangju called Kumho Family Land, which I talked about before, and which apparently has some kind of tube ride this summer.

Here's an update (July 7): A new water park in Yeosu just opened up.

"Japan's 'monster' parents take centre stage."

Here's an excerpt from an article in today's London Times:

The stage was set, the lights went down and in a suburban Japanese primary school everyone prepared to enjoy a performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The only snag was that the entire cast was playing the part of Snow White.

For the audience of menacing mothers and feisty fathers, though, the sight of 25 Snow Whites, no dwarfs and no wicked witch was a triumph: a clear victory for Japan's emerging new class of “Monster Parents”.

For they had taken on the system and won. After a relentless campaign of bullying, hectoring and nuisance phone calls, the monster parents had cowed the teachers into submission, forcing the school to admit to the injustice of selecting just one girl to play the title role.

Japan Sparkling. For better or worse Asian schools have frequently been stereotyped as polar opposites of American ones, as ones where performance is stressed over self-esteem. So it's sad to see Asians not only emulating out trappings but racing us to the bottom with our own weaknesses.

"We are doing what we've been taught to at school."

"We are doing what we've been taught to at school." That was written on a placard by a girl at one of the countless anti-beef rallies in Seoul, according to the Korea Times. That article, "Gone is Solemnity from Rallies," highlights what it considers the humor, the sarcasm, the quote-unquote postmodernism in these recent protests. Certainly a lot of unintentional irony at these protests, too, what with students waving signs that read "I want to live!" (살고 싶다!) while their peers are dying on school field trips. Students acting like this

Cha Yoon-min, 13, marched on City Hall on Saturday night with his mother, a lawyer in Seoul. “I am afraid of American beef,” he said. “I could study hard in school. I could get a good job and then I could eat beef and just die.”

while living in the country consistently named most-dangerous for pedestrians. We know all too well what students have been taught at school, and we know what a lot of their teachers have been preaching. And here's a poster displayed atop the Korea Teachers' and Educational Workers' homepage:





Poster advertising an upcoming rally, a banner ad atop the Union homepage advertising the poster, and a cartoon from the site making clear that Americans are intentionally giving rotten beef to Koreans.

The Korea Times also ran a piece saying that the future of journalism has been on display at these rallies, with internet and citizen journalists having a larger role. The unnerving thing is, of course, that these whole hysteria was started by a case of intentionally shoddy journalism, and the meager rebuttals from quote-unquote conservative papers have fallen on deaf ears.

The Hankyoreh has an editorial today that echoes similar sentiments, titled "A new role for the media." An excerpt:

Big conservative papers like the Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo, and DongA Ilbo have been looking pretty shabby at the daily candlelight protests. Citizens parading in the streets pass by the tall buildings that house those newspapers and call out for them to, “Turn off those lights! You’re not worth the electricity!” There are slogans telling them to go out of print, and their reporters on the ground at these protests find themselves being ridiculed. They’re saying these papers can’t be seen as news media, so their position is not much different from the way the government-controlled media was given a baptism by pebbles at the climax of the April 19 Revolution in 1960.

The reason these newspapers are being scorned is because they are pushing positions that run contrary to the will of the people. Early in the mad cow disease issue, their coverage was largely about preaching to the people, about how American beef is safe, and about how the Korean people don’t know what they’re talking about. After the government went through the motions on those additional negotiations, these papers announced that would be enough and tried to keep additional demands at bay. It tried to discredit the candlelight protests with the absurd, like saying that someone was agitating from behind the scenes. Now they are suddenly calling for President Lee Myung-bak to wake up and change, but that looks mostly like dwitbuk chigi, hitting the drum after the beat has come and gone, only because they realize the country is angry at them as well as at the government. They put their trust in the influence they enjoy and tried to push the will of the people this way and that, and this is what they are doing after having failed.

Those damned quote-unquote conservative papers and their "positions that run contrary to the will of the people." Reminds me of a line from an excellent Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode: "I believe everything that man just said. Because it's exactly what I wanted to hear." Brave, enterprising journalism certainly has not been on display during these events, and the rub is that the quote-unquote liberal sources have been engaging in ridiculous scare-mongering and yellow journalism, a tactic normally reserved for propaganda and government sources. So while the liberal douche in me would love to rise up with my Rage Against the Machine and fight the system and so forth, you've got the anti-establishment side guilty of chronic irrationality and manipulation, to the extent that they're raving mad and are far more untruthful and slippery than the folks they're protesting in the first place.



Their one-sided bullheadedness have not only claimed truth as a casualty, but have had human victims as well. Most recently, ubiquitous comedianne Jeong Sun-hee (정선희) was forced to make a public apology and compelled to quit three of her shows because of remarks she made about protestors. So in addition to getting worked up over Mad Bull Shit, netizens are also patrolling other minor issues, and busting those who don't fall in with the established narrative. Jeong's "controversial" line?

Amid rising iron prices, some people have been stealing manhole covers. People participate in candlelit demonstrations over big issues such as mad cow disease, out of patriotism, but do not feel guilty over such small things as manhole theft, which is a crime. Who knows? Some of those steaming over the big issue and participating in the rally may be such small-scale offenders.

Oooh. The KT quotes a netizen as saying:

Maybe people misunderstood her. But Jeong, who deals with the public, should have considered this sensitive issue more seriously and made remarks more carefully.

Yes, a public figure should be more careful . . . careful to step quickly in line. It's quite acceptable for teachers' unions to speak on the issue, and it's certainly okay for political leaders to intentionally lie in order to stir up public emotion and incite panic, but woe be to those who veer from the company line. Interesting that the netizen's line is similar to the one United Democratic Party head Sohn Han-kyu used to chastize the AMERICAN AMBASSADOR, and that "consider this sensitive issue more seriously" seems code for "keep your mouth shut."


Cartoon from yesterday's 서울신문.

And finally, the Hankyoreh also has a short piece called "Taking sides against American beef" on the men who burned themselves in protest of these imports. It's under "entertainment," LMFAO. An excerpt:

At 2:30 a.m. on June 5, Kim poured paint thinner onto his head and struck a match, lighting his body on fire. He had called the police to inform them of his intentions 10 minutes before he immolated himself.

Kim’s wife, 55, said, “My husband criticized the Korean government for deciding to import U.S. beef again, saying that the lives of farmers and ordinary people were harder due to the government’s policies.”

Both the original Yonhap report and the follow-up from the KT said that Kim set himself on fire because he was dissatisfied with compensation he received from the government for some real estate deal or other. No mention of that is made here, though, which is reminiscent of the Hankyoreh's manipulation of another story, the story of the farmer in Hampyeong who killed himself reportedly because he was distressed by the impending beef imports. In reality, though, the man lost all of his cows some months earlier to disease, well before the imports on the public's mind. So there are two minor cases of the quote-unquote people's media being just as dishonest, just as manipulative as one would imagine some state-run propaganda outlet. Staggering that so many people put their unyielding faith in one while immediately rejecting the other.


I suspect that in the long run, having no skin will be far more damaging to this man's farming career than American beef.

And for those keeping score at home, between the suicides, the self-immolation, the police beatings at the rallies, and the old women beat up by thugs, there have been more casualties from the Mad Bull Shit protests than from Mad Cow Disease itself in Korea. 살고 싶다!

Now that's an ad campaign.

There's a new ad campaign out for a line of LG telephones featuring Jessica Gomes. I was going to title this post "Now that's an ad campaign you can hang your hat on" but I don't think the imagery would be appropriate. Just a warning, the pictures I posted above are probably not safe for work. You can also see the television spot here.

Rally tonight in Gwangju, you going?

So there's another big anti-beef rally tonight at 7 pm in downtown Gwangju. It's gotten to the point that I dread passing through the Chungjangno area because my eyes invariably fall on some Mad Bull Shit or other. When asked for comment on tonight's planned event, a foreigner named me said "Man fuck that shit." You'll see the effigy they used for the May 17th parade is still there, but with a few new decorations. Somebody, bless their soul, wrote "I love American beef" on it. And you'll see on the red cards that some want US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow "out" as well.

Ugly hit-and-run in Hartford as pedestrians watch caught on tape.

Came across this story on Dave's. An excerpt from the AP via MSNBC:

A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by.

Pedestrians gawk but appear to do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away.

The chilling scene — captured on video by a streetlight surveillance camera — has touched off a round of soul-searching in Hartford, with the capital city's biggest newspaper blaring "SO INHUMANE" on the front page and the police chief lamenting: "We no longer have a moral compass."

You can find the video on the MSNBC site, on youtube, and elsewhere. Be warned it's extremely disturbing, obviously.

The police chief went off at a press conference, talking about the hit-and-run and about former Deputy Mayor Nick Carbone, the 71-year-old who now requires brain surgery after being beaten within an inch of his life while taking a morning walk. The "we no longer have a moral compass" line seems to be referring to the beating of Carbone. As reported in the Hartford Courant, via Newsday.com:

"Those are three situations that dehumanize our community," Roberts said, speaking to reporters at an afternoon press briefing. "I'm ashamed to say our city has a toxic relationship with ourselves."

The third story he mentions was about the discovery of a decomposed body in somebody's basement. You see, brutal attacks, reckless driving, and public indifference aren't unique to South Korea, though they capture our interest and our attention. Disgusting to see what my country has become, and disgusting that there isn't more dialogue about our poisoned society. Let's worry a little less about extending our influence to the Middle East and Asia, and a little more about what is permitted in our streets, in our schools, and in our cities. Let's talk a little bit less about the terror we've created in Iraq, and a little more about the terror we've nurtured in our own backyards.

pyew pyew pyew, the sound of bad taste.

The Marmot's Hole brings us a story from Yonhap of a Russian magazine releasing photos of the downed plane from Korean Air Lines Flight 902, which made an emergency landing on a frozen lake after being hit by a Russian missile. According to the magazine the pictures are used to advertise the brand of truck that hauled the wreckage off the lake. Not in good taste.

That reminded me of a commercial I saw back in 2004 or 2005 for Hummer. The ad puts a Hummer in the 1979 video game Asteroids, and after the shooty-thing destroys all the asteroids, it is unable to damage the invincible truck.



All the while Humvees have been acting decidedly . . . vincible on the battlefields in recent memory. I guess the commercial was pretty popular, and aside from a little mention I made in my school's literary magazine (hahaha) back then, I don't think it raised any eyebrows. I'm also sorry to say that Hummers themselves don't seem to be raising any eyebrows either, because I consider them a pretty disgusting symbol of American waste and irresponsibility. From a Washington Times piece a few days ago:

Mr. Tsirilakis said he loves the uniqueness of his vehicle - both in novelty ("Jeeps are too common") and versatility ("Suburbans are too big to drive through the woods").

"Being able to drive a vehicle where you can get to work and feel like you're driving a Cadillac on the way to work, and where, on the weekends, you can drive over some rocks, I like that versatility," he said. "We are a rare breed, as they say."

Mr. Tsirilakis said he will keep driving his Hummer to work until gas prices get too steep.

"At that point, it may just become the weekend-warrior truck," he said.

Ken Gander, a Bergenfield, N.J., resident who is president of the Hummer X club chapter, said part of his Hummer's attractiveness is its "made in America" label.

"I buy the truck because it's American," he said. "If a foreign company made the truck, I don't know if I would get one."

I almost forgot how awesome the US was.

Korea Times: "Mad Cow Hysteria."

Korea Times columnist Michael Breen has published his fourth article on Mad Bull Shit in as many weeks. I didn't find his satirical pieces very funny, but the last one, called "Mad Cow Hysteria," is a little more up my alley. Here's an excerpt:

The decision by the Korean government this week to renege on its agreement to import American beef has deeply perplexed its negotiating partners in the United States.

``We are in close contact with the Korean government in an effort to gain a better understanding of the situation,'' said Sean Spicer, the spokesman at the U.S. Trade Representative Office in an interview with Yonhap News. That's Washington-speak for ``what the xxxx just happened?''

The U.S. ambassador, Alexander Vershbow, came out and said that the deal agreed in April addresses the science of the mad cow issue and provides effective measures to ensure the safety of beef exported to Korea and therefore doesn't need to be renegotiated.

That was a good point.

So why then would the opposition Democratic Labor Party say that we were back in the 1940s when an American military government ruled Korea? Why would the leader of the main opposition United Democratic Party, Sohn Hak-kyu, say that the ambassador insulted the Korean people by saying they should learn science?

While we're asking, why would tens of thousands of people join protests about mad cow disease without asking the critical question, ``Why aren't Americans protesting against American beef?'' Why would the government choose to perplex its foreign partners rather than argue its case to its own people?

The answer to all of the above is that Americans are from Mars and Koreans are from Venus, meaning that Americans suppress emotion in public discourse because they believe that we can move forward if we engage rationally, whereas Koreans do the opposite.

One more:

Imagine for a moment that the two sides articulated their positions the other way round. Ambassador Vershbow could say, ``If Korea refuses our beef, I will be forced to make a grave decision.'' I know, it sounds flaky, and the DLP would still say it sounds like 1947 because that's the song that keeps playing in their heads. But the UDP's Sohn and President Lee would get it.

That alludes to what Sohn Hak-kyu said a week ago:

"We will be forced to make a critical decision if the government pushes through its plan to announce resumption of beef imports," said Sohn Hak-kyu, leader of the main opposition United Democratic Party, Yonhap reported.

"If the government and the ruling party ignore this warning, we will come up with every possible measure to stop them."

And is in line with his attitude of late, telling the US to check itself before it wreck itself, and mistranslating Ambassador Vershbow's comments in order to whip up some more hysteria. Sohn then came out and said "the ambassador has insulted all South Koreans with such a remark," the remark Sohn mistranslated in the first place, showing us that Koreans really need to work on definite articles. Sohn said the ambassador should officially apologize. As an aside, I'm curious if anyone has done any serious scholarship on the culture of apologies here. That is, what's expected, what constitutes proper atonement, and whether the apology bestowes forgiveness on the person or is merely a cease and desist. Of course Gusts of Popular Feeling did a comparison recently of an apology to comfort women and a non-apology to those offended by the Coreana "Hitler" ads, and I can't find the link now but I remember an article making a subtle distinction between "apology" and "regret" or something when it came to the Chinese hooligans at the torch relay in April. Guilt is certainly wielded as a powerful weapon, and I wonder if in extreme cases some Koreans would even trade that in for a proper apology.



Sohn is kickin it in Gimje back in April, less panicked around infected poultry in his hands than potentially diseased cattle in his imagination.

I was reminded of a couple of passages in Breen's 1998 book The Koreans. I read it several years ago and bought it last month for some light reading, and flipping through it just now to find the excerpts, it looks like there's some good anecdotes in there that still hold true a decade later. Here are a couple on corporate culture and negotiating tactics in line with what Breen wrote in today's KT. Here is James Harting, Coca-Cola Korea Company President, talking about his affiliation with a Korean chaebol, or conglomerate, on page 154:

. . . As a simple example of the problems associated with such partnerships [with chaebol], the bottling firms bought their bottles and cans from their own affiliates, and at high prices, a common technique for both reducing profit and helping out a sister company. In 1997, the American company restructured its business in Korea after several years of frustration with local bottling partners. It set up its own bottling company and bought the assets of its Korean bottlers. Haggling over the value of assets got acrimonious and saw some serious brinkmanship. Harting had death threats from labour unions during this time and hired bodyguards for his western directors.

'We took a western approach,' he says. 'We had meetings and then walked out of them if things didn't go well. This really shocked them. With one bottler, I had to go from a final meeting to the airport. We'd already agreed but when we finally came to sign, they wanted to re-debate the details. It was like an agreement was never a final agreement. I said, if you don't sign now, there's no offer. No deal. You keep your assets. I really had to go, so I got my coat and picked up my briefcase and still they said nothing. I walked to the door and put my hand on the doorknob, and the company president said, "OK, give me the paper." It was a $60 million gamble. They had a real emotional attaachment to their identity as the Coca-Cola bottler. There weas a major wringing of ahnds, sucking of teeth, and tears. "What's going to become of us now?" they said. What was so frustrating for me was that we had been telling them all along that we would really help them if they would just show willingness to improve the business. We really wanted to keep them as bottlers. But they didn't see it.'

And on pages 168-9, in the chapter on "Foreign Business" and immediately following the transcript of a mind-boggling cockpit conversation between a Canadian pilot and a Korean co-pilot right before their plane went down on Jeju:

For Koreans, decisions still seem to be negotiable long after agreement has been made. For westerners, this tendency can be infuriating. A foreign inveestment banker who had been involved in a complicated financing deal with a major conglomerate turned up at the final signing ceremony, with the heads of several affiliates in attendance, to find that the company's negotiator wanted to renegotiate a crucial term of the agreement. The banker refued to change his position and got aggressive, at some personal risk.

'Had they said the deal was off, it would have been very career-damaging for me,' he said. But I knew this was the only way to deal with the Koreans. The annoying thing was that this term had been in the deal from the beginning several weeks earlier.' He got his way after two hours and the ceremony went ahead.

And then of course there's this oft-quoted rant from an unidentified expat banker, with the money shot bolded by me:

'I make it a point never to buy any Korean products on principle. Why? I will not support such a rabidly nationalistic, xenophobic and mercantilist economy. Koreans are so predatory and nationalistic. They have a closed economy and a zero-sum attitude to trade. Protectionism in the early stages of an economy is not unreasonable. But in the case of Korea it is almost a religious doctrine to keep foreign things out. If you buy a foreign car, you're sseen as a traitor. They pick narrow industrial sectors and all jump in like copycats. If I see a Korean sports team, I root for the other side. Why? Because they're so full of themselves that they leave no room for other parties to participate and enjoy themselves. The 1988 Olympics was worse than the Hitler Games of 1936. Dealing with Koreans is like dealing with bright adolescents. They're full of energy and want to do everything yesterday. But they throw tantrums and are prone to dangerous and erratic behaviour if their whims are not indulged. In most countries, intellectuals become universal. You learn that great ideas and values have no national boundaries. What is profoundly disturbing is that Korean intellectuals become more xenophobic and nationalistic, and perpetrate the idea that all of Korea's problems are the result of wilfulness of foreigners. This is the mark of a scoundrel.'

Boooooooooy oh boy. That guy makes a lot of valid points, and there are plenty of days I agree with him more than I ought to admit. But something I'll mention here and explore a little more in a few days on an upcoming post on VANK (haha), when you're going up against stubbornness, ignorance, and perhaps flat-out idiocy, it's very easy to become just as passionate, ugly, and foolish in your rebuttals. I mean, try having a conversation with a Korean about the Liancourt Rocks that isn't totally ridiculous and that doesn't end in somebody cursing the other. But man, the "you must understand our culture" line kills me every time . . . dumb enough when people say it to me, but to the fucking Ambassador? Fu-hu-hu-huck you.

"You must understand our unique culture." Fuck you. Monitor, meet fist.

I . . . jq8uf8u324qu9ewrfxzcv . . . I'm just going to direct you to this post on The Marmot's Hole. You can browse through my "Mad Bull Shit" category for examples of this issue not yet being about anti-Americanism, if you're so inclined. *cough* I was gonna post more, but my brain hurts from all this Sparkle. I'm just a guy with a blog and some free time, a guy who don't mean shit, and this garbage gets me worked up. Imagine what it's like for the diplomats and professors who actually talk about this stuff for a living. I'll bet they regret not going to trade school around times like this.

Man sets himself on fire to protest . . . stuff.

Yonhap has the story of a 56-year-old, named Kim obviously, who set himself on fire to protest underwhelming compensation he received after being forcibly evacuated from his home. It happened after a beef rally, and the two-paragraph release links the two by omitting any other details. What the hell, I'll add this to my "Mad Bull Shit" category because it's been that kind of week. I'd suggest this as another entry for the "Exciting World of South Korean Protests," but it'd be unfair to the entire duration of Mad Bull Shit to only choose one incident. I don't want to get ahead of myself, either. Like picking the "greatest player of all time" when all time isn't over yet.

You'll recall that the issue of underwhelming compensation came up back in February when a guy burned down Namdaemun for the same reason. Says this article:

Chae nursed a grievance over insufficient compensation following the compulsory purchase of his home a decade ago.

But I really have no idea what they're talking about in the self-immolation story, or why the guy was forced to relocate, or what the deal is. The blog Gusts of Popular Feelings looks into relocation issues from time to time, so he'll probably have some insight and may get into this case a little more.

You may also recall that the impending beef import, since put on hold, have claimed two other lives. Two farmers killed themselves last month, their suicides spun to read as stories of despair created by a market flooded by cheap US beef. The guy in Hampyeong, who tried to take his whole family with him, actually lost all his cattle before all this hub-bub started, but local journalists aren't ones to let the facts stand in the way of a sensational story:

Frustrated by a fall in prices of hanwoo, or South Korea’s local breed of cattle, and a surge in feed costs, a 41-year-old farmer in Hampyeong, South Jeollla (sic) Province, committed suicide by drinking herbicide. It was the second suicide committed by a livestock farmer following the South Korean government’s decision to fully reopen its market to U.S. beef last month.
. . .
Local residents said that, Lee, who started raising cattle some 10 years ago, had been aggrieved over the loss of all 18 of his cattle since August last year, when the spread of brucellosis forced him to slaughter 14 of the 18 and sell the remaining four.

Well, I just don't think Koreans are very good at restraint or understatement.

VANK distorts American culture rabble rabble rabble.

I read yesterday about the Joongang Ilbo and their furor over the travel tips a Japanese government site offered visitors to Korea. By chance---don't ask---I came across "Cyber Passport," a site set up by the loony (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) Voluntary Agency of North Korea Voluntary Agency Network Korea to introduce people to foreign cultures because quite obviously there are no other resources on the internet that provide information in English on other countries. Well, at least no other resources that use "East Sea." We've already seen some Korean textbooks and dictionaries, so you just know that a Korean encyclopedia written on other countries isn't going to turn out well.

So anyway, of course the North Korea entry hits on the 5,000 years of history, the UNESCO World Heritage sites, and not much else. Oh, and it goes without saying that Dokdo is on the map, too, swimming in the East Sea. The entry on the US is kinda funny. First, it lists the language as "Spanish." The overview is as follows, emphasis mine:

The United States is a federation formed by the combination of 48 states in the mainland and 2 states of Alaska and Hawaii. The 50 stars in the Star-Spangled Banner, the national flag of the United States, represent these 50 states. As the country is constituted by many races from all around the world with various cultures, the United States is often called the ‘Melting Pot,’ or the ‘Salad Bowl.’ The Immigration Museum located on Alice Island shows the country’s history of immigration. Next to Alice Island is Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty stands to symbolize the freedom and democracy of the United States. Today, the United States is the economic power boasting the greatest GDP in the world with more than 12 trillion USD (Source: the World Bank, 2007). The country has expanded its economic influence by entering Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with various countries including Australia and Singapore. Moreover, large enterprises of the United States, such as Coca Cola, Starbucks, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut are spread out to all around the world. Represented by Hollywood films, the popular culture of the United States also has great influence. Movie directors, George Lucas, who produced ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Johns,’ and Steven Spielberg, who produced ‘E.T.’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ are enjoying global fame.

I didn't read every single country, but I'm sure you can find gold all over the place. It points out in the entry on South Africa:

In Cape Town, you may find ‘Gay Quarter’ as well as the nearby ‘Sandy Beach’ which is very famous among gays in the world.

China:

Greasy Chinese food goes well with tea.

Australia:

The Republic of Kiribati is an archipelago, consisting of the Gilbert Islands where the capital city of Tiara and Babana Island are located, Line Islands and Phoenix Islands. The national flag of Kiribati represents its natural image of the rising Sun over the blue ocean and the frigate bird. This country is also famous for the coastal lines darted with the dense coral reefs. Except some islands, virtually all islands are surrounded by thick coral reefs. And Christmas Island in the Line Islands is referred to as the world’s largest and fantastic coral island. Kiribati is mostly composed of Micronesians who generally believe in Roman Catholicism and Christianity. Therefore, Christmas and Easter are major official holidays for the Kiribati people. They also love music and dance and their South Pacific Art Festival is considered to be the most important traditional festival with the active participation of neighboring countries like Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

The UK:

Northern Ireland is a place where the Titanic was built. The Titanic was an extravagant passenger ship that sunk in 1912.

And Sudan:

Sudan...

LMFAO, that about sums the Sudan up.

2008 Muju Firefly Festival: June 7th - June 15th.

Scroll down for updates, go here for a review.



The Muju Firefly Festival (무주반딧불축제) looks like a neat little festival coming up in the county of Muju, in the northern, more boring Jeolla province. The English-language website isn't very informative, but you can find a little more information on the Muju county page and you can get a few more pictures via a Naver search. There are a few more tourist destinations in Jeollabuk-do listed on Visit Korea.

Like the Butterfly Expo in Hampyeong, this one looks like it's geared toward kids, but I guess that goes without saying. That reminds me, I don't recall if I've ever seen lightening bugs over here. I don't recall if I've ever looked for them, but I know that catching them and holding them in an empty sunflower seeds jar was a summertime favorite among all the kids in my neighborhood.



I heard of this through Korea.net, a website I normally don't visit unless it's a slow news day and I need something to mock on my blog. Also on that site was a profile on themed museums on Jeju. Now, I know that Korea is a very conservative country *cough* and that foreigners do have very Victorian sensibilities, but how you gonna write a list of themed museums on Jeju without mentioning Loveland?




* Update: Came across a bus timetable for Muju, though it's nearly two years old. I have no idea how accurate it still is, but it will give you a rough idea and will let you know that unless you have a car you're pretty much spending the night in Muju.

South Koreans not doing too well on English tests.

Well, at least that's what the numbers say, and a new report came out today. The latest is from the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) which, according to Yonhap, has ranked South Korea 19th out of 20 countries on English ability in 2006. The article is a little vague, but refers to the numbers in the table at the bottom of this page. Table copied and pasted below (click to enlarge).


Mean band score by countries or regions of origin (General Training)

The IELTS site has more stats people might be interested in. They also ranked scores according to twenty common first-languages of the test takers, and speakers of Korean averaged the lowest scores for "General Training" while speakers of Afrikaans averaged the highest. For the "Academic" category, speakers of Korean tied for 14th out of 20.

The Korea Times breaks down the numbers today too, coming to the conclusion that Korea's "English Fever" is betrayed by low test scores. Not only here, I guess, but also in their notoriously low TOEFL scores. In February we learned that although South Korea is the nation with the most number of TOEFL iBT examinees, their scores are among the worst, ranking 107th in the world. A couple of weeks later we learned that North and South Koreans fare about the same on the test. We also know that Korean English teachers themselves don't do too well either.



I'll leave it up to others to evaluate all the numbers we found today and in the past. The short answer is that Korean test takers need some work. Considering all the time, effort, and money spent teaching toward tests in lieu of teaching toward communicative competence, to have such low scores is kind of ridiculous. But, at least in the case of the TOEFL debacle, an excuse with some weight is that having so many students take the exam obviously brings the average score down. North Korea, on the other hand, allows only its top students to sit for the test. You also have to consider that test takers from other countries may have more exposure to English and may grow up with it as more of a living language and less of a subject.

I'm not willing to completely write off South Korea's poor showing, though, and I think it needs to come to terms with its attitude toward foreign language study. Everybody in the country studies the language, and in spite of what people will tell you, or complain to you, I believe there are countless examples each day for Koreans to learn and develop their language skills. Turn on the TV and there are half-a-dozen authentic English programs on now, with several more geared toward learning the language. Go to a search engine and you've got millions if not billions of web English webpages, not including the millions written in Korean for the benefit of English instruction. Adults and children have years and years of study in schools, and lately have had regular exposure to native speakers. Failing all else, at least people could practice and talk with each other. The true issue lies, I believe, in that too many Koreans choose not to use these resources, choose not to improve themselves, choose not to help each other and help themselves. I think most residents here would admit there are at least some cultural barriers in place heretofore preventing a healthy attitude toward our language, toward its speakers, toward how that language is presented in the classroom, and toward how that language is presented in the classroom by its speakers. I think writers in the field of EFL in Korea ought to spend some time exploring that area, rather than playing the role of the apologist and buying into the excuses I've mentioned above. But, it looks like there are some changes ahead, and because I don't have the time to get into that or into the headier issues, I'll leave it there until next time.

Game 5: Pens 4, Wings 3, Triple OT.

Thanks to Channelsurfing.net and to a rearranged schedule today I got to catch the 3rd overtime, which wrapped up around 1:45 pm Suncheon time. Unfortunately I have no sound on my computer in the office, and the TV-computer connection in the Language Lab doesn't work, in spite of the thousands of dollars spent to furnish the room. Petr Sykora scored early into a four-minute powerplay, meaning I have, like, 90 minutes to kill by studying Korean. I really wish I were back home for a series like this: my hometown team versus the team I rooted for as a kid. Sucks too that, except for the games I've caught this past week, I've never seen Fleury, Crosby, Malkin, or Whitney play. Game 6 will be in Pittsburgh, and on television here (via the internet) starting at 9 am Thursday morning.

Ratings are way up this postseason. Game 1 was the hightest-rated Stanley Cup game in six years, and a 157% increase over 2007's Game 1. You may remember---but probably not---that last year's Game 3 was the lowest-rated primetime program in NBC's history. If I hadn't just googled around these few minutes I wouldn't have even known Anaheim and Ottawa played in the Final last year.


As a former goalie that is like porn for me.

Taking Mad Bullshit to Paris.

As first reported by ROK Drop, The Korea Times tells us that Koreans are protesting the import of American beef to Korea in Paris.



The education magazine 우리교육 has the issue on both its June covers---elementary school and middle school editions---and of course the Korea Teachers' and Educational Workers' Union meanwhile has been keeping up their wall-to-wall coverage of the dangers of Mad Cow Disease. It dominates all the headlines on their newspaper and I get pamphlets about it on my desk every day. Looks like there's a textbook chapter all ready for Mad Cow Disease.



Hey, anything to deflect attention from teacher scandals, incompetence in English education, and low TOEFL scores. Wait . . . teachers protesting a president whose English education policy puts the spotlight on their weaknesses? Couldn't be that the union has other reasons for protesting Lee and are using the old favorite standby of anti-Americanism as a smoke screen, now could it? Must be coincidence.

Anyway, when I get some free time I'm going to put together some links and send them to some papers and media outlets back home. There are plenty of valid reasons for protesting the import of American beef, and plenty of valid reasons for expressing displeasure with Lee Myung-bak. But this is ridiculous, and I really wish the US would flex its muscles and hinder South Korean exports in retaliation and for poisoning the FTA (the T stands for TRADE, dumbasses). And of course pull the plug on the Visa Waiver Program.

* Update: Looks like TIME and CNN are on the case. While there definitely is more to the issue than fear of diseased beef, the dangers were obviously trumped up to the moon, and I'd like to see Western sources give some coverage to the propaganda used to create mass hysteria and to drum up support for political ends.

Jewelry's "One More Time" a remake.

Old news, I guess, but turns out that ubiquitous (sorry) "One More Time" is a remake of a song by Italian singer In-grid. I guess all the Ingrish in the song ought to have been a give-away, but you never know these days.



Weird to watch one non-native English speaker school other non-native English speakers on how to sing in English. Thanks to ExpatKorea for the scoop. Also from the Arirang article I cited:

Ha Ju-yun was already known as "Baby-J" before she joined Jewelry.
She's from L.A. and boasts great rhythm, on top of her mastery for rap!

So there you go. An example of her mastery for rap is from the group's latest single "모두 다 쉿!":

shake ya! I get sexy ladies all over th floor.
walk it walk it walk it out sexy sexy sexy girl
walk that body baby now break it down.
I just want to touch me Let me talk to you.
bring it on.

Seriously, I had no idea it was a remake. Why didn't anybody tell me (sorry)? I guess it's well-known, then, and not a case of nobody realizing "Maria" was actually a Blondie cover. God, 김아중. Uneasy on the eyes and responsible for getting my students to say "beautipul gull."

By popular demand: Suncheon Intercity Bus Terminal, Gwangju Bus Timetable, and Live music in Gwangju.

First day in a while that I didn't do a real update. Anyway, this little entry is to feed google, and is a semi-regular feature I've been trying to do in which I address some of the things people are searching for that lead them to my blog.

** The Suncheon Intercity Bus Terminal . . . um, is a bus terminal. Kinda crappy compared to terminals in cities of similar size, doesn't have any real restaurants, and it's in a boring neighborhood. Nevertheless, Suncheon has pretty good transporation, and compared to what I had to deal with in Gangjin, Suncheon feels like the transportation hub of Asia. I wouldn't put it past anyone in the marketing department to start using that slogan, either. Anyway, the most important thing is that you can find a timetable online here, in Korean. There is also an Express Bus Terminal in Suncheon, about two kilometers way across from Suncheon National University. It's extremely tiny, but offers additional buses to Seoul, Busan, and a few other places; it's where you can catch the 6 am bus to Gangnam. You can get a timetable here in Korean or here in English, provided you input your departure and arrival cities and 00:00 for the time.

Nowadays you can find loads of tourist information about Suncheon online. Or you can ask me. But if you want some in-person advice you can check out the Suncheon Tourist Information Center (순천관광안내도) in front of Suncheon Station, about a 10 or 15 minute walk away. To get there, exit the bus terminal, make a left down the alley (the opposite direction of Family Mart), and turn left on the main road. Walk straight and eventually you'll see the train station in front of you. At the Tourist Information Center you can find pamphlets, bus timetables, and directions. It isn't open all hours, and I'm not even sure it's open on Sundays, so again I'd recommend doing most of your research online before you get here.

** Hell, while we're at it, it's worth mentioning the online timetable for the Gwangju Bus Terminal. Provided you can navigate Korean sites and can input Korean text, you can get a timetable for express buses here and one for intercity buses here.

** Also got hits for live music in Gwangju for some reason. The most popular foreigner-friendly bar for that sort of stuff is Mike and Dave's Speakeasy, in the Chungjangno district downtown. As their website says, "Live music is the heart and soul of Speakeasy." Let it be known that if they had written "Seoul" this conversation would have ended long ago. You can get email updates on shows by joining their online mailing list, and you can sort of navigate the labyrinthine neighborhood via a map here. If you're going by subway, exit 금강로4가 station gate 1, turn down the main street with the McDonald's. Walking for a few minutes will take you to that post office found on the map (with the Starbucks visible down the street on your left), and you'll make a right toward the Burger King.

As was reported in this month's Gwangju News, there is another club in Chungjangno which puts on at times. Maybe all the time, I don't know. The article was about punk shows. It's called Club Nevermind and, according to the article

is on Choongjang-ro behind the Dae In market near the Han Mi shopping center. In other words, you'd better have someone lead you there the first time out.

So yeah. Maybe there are two Club Neverminds, maybe the article is wrong, or maybe Naver is wrong, because Naver puts it next to Chunnam University. It has a presence online with its own Daum cafe, so you could probably glean some more information from there. Also a Cyworld Club page, but I don't think you can look around unless you have a Cyworld ID.

There's also a Facebook group called "Acoustic Music in Jeollanam-do." I guess they put on shows at local bars, and also play in Gwangju's Sajik Park from time to time. I dunno, I never hear about any white people activities around here until after they happen.
t(-_-t)

And, you'll happen across live performances at festivals from time to time. Usually lame-ass bullshit pop music or trot, but I guess Dynamic Duo played the Red Festa thing last week. You're better off joining the Gwangju Facebook group and asking around there for other venues.

But who needs live music when you have AOL Radio? "Abstract Beats" is sick as hell dude.

Update: Haha, an hour later and right to the top of google for all three searches. That's how we do.

Me on the Seoul Podcast.

More evidence that I'm socially awkward via this week's Seoul Podcast. Unrelated, but I sound exactly like my brother. If he listened to it I think his head would explode. I've only made it through the first half so far because I hate listening to myself on tape. But you should listen to the whole thing. *cough* Topics of conversation include that guy in Yeonggwang last year with the big jade flesh tunnels in his ears. We also talked about Engrish, and I made reference to this sign I found somewhere online:

Gwangju didn't get the 2013 Universiade.

It was announced at 3:30 am, Korea time, that Kazan, Russia, will host the 2013 Summer Universiade. There are quite a few pictures and news articles up on Naver of both the pre-announcement enthusiasm and the post-announcement dejection. Interesting juxtaposition between this and the other rallies Gwangju's young people have been attending. Conveniently, they got to use some of the same chants.
















Crying on camera is something we've seen before, most recently I guess during the aftermath of "Korea's 9/11," and is a topic best covered by Gusts of Popular Feeling, who looked at a similar phenomenon when Pyeongchang lost the bid for the 2014 Olympic Games. I was looking around the Gwangju 2013 site, and came across something I missed when I mentioned the Universiade in an earlier post.

Over 2,000 people were waiting in front of the arrival gate and when the delegates appeared on the red carpet, they shouted "Welcome FISU!" and along the road from the airport to the hotel where the FISU delegates were staying, over 50,000 people were lined up waving their hands to greet them.

Even though the articles on the delegates have the same dates on them, some photos are in daylight while others are at night. I'm guessing some photos got mixed up, but I don't know. Anyway, similar scenes greeted the delegates when they left Gwangju after a five day stay. Here are a few photos of their stay and their departure. I'm shocked that these foreign dolls delegates didn't get dressed up in hanbok like every other white or brown person of note that visits Korea.

They picked the Miss Korea Gwangju / Jeonnam last week.

Sorry, forgot to tell you. Introducing Lee Yuna (이윤아), age 20, studying literature at Chosun University in Gwangju. Meh. I guess she's the one in the middle of this photograph taken at the competition last Saturday, May 24th, at the Butterfly Expo in Hampyeong.



The 서남관신문 has the story. Here's an excerpt, via Babelfish Translator, for those who can't read Korean:

The Cholla Nam Do profit Oh (20, Korea large liberal arts window encouragements of learning and 1 years) Miss occupied a true meaning glory from Miss Korea selection conference and clutched the crown. Profit Oh German silver last 24th from 6 pms 30 minutes 2008 Kwangju which is opened from 2008 Hamp'yong world-wide butterfly insect X gun specially installed stage * got the glory which from Cholla Nam Do Miss Korea selection conference is selected on `th position '.

The women on either side of the winner are 20 and 19, respectively, and both studying in Gwangju. You know, you can run a Naver search for the Gwangju Car Show and get hundreds and hundreds of pages of blogs and image results. Can't find a damn thing about this contest. But I did come across this set, lol, of the finalists looking like they're ready to be in some old guy's music video.

Moms don't like American beef either.

Moms pushing strollers were part of a massive protest in Seoul on Thursday after the government announced it would go ahead with American beef imports. Because obviously mothers are worried about the safety of their children. Which is why 12% of Korean drivers with children use carseats. Yes, Koreans actually fought against a car-seat requirement in 2006, and had the law repealed one day after it went into effect. But, according to one official at the transportation department, the logic of dropping the law was sound:

“The revision is also contrary to the government’s policy to increase the birthrate since it would be difficult for a family with more than two children to use car seats for all of the kids in terms of space and cost."

Yeah oiafuweofuosij3ue8wej. After everything that's gone on this past month, I shouldn't have even looked at that article, because I just can't handle anymore Sparkling. I just . . . I . . . why? *sigh* This is a difficult place sometimes. Anyway, that original Joongang Ilbo article up top also reports that truckers will refuse to transport shipments of American beef across the country.

The Korea Cargo Transport Workers Union made the announcement yesterday that its members will boycott such shipment orders [of American beef].

In other news, as first picked up by Korea Beat, the cops are letting protestors decorate police riot gear with bumper stickers. To be fair, it isn't June yet.

And just so we're up to speed, there's a famine in several provinces in North Korea, and Korean snipers at the Chinese border are shooting refugess. But it's important to remember the real enemy, namely the Americans who can't find Korea on a map who are trying to kill you with their leftover beef. The beef with Mad Cow Disease as reported on a show that since admitted it lied and misrepresented the dangers of American beef. Lied about a disease which consumers have an extreeeeeeeeemly remote chance of contracting anyway.* A disease that is 1/2300th less likely to kill you than a lightening strike. The beef that in all likelihood is safer than Korean beef. I can't think of any better way to carry yourselves in the 21st century. Oooooh, but look at us, with the Yeosu Expo! Oooooh, and the Universiade! In the "Culture Hub City of Asia!" And Hallyuwood and all the masses of brown people who watch your dramas and marry your villagers. Now you've made it~! Fucktards.



Recent cartoons from the Korea Teachers' Union website.

* The forums have been throwing out the 1 in 10 billion figure, which has appeared in a number of articles and on a number of sites, including this commonly-cited one and CNN.com back in 2004. I'm wary of quoting that figure, though, because there are too many caveats that a our more stubborn neighbors *cough* would latch on to in order to discredit the information totally, provided that they even acknowledge "information" at all. The CDC site actually says:

A rough estimate of this risk for the UK in the recent past, for example, was about 1 case per 10 billion servings. Among many uncertainties affecting such risk determinations are 1) the incubation period between exposure to the infective agent and onset of illness, 2) the appropriate interpretation and public health significance of the prevalence estimates of asymptomatic human vCJD infections, 3) the sensitivities of each country’s surveillance for BSE and vCJD, 4) the compliance with and effectiveness of public health measures instituted in each country to prevent BSE contamination of human food, and 5) details about cattle products from one country distributed and consumed elsewhere.

Regardless, the odds of contracting the disease are very small. As I and pretty much every other foreigner in this country have said, while there are perfectly acceptable reasons for protesting the FTA and for even protesting the import of American beef, this Mad Cow business is ridiculous beyond words. I'll admit I'm discouraged to see otherwise sane and reasonable people bewitched by this fervor. What's really unsettling is not the anti-American stuff that creeps in now and again, or the uncritical groupthink toward this particular issue. What's really unsettling is how quickly people around here tend to angrily swarm around causes, how ugly and how blatant their ulterior motives are, and how little room for minority . . ., um, positions there is. Whether it's Mad Cow, or the two girls killed by a military vehicle in 2002, or foreign teachers with Korean women in 2005, or the World Cup disappointment of 2006, or all the Liancourt Rocks crap, or the base relocation business, or the FTA stuff the past few years. Because what's more remarkable than those causes themselves, at least to me, is the wholehearted disregard of both fact and reason in the quest to support positions that seem to preexist the events themselves. Ignoring international media (and thus creating stories by omission), ignoring video evidence (or manipulating it to your liking), ignoring the scientific community (and promoting lies that most would consider incredible and unbelievable) . . . Perhaps I'm exaggerating and I'm overanalyzing things as bloggers are wont to do. But while I do admit to really loving being here 98% of the time, in the back of my mind I know it could be only a matter of time before people's ugliness turns our way again, and with potentially disastrous results. You know, I just mentioned fervent, sometimes violent, protests against the US military, the US government, foreign teachers, Japan, the Japanese government, FIFA, and Switzerland . . . anybody else see a disturbing trend? Then again, Koreans sure do love them some protesting.