The M-word

I collect uses of "the _________ of Korea" on this thread---Tongyeong is the Naples of Korea, for example---and we've all witnessed the overuse of the word "hub." But in reading up on Jeju's new English education city, I realized there's another word to keep an eye on, a synonym people sometimes use here to give the h-word a break. What follows is a list, by no means exhaustive, of the various meccas of and for certain things in Korea, planned, imagined, or implemented.

* Apgujeong-dong - Mecca for fortune-tellers' cafes (1)
* Apgujeong-dong - mecca for young trend-setters (1)
* BEXCO - a new mecca for Globalization (1)
* Bucheon - comic book mecca (1)
* Busan - Asia's movie mecca (1)
* Busan - ocean tourism mecca for Northeast Asia (1)
* Changwon - Mecca for eco-tourism (1)
* Changwon - Mecca for science and culture (1)
* Changwon - Mecca of bicycle (1)
* Cheonan - mecca of contemporary art (1)
* Cheongdam-dong - Seoul's mecca for fashion-savvy hipsters (1)
* Chuncheon - animation Mecca (1)
* Chungmuro - Mecca of movie making in Korea (1)
* Daecheon Beach - mud Mecca (1)
* Daechi-dong - mecca of private education in Korea (1)
* Daegu - Mecca of Asian musical industry (1)
* Daegu - Mecca of knowledge-based industries (1)
* Daehangno - theater mecca, underground culture mecca (1)
* Daejeon - mecca of call centers (1)
* Daejeon - Mecca of space industry (1)
* Dongdaemun - Fashion mecca (1)
* Dongdaemun Stadium - Mecca for high school baseball (1)
* Edae-ap - mecca for beauty salons (1)
* Gangnam - Mecca for real estate speculation (1)
* Gangwon - "Green" growth Mecca (1)
* Gimpo Airport - Kimchi mecca (1)
* Gimpo Airport - shopping mecca (1) (2)
* Gocheong-dong domed stadium - new baseball mecca (1)
* Gumi - Mecca for cell phone production (1)
* Gunsan - mecca for migratory bird watching (1)
* Gwanghwamun - Mecca for Korean soccer (1)
* Gwangju - Asian mecca for culture and arts (1)
* Gwangju - World Mecca of kimchi (1)
* Gyeonggi-do - a Mecca of cutting-edge industries second only to Silicon Valley (1)
* Hallyuwood - Asian entertainment mecca (1)
* Han River Park - Mecca for cheering (1)
* Hantaek Botanical Garden - Yongin's horticultural mecca (1)
* Hoehyeon stamp shopping center - mecca for stamp collectors (1)
* Hongdae - mecca for clubbers (1)

Now, at 10 clubs in the area that play hip-hop or techno dance music, if you look like you may be a GI you must show identification to prove that you're not one before you can enter. And some other bars in Hongdae -- such as "Elvis" and "Doors," ironically -- have even banned all foreigners.

* Hongdae - mecca for tattoo artists who majored in fine art (1)
* Hong-ik University - the mecca of avant garde art in Korea (1)
* Icheon - Mecca of Korean ceramics (1)
* Incheon - Asian art Mecca (1)
* Insa-dong - a mecca for tourists seeking a taste of traditional Korea (1)
* Insa-dong - Seoul's cultural mecca (1)
* Itaewon - Seoul's restaurant mecca (1)
* Itaewon, alley behind Hamilton Hotel - mecca of fine-dining (1)
* IT Venture Tower - mecca for information security and non-memory semiconductors in Korea (1)
* Jangheung - Mecca of Korean Literature (1)
* Jara-do - Korea's camping mecca (1)
* Jeju - East Asian mecca of medical tourism (1)
* Jeju - Mecca for world peace (1)
* Jeju - Mecca of English education (1), (2)
* Jeju National Museum - the Mecca of research on island cultures (1)
* Jeju - online game Mecca (1)
* Jeonju - mecca of Korean cuisine (1)
* Jongno - mecca of jewelry industry of Korea (1)
* Kongju - Education mecca for ethnic Koreans (1)
* Korea - Mecca of cosmetic surgery (1)
* Korea Maritime University - Mecca for mariners (1)



* Milyang - Mecca of the arts (1)
* Muju - mecca of sports and scenic settings for the global community (1)
* Muju - Mecca of Taekwondo (1)
* Mungyeong - baduk Mecca (1)
* Myeongdong - mecca for luxury items (1)
* Myeongdong - tourist mecca (1)

Min Byung-hwa, design manager for Koolhaas, said, "The common belief about their being a relationship between the skirt length and the economy seems to be true," adding that, "people tend to go for cute and active styles that take their minds off the faltering economy."

Min continued by saying that, "the 'school girl' look, which cropped up last Fall, has also fueled the popularity for the mini-skirt boom."

* Namhae - sports Mecca (1)
* Naro Space Center - Mecca for Korea's rocket development and space exploration program (1)
* New York City - a Mecca for the Dokdo campaign (1)
* Nonhyeon-dong - mecca for stylish furniture (1)
* Osong Complex - Mecca of Asia's biotech industry (1)
* Pagoda Cinema - mecca for the gay community (1)
* Pyeongchang - mecca for local skiiers (1)
* Pyeongchang - Winter sports mecca, and hub (1)
* Pyeongchang - Winter sports mecca of Asia (1)
* Pusan International Film Festival - mecca of film (1)

Calling any cultural event a “Mecca” for its fans is one of the more tired cliches in journalism. However, for PIFF, the cliche has often been strangely appropriate.

* Rodeo Street in Munjeong-dong - hot shopping mecca for Southeast Asian tourists (1)
* Seogwipo - sports Mecca (1)
* Seoul - cultural mecca (1)
* Seoul - design Mecca (1)
* Seoul - Mecca for Oriental Medicine (1)
* Seoul, between Gyeongbokgung and the Han River - Mecca of culture (1)
* Seoul Plaza - Mecca for candlelit rallies (1)
* Seoul's convention belt - convention Mecca (1)
* Seoul's gallery belt - Mecca of culture and art (1)
* Seoul Plaza - Mecca of outdoor gatherings (1)
* Seoul's waterfront towns - Mecca for business and tourism (1)
* Seoul's World Cup Stadium - shopping mecca (1)
* Seun Sagga and Cheonggyecheo 8-ga - shopping Mecca for porno from 1970s to mid-1990s (1)
* Songdo - mecca for knowledge and information-based industries (1)
* Sookmyung Women's University - world Mecca to train English teachers and experts (1)
* South Korea - e-sports Mecca (1)
* South Korea - Mecca for internet gaming elite (1)
* South Korea - mecca of the semi-conductor industry (1)
* South Korea - mecca for young Koreans (1)
* Suwon - mecca of Korea's electronics industry (1)
* Teheran-no - mecca for high-tech start-ups (1)
* Ulsan - the country's undisputed industrial Mecca (1)
* Wondang Ranch - mecca of milk cows (1)
* Wonju - weight-lifting Mecca (1)
* Yangpyeong - sports Mecca (1)
* Yeoju - mecca for product distribution (1)
* Yong-In University - mecca for Taekwon-do education in Korea (1)
* Yongsan - electronics Mecca (1)

Yes, I did LOL at some of these, and I nearly pooped my pants when I found this article, about the Business Mecca Advisory Group warning that Korea has a ways to go before becoming a "hub":

Foreign chamber of commerce officials and Korean officials involved in investment promotion work issued a warning yesterday that Korea’s vision of becoming a “Northeast Asian business hub” faces some daunting obstacles.
The group put out a statement under the rubric of the Business Mecca Advisory Group, a body set up by the JoongAng Ilbo, the parent paper of the JoongAng Daily.
“We send our support for the vision of the Korean government and the efforts of the Koreans to make Korea a Northeast Asia’s Business Hub,” the group said, adding that there had been “remarkable improvements in the business environments” since the financial meltdown of 1997-98.
But to get there, the group said, a lot of work was necessary. Leaders of the American, EU, Japanese, Australia-New Zealand and Canadian chambers of commerce, Korea’s investment ombudsman and the head of an investment promotion agency are among the group; it also includes a former Korean ambassador to the OECD and the chief executive of Owens Corning Korea.
The group dismissed, as part of its “friendly suggestions,” the concept that Korea could succeed in becoming a regional hub by being “as good as” its competitors. Capitalizing frequently for emphasis, the group’s report said, “Only when Korea provides significantly better conditions so that as a New Business Mecca, it could rechannel the flow of foreign investments toward itself.
“Among others,” the group said, “Korea should be made the Most Open; the Least Taxed; and Financially the Most Deregulated; and the Most Transparent.”

Curry pizza, elephants, at Mr. Pizza.

Curry pizza is at Mr. Pizza, brought to you by elephants, belly-dancing Koreans, and happy brown people.



If I ever open a Korean restaurant back home, I'm totally going to get dancing geisha and a parade of samurai in my commercial. Exotic introduction notwithstanding, any chance this is different than the "curry" you can already get at a million other restaurants?

To be fair, I've eaten at Mr. Pizza twice---even though it's "Made for Women"---and aside from costing about twice what I'd like to pay, it's not bad.

Fire at Yeonhyang-dong 유흥주점 this morning, and other local news.

A fire broke out this morning at one of those singing rooms in Suncheon's Yeonhyang-dong, burning for an hour and doing 43,000,000 won worth of damage. The owner and five customers escaped without injury. Along those lines comes news that Suncheon police booked 50 in a bust at a local massage parlor. In May, according to an article from the 26th, Suncheon police booked without detention the owner, six women, and 43 customers at an 안마 in Jangcheon-dong. In case you're curious, the article says that the women took in 160,000 won each "time," with 75,000 going to them and 85,000 going to the owner. If this happened where I think it happened, I'm not sure what stopped police from busting the whole goddamn street.

In other Suncheon news, a painting at Songgwangsa will be promoted from treasure to national treasure (difference explained here), and the body of a 61-year-old who drowned last January was pulled out of the water at Juam Dam yesterday. And, they broke ground on the new culture center, which will occupy the site of the old express bus terminal and army base, across from Suncheon National University. Here's what it will look like when it's done:



When I first wrote about this in December it was named "시민교육문화공간" and was to open in June 2010, but the latest article says the name has been changed to "순천문화건강센터," and the opening pushed back a year.

Banks see expatriates as ___________ (fill in the blank).

Well, I wouldn't have put "gold mine" in there, as the Korea Times did today. I'll mention, as I did the last time the KT gushed about foreigner-friendly banks, that foreigners are still denied basic services at banks. My girlfriend, for example, has been rejected several times for an international debit card at Gwangju Bank, and 47% of respondents on a Dave's survey I started said that they either couldn't get an international debit card or were issued one that didn't work overseas.

My latest piece is in the Joongang Ilbo today, pulled together from the post "Chairman of the Presidential Committee on National Competitiveness wants to tinker with romanization." I got a call yesterday evening from the paper asking me if they could rework a couple things because they could not reproduce two of the characters I used: ŏ and ŭ. They're from kushibo's comment, which has thus proven itself ironic:

The problem prior to 2002 was not the Romanization issue itself, but the inconsistency in using it, as Gomushin Girl mentions. The ŏ and ŭ were a problem for some on their computers and in doing searches, but it would have been a lot cheaper for the Korean government to work with Microsoft and Apple to make ŏ and o mutually searchable than to spend the tens of millions of dollars they did changing signs and everything else.

Foreigner-only prison coming next month.

From the Korea Herald:

The Justice Ministry will open a prison exclusively for foreigners in consideration of the increasing number of foreign convicts, officials said yesterday.

The prison will be available as early as next month and the Cheonan Juvenile Correctional Service is presently being refurbished to serve that purpose, said officials.

Though some local prisons, such as the Daejeon Correctional Service and the Cheongju Women's Correctional Service, have so far accommodated foreign inmates, a prison exclusively for foreigners is to be the first of its kind in Korea.

The ministry will allocate a maximum of 400 well-behaved convicts to this new prison, which will be equipped with some 24 professional staff members who are fluent in foreign languages including English, Chinese and Russian, said officials.

The Times asks whether Korean prisoners will thus face reverse discrimination, and looks at some of the issues foreign prisoners face.

According to a recent survey, trouble in a multi-racial cells takes place more frequently than in racially homogeneous cells, suggesting the necessity of a foreigner-only prison.

Human rights activist Hwang Myeong-ho, who conducted the survey on prisoners at Daejeon Correctional Center, said, ``Each racial group showed antagonism to others groups. In particular, disputes between hot-tempered Russian and Chinese prisoners, forming the largest racial group, were frequent.''

A lack of understanding about unfamiliar religions worsens the problems, Hwang said.

For instance, a foreign resident who practiced Islam faced complaints from his cellmates over frequent worshiping at the workplace, he added.

The government expects the prison will ease the difficulties faced by foreigners when they try to communicate with the embassies of their home countries or their families.

The reverse discrimination line comes from lawyer Sean Hayes:

``I can understand the government's feeling that increases in the number and diversity of non-Korean inmates has led to a strain on correctional institutes that need to be addressed via segregation within a separate institute. However, I fear that this could lead to a successful challenge at the Constitutional Court,'' Hayes said.

He said a Korean inmate has already filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission, claiming that non-Koreans are being given preferential treatment over Koreans.

The idea of a foreigner-only prison sounds progressive, and certainly a country doesn't need to accomodate the linguistic or religious needs of its foreign prisoners, though the Times article does bring up a good point: where will they find officers who speak the right languages?

Professor Park Kwang-seop of Chungnam National University said, ``Finding officers who speak Chinese, Russian and Arabic is still difficult, even though the number of prisoners from these regions has been on the rise.''

Timely "Dear Abby" column on Romeo and Juliet and suicide.

I saw this in a copy of the Learning Times---put out by the Korea Times---at school the other day, though the column is of course not limited to or aimed at South Korea.

DEAR ABBY: My son was required to read "Romeo and Juliet" in his freshman year of high school. It has always bothered me that this play is considered good for teenagers to read, much less required reading. The story ends with Romeo and Juliet committing suicide, which is considered "romantic."

Teen suicide is on the rise. I believe we don't need teens seeing this in literature as a romantic way out of problems. What do you think?

Abby's answer posted below as a comment. Timely because of this, though Korean teens certainly don't need a movie to remind them of suicide.

A 25-year-old housewife killed herself in her bathroom in Suncheon's Yeonhyang-dong on the 24th. She was found by her 41-year-old husband. According to the NoCutNews report, her family was against the large age gap between her and her husband, and she was having problems related to her dropping out of high school five years ago. The article also shares some of the notes she left behind:

당신을 사랑한다. 먼저 가서 미안하다. 아들을 잘 키워달라.

Jeollanam-do men earn highest salaries in the country, Jeollanam-do people earn highest on average.

For the past few months I've been getting an extra 100,000 won per month from the Jeollanam-do Office of Education to help compensate for the poor exchange rate, though that still puts me at about half of the average. From the Korea Times:

According to Saramin, an online recruitment site, employees working in the southwestern province were paid an average salary of 68.85 million won ($53,400) per year in 2008.

This is almost double the amount earned by North Chungcheong Province workers, the lowest-paid bunch in the country, who made 38.94 million won last year.

Saramin's analysis of South Korea's top 1,000 companies' salary reports indicated that after South Jeolla, Daejeon (54.75 million won), Ulsan (52.66 million won), South Gyeongsang Province (50.25 million won) and South Chungcheong Province (49.81 million won) were the best-paying regions.

Then came Seoul with an average salaried worker bringing home 48.72 million won per year.

Behind the capital city were Gwangju, Incheon, Gangwon, Busan, North Gyeongsang Province, Daegu, Gyeonggi and North Jeolla Province, all paying in the range of 42 to 47 million won annually, the report said.

Saramin attributed South Jeolla and Daejeon's high rankings to the large number of oil-related companies operating in those areas, including GS Caltex, LG Chem and Hanwha Chemical.

There is a wide gap between men and women, though, and Jeollanam-do has the widest in the country with a difference of 36 million won.

Male professionals turned out to be best compensated in South Jeolla, where they received an average of 71 million won per year, followed by Daejeon, Seoul and Ulsan.

In the meantime, women's pay was highest in Daejeon with 39 million won, followed by Ulsan, South Jeolla and Gangwon.

Public school teachers improving their English at hagwon.

Actually when I glanced at the headline "More Teachers Hone English at Private Institutes" in the Korea Times this morning I thought it was going to be about public school teachers teaching in hagwon to improve their English.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said it has raised the budget to finance hagwon fees for 444 English primary and secondary schoolteachers in Seoul this year from about 200 in 2008.

Each teacher receives about 450,000 won ($350) in subsidy for three months. Of the 444 teachers, 204 are at elementary schools and 240 at secondary schools. Many other teachers are learning at hagwon without subsidy, and the number is expected to rise further.

Many teachers say they are feeling growing pressure to strengthen their proficiency, as they are required to conduct English-only classes by 2012 as part of government-led programs to boost English classes at public schools.

Oh You-hwan, 47, an English teacher at Paekahm High School, has attended an English-speaking class at a hagwon in Seoul since April.

``I want the authorities to offer various training programs for English teachers with greater subsidies,’’ said Oh, who has taught for 19 years.

Yoon Yeon-mo, 50, another English teacher at Sorabol High School, has found the subsidy is not enough to cover her hagwon fees.

``I can easily find other English teachers from public schools in my class (at the foreign language institute). Many English teachers are under pressure to study English, as they have to conduct English-only classes,’’ said Yoon, who has worked in education for about 25 years.

I wrote about those TEE certificates earlier in the month, and Chris in South Korea has a good write-up today. He brings up a Korea Herald article that has an interesting line:

The Seoul education office will begin operating the system in the second semester this year. Whether a teacher in Seoul has the TEE certificates will be disclosed to parents, many teachers are expected to strive to gain one.

On the one hand, I totally get that English class isn't about English in secondary schools, but that it's about teaching toward exams, thus making the language an obstacle in its own class. But, and this is me being a little cranky after a long day at the office, let me just say "oh, God forbid an English teacher is actually evaluated on his or her ability to use the language." Okay, that's out of my system.

There was a lot of news about English teachers in June; another story which intersects with this is the planned introduction of Korean English "lecturers" who will be able to teach English class in English. Actually, the news this month was that the government didn't attract nearly the number of applicants it expected.

But the interesting thing about these lecturers, and about these teachers with TEE certificates in the public schools, is that their will roughly coincide with the start of a domestic English test aimed at replacing the TOEFL exam. The Minister of Education said last year that he sees it being accepted overseas, like Japan's Eiken, though by showing how few schools actually accept the Eiken, I think I made it clear that the Korean test can only hope to be used domestically. News at the time said the test would be of "practical English skills,"

The government will introduce a state-certified English proficiency test from 2012 to improve practical English skills of students and eventually replace TOEFL and other foreign exam material.

and likewise these English "lecturers" would teach "practical English."

This year, it will hire 2,000 ``practical English instructors'' for elementary schools and another 3,000 for secondary schools.

I mentioned in my Korea Herald article last week, and in a couple other posts this past year, that these teachers, backing up this test, are not set up to fail like we are. Can you imagine how more successful native speaker English teachers would be in the schools if "practical English" were actually a priority now?

Spider Man shoots web out his ass, woman in bikini climbs up.

Sorry, but that's the only way I can describe this ad I saw yesterday in Busan for Daegu's "Spa Valley" waterpark.

English version of Wonder Girls' "Nobody" out.

The Korean girl group will be doing an American tour this summer, opening for the Jonas Brothers. Here it is dubbed over the original video:



HT to reader.

A little about being black in Korea, and hip-hop.

Professor Deauwand Myers is in the Korea Times this evening and talks a little about the hypocrisy between the acceptance of some elements of hip-hop culture in Korea and the discrimination about the blacks who inspired it.

Rain, Big Bang, BoA, TVSQ, Mighty Mouth, Dynamic Duo, and a very large majority of Korean pop music's brightest stars liberally borrow and copy African-American music styles right down to the fashion. If some variants of black culture are so desirable for mass Korean consumption, why aren't black people equally engaged as, at the very least, human, on a fair and individual basis?

Being foreign in Korea already presents challenges, regardless of complexion: getting a cell phone, credit card, one's own apartment and even certain bank services can be unnecessarily difficult because of one's citizenship. Being of color need not and should not be an added burden.

Some Koreans, and I say some because I have been treated quite nicely by a great and many people, should ``critically think" about their racial presumptions and prejudices. Where's the simpatico? The histories and experiences of Koreans and the African Diaspora are unique but not dissimilar, as both struggled and died to gain freedom and demand human dignity from brutal imperialist forces.

Yes, this debate happens back home, too, but I'll just direct your attention to the title of my blog. I think the above paragraphs are things we've all thought about while in Korea, and often well outside the arena of hip-hop: like when people in jeans, t-shirts, Converse, and perms chuckle at the foreigners.

I recall reading in a journal article some years ago about Asia and borrowing hip-hop culture that performers are imitating the domestic acts that have come before, not necessarily the Western groups that inspired them. So a new Korean quote-unquote hip-hop group coming out in baggy jeans is doing it because another Korean group did it, not because an American fifteen years ago made it cool. But one does run the risk of looking foolish by doing something so out of context. See the douche Crown J and his antics, for example.

The case of Ali Khan, sentenced to death in Korea for a murder he didn't commit.

Andrew O'Donnell of the Gwangju News forwarded some information to me on Wednesday about the case of Ali Khan, a Pakistani man who says he was falsely accussed of an Ilsan murder in 2003, was implicated by the real murderer, was tortured into signing a false confession, and was sentenced to death, which was then changed to a life sentence. What follows here is an overview of the information available, and word that what is needed now is people willing to look into this case further, and funding to hire someone to do so.

Because we are essentially hearing only the voice of the accused, through the filter of a limited number of other sources, I've tried to be careful throughout this post to simply show what's presented, without being accusatory or taking it as a foregone conclusion that there is an abortion of justice. I hope further information will accompany the growing interest in this case.

The most linear and coherent account of what happened comes from a piece O'Donnell wrote for the November, 2008 issue of Gwangju News titled "Introducing . . . The 'Free Ali Khan' Campaign" (here, as a .pdf file). A couple of excerpts:

The crime itself, in Salamat’s account, was initially committed by another citizen, a man named Tanveer (also from Pakistan, known to Ali Khan as ‘Vicky’), who Salamat and Khan vaguely knew at the time (in his ‘confession’ Salamat describes Tanveer as “a thug”), the motive being an argument over money, and the act itself being (initially) only witnessed by Salamat. The victim was a Pakistani citizen named Zahid whom Salamat had worked with in the past (Zahid was then working in a factory in Ilsan, near Seoul) and Tanveer and Salamat visited him on February 10th 2003 with the intention of robbing him.

. . .

Salamat’s confession makes clear that this was a common robbery conceived by Tanveer and naively supported by Salamat among desperate circumstances of those on the lowest rung of soceo-economics in Korea – a robbery that went disastrously wrong and ended with Zahid being hit on the head with a hammer by Tanveer, and finally stabbed by Salamat (who, in his version of events, did this at Tanveer’s insistence and feared for his life, and the lives of his family, if he did not).

The same evening, and subsequent to what happened in Ilsan, Tanveer went back to Itaewon, leaving a bag of bloodied clothes with an unquestioning Ali (Ali's letter's reveal a great feeling of regret on his behalf regarding the question of the bag, with Ali feeling a painful sense of his own naivety in blindly accepting something just because he was busy enjoying an evening out). Ali, of course, enjoying himself in Itaewon, was totally unaware that these bloodied clothes would consequently implicate him in the crime.

By the following morning Salamat, worried about what had happened, returned to the scene of the murder and was caught and questioned by the police in Ilsan.

There is a small blogspot site called "Free Ali Khan" active in 2006 and 2007, that collected some then-updates on the case. From a message from his brother, posted September 20, 2006:

[I]n February of 2003, Ali was falsely implicated in a brutal murder in a suburb of Seoul. The killer told police that Ali was an accomplice so that his real accomplice could gain time to flee the country. But unfortunately a brutal and incompetent police department combined with a series of other procedural errors resulted in the rapid conviction of my innocent brother. Ali was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

This all occurred in spite of numerous eyewitnesses who corroborated Ali’s original statement that he was nowhere near the scene of the crime at the time. Since then we have also obtained a full confession from the co-accused confessing that Ali was not involved and why he lied about Ali’s involvement."

The November, 2008 Gwangju News article has an excerpt purportedly from Salamat, known also as Sammy:

The police and I proceeded to set up Ali. I called Ali who was still oblivious to everything and told him to meet me in Burger King in Itaewon. When the police nabbed Ali in the fast-food restaurant, Ali’s worst fear was some immigration violation. They told Ali to take them to the knapsack. Ali happily obliged only too willing to co-operate and in the process he implicated himself. In the police station, he was cross-examined and Ali told them the truth, which contradicted my statement. The police then beat the hell out of him for 3 hours until he signed a false confession.

A post from October, 2006, brings up the subject of torture with with a proported account from Ali Khan himself.

“I was ordered not to speak, again. Asfandyar also received a sharp blow to the head for no other apparent reason except to instill fear into us. Up to this point, Asfandyar, Shahid, and myself thought that this was an immigration matter and had no other idea of what was going on.“

“At the police station, the police removed the handcuffs from Asfandyar and Shahid, but Sammy and I remained handcuffed. We were in the same room, but ordered not to speak. If we spoke, they struck us. I was then taken to an interrogation room alone. They asked me questions only in Korean. I told them that I don’t understand Korean. No translator was present. They beat me for awhile with their fists and feet. They also placed a broom handle behind my knees, made me kneel on the floor, and then jumped on the broomstick. The pain was terrible. I also had difficulty breathing because of a severe blow one officer game me to my solar plexus. They kept asking me which pair of pants belonged to me. I told them, “they are not mine”, which only seemed to infuriate them more. They were screaming and yelling the whole time. I pleaded for a translator.“

“Meanwhile they left me once in awhile to torture Sammy as well in a separate room. When I saw Sammy later, he was unable to walk.”

It continues with more after Sammy implicated Ali.

“When my turn came [to make a statement] the police typed a few basic lines and then began questioning me. I denied any involvement, so the policeman refused to type. This went on for awhile until the police got angry at my repeated denials. The police took me the interrogation room without a translator and resumed torturing me with punches and kicks to my head and body as well as the broomstick behind the knees technique I mentioned earlier.”

“In a semi-conscious state, I kept asking the police why they don’t ask Asfandyar about my whereabouts. So after awhile the police brought Asfandyar into the same room as me. He was also handcuffed behind his back. Unlike me, Asfandyar at the time spoke rudimentary Korean. Asfandyar told the police that I was with him the previous night and therefore it was impossible for me to have been involved in any crime up in Ilsan. The police got upset at Asfandyar and called him a liar. The police then proceeded to torture Asfandyar with a broomstick behind the knees as well as several blows to his body. A crying Asfandyar, who was visibly in pain, told me that the police instructed him to say that I approached him earlier to request a false alibi regarding my whereabouts at the time of the crime. The police also told Asfandyar that he would go to prison if he didn’t agree to this.”

“Anytime I spoke or tried to ask Asfandyar or anyone else a question, the police would hit me. My entire lower body was numb. I was falling in and out of an unconscious state.”

The blog's second post, from September, 2006, sheds light on where Ali says he was the night of the murder.

There are TWO KOREAN-CANADIAN MEN, who go by the names of "Vicky" and "Ricky", that were at The Rio that night with Ali in February 2003. It is unclear whether they were passing through as tourists or were English Teachers, a common occupation of foreigners in Seoul. At The Rio they were videotaping people they'd met, and Ali is on that videotape. This tape places him 45 minutes away from the scene of the crime at the time of the murder.

From the previous paragraph in that post:

He was seen by many friends and was talkative with many tourists and locals. These people were later disregarded by the Seoul PD as necessary to interview. Those that were questioned, Ali's closest friends, were beaten and threatened with imprisonment should they disagree with officer statements or the man who selfishly implicated Ali.

One of the big question marks in this case as I've reviewed what little information available is what's up with Sammy. There is a letter purportedly from him to the Free-Ali website; an excerpt:

Ali was a victim of circumstancial evidenses [sic] cleverly planted by the real culprit who is still at large. None of Ali's witnesses appeared in the court to prove his alibi. My own testimony against him sealed his fate. I want to request to the Korean Government to give him one more fair trial which I'm sure is not too much to ask when an innocent life is at stake.

Indeed he may have been a victim of circumstantial evidence, but let's not forget that it was Sammy who implicated him.

What people close to the case are looking for now are donors and for people interested in looking into this case. Again from the Gwangju News article:

In discussing the deposition with others the most immediate concern was that Khan’s lack of legal representation constituted a human rights abuse, and from this realization came the beginning of a campaign, that simply aims for Khan to receive a fair trial with the proper legal representation.

In addition to trying to get a fair trial, they're also concerned about his mental well-being. From an email from O'Donnell forwarded to me on Facebook:

Things have moved on with Ali and I, together with two [Gwangju International Center] interns, visited him on Tuesday. I'm now gravely worried about him. He is incredibly depressed and, even though we had twenty minutes this time (weekday privileges?!) my only lasting impression is a deep deep depression and an inability to hold his concentration for very long when in conversation with someone.

He veers between talking of God/ suicide/ mental and physical stress, and also the thought of going back to Pakistan, IF he can be released, no longer seems to hold any appeal. He's also very confused by the medical examinations he was given last month, and the absence of the results of them being given to him.

People close to the case are also looking to spread the word to as many people as possible, and have presumably also sent the same message to other bloggers. Again from the Facebook message:

I'll also send it onto Brian Deutsch and a number of other bloggers to see if we find someone charitable enough who's happy to receive all the documents we have that prove how his case was so massively bungled.

I've forwarded this to a couple people I know will give it proper attention, and I'm sure awareness will increase with this post, with the interview with O'Donnell on Michael Simning's GFN program on Friday morning, and with any coverage it gets in the local press, blogs, and messageboards. And while we all know examples of bad Korean policework, uncooperative authorities, and minorities getting screwed, what also needs to be proven I think is if this was in fact "so massively bungled" or just the consequence of notoriously-lazy cops not following-up on a liar.

The Gwangju News article concludes with:

From corresponding and visiting with Ali, what is probably the most positive lesson to be learned (and please feel free to send letters to Ali by all means) is that he does not blame the authorities, he does not blame the police, he does not blame Salamat, and, as a foreigner, he does not blame Koreans or Korean culture. He simply hopes to someday be free. Ali Khan has now been in prison for five years.

And includes his address.

Ali Khan (#3390)
P.O. Box 136
Yuseong-gu, Daejeon City
305-600

From the GFN interview Friday morning comes word of a "Justice for Ali Khan Bike Ride" from Gwangju to Daejeon---part of a larger ride across the country---on July 7th through 9th. More information is supposedly available via the Gwangju International Center at gwangjuic[at]gmail.com, and any details I get will be posted here as well.

Waterparks in Jeollanam-do.

It doesn't really feel like summer to me because school is still in session. However, by golly, summer is here, and it's high time to remind readers about the water parks in the area. I did this a little last year, but it's worth collecting all that information into one post this year. I wonder if I'd just rather spend a day at the beach, seeing how much these places cost and how relatively small they are, but I wouldn't be averse to giving them a shot in the spirit of trying something different (and because I like hotels). If you have visited any of these places, please share your thoughts as a comment below this post, because I haven't found any first-hand accounts online yet.

Out of all of them in the province the one I'd most like to visit is called Jungheung Gold Spa & Resort (중흥골드스파리조트), is in Naju, and if you've ever gone through the underpass that connects the Gwangju bus terminal to the other side of the road, you've seen pictures of it all along the wall. It's a large facility with slides and attractions on the outside, various hot tubs and spas on the inside, and a 36-hole golf course and condominiums in the back. The rides outside are named the Water Rollercoaster, the Family Slide, the Amazon River (what I've seen called "lazy river" at parks back home), a large fountain called the Aqua Player, the Wave Pool, the Tornado, and the Racing Slide. The Tornado looks bad ass, and, as Wikipedia says, is

a 4-passenger, 50- to 75-foot-tall enclosed slide which ends in a large, often multicolored funnel. Riders travel back and forth in the funnel several times before exiting into a splashdown pool.

The "Water Rollercoaster" is also known as "The Rocket." There are ten in the world, two of which are in Korea. According to the manufacturer's website:

ProSlide’s award-winning HydroMAGNETIC ROCKET™ has all the attributes of a roller coaster, but it’s pure water excitement! Utilizing a combination of water lubrication, downhill and uphill gravity and ProSlide's proprietary HydroMAGNETIC™ technology, this one-of-a-kind, four-person in-line water coaster will forever change the way people feel about water rides. As they experience the "magnetic pull" of the ascent, followed by the exhilarating speeds of the downhill drops, riders feel the "magic" of going uphill at top speed. The ProSlide HydroMAGNETIC ROCKET™ delivers a rider capacity of 540 or more per hour.

You can browse the indoor pools and spas by clicking here and going through the items on the sidebar. There is also a place for bungee jumping, though it may interest you to know that someone was killed doing it last summer.

It is expensive, though, at 43,000 won per person from June 5th through July. The website also lists information about shuttle buses from the bus terminal in Gwangju to and from the resort in Naju's Nampyeong-eup.

A big one opened last year in Yeosu's Soho-dong. The complex itself is called "The Ocean," and includes restaurants, condominiums, and a golf course, and the waterpark is called "Para Ocean Waterpark and Spa" (파라오션워터파크). It costs 46,000 won from now through July 17th, and like with other parks and resorts you'll find cheaper prices in the offseason. As far as rides and slides---which you can browse here---it looks comparable to the one in Naju.


A heck of a slide, the 17-meter-high "Direct Slide," from here.

Looks like a hell of a view, too. And I typed that in reference to the coast and the islands in the distance, well before I chose to include this:



Oh, that's not simply because she's hot, but also to demonstrate that not everybody at these places is in a lifejacket. The indoor facilities include a small wave pool; browse them here, and look around the sauna here. Take a cybertour here, and get prices and information on rooms here. There are shuttle buses that go back and forth between the resort and other spots in Yeosu, so click here and go to the third and fourth tabs for information.



There's a small one called 옥섬워터파크, pictured above, on the southern coast of Jangheung county, pretty close to the famed green tea fields in Boseong. It looks geared more toward families, but might be something to do if you're in Boseong or on Sumun Beach next door, both worth visits in their own right. Rooms are 40,000 for two, and other fees are listed here. Speaking of Boseong, there is small complex there, too, on Yulpo Beach, called 해수파도풀장. There's a Korean-language article with a couple pictures here.

Regarding beaches, I tried to get a survey going on waygook.org last year on the favorite beaches in Jeollanam-do, but unsurprisingly few users decided to participate. Myeongsangshimni Beach in Wando county captured three of the six votes, and from what I've seen and heard from others, it seems to be a local favorite among foreigners here. I'd recommend skipping the, um, "famous" Manseongri Beach in Yeosu, the "black" "sand" beach good for your girl parts. The one up the road isn't bad, though; a cab ride will cost you less than 10,000 won from the Yeosu bus terminal, and you can have the woman who operates the 민박 call a cab to take you back.

I'd also like to mention El Dorado (엘도라도리조트), a resort in Shinan county. It's on Jung-do, and certainly looks scenic. My girlfriend just got back and it looks and sounds very relaxing.

In the papers some more, and a little cranky so be careful.

I'm in the papers a couple times this week. I forgot again that my weekly Joongang Ilbo piece was out on Tuesday, so go ahead and give that a look. It's based off comments to the "Have they retouched your passport photos, too?" post. I was looking to do something not about teaching, and was pleased to find something I put up Thursday evening get enough comments to make the Friday deadline. I get sick of writing about teaching English all the time, and besides most people who don't teach or who aren't in Korea couldn't care less. That post, though, I think has broader appeal, in spite of a couple awkward edits.

I also found myself in the Korea Herald last night on the topic of the "unqualified" misnomer. It was a piece I had been trying to work out for several weeks, and when I submitted it I didn't think it had much to it. As I thought through the issues I not only became sick of thinking about the same old crap, but I stumbled onto some other ideas that I didn't have the time or the energy to develop. There are some glaring weaknesses in the piece, but whatever. There are two excerpts in particular I stand behind:

The ambiguity of the word "unqualified" is in part a product of the ambiguous role native speakers play in the classroom.

and

"Unqualified" really doesn't fit because native speaker English teachers do, in fact, meet the qualifications laid out by the government. There has yet been an effort to make proper use of native speakers in the classroom.

But the sentiment isn't groundless, and when people criticize "unqualified" teachers they're really talking about bad ones, an equally vague category of people who don't belong in the classroom, whose behavior is unbecoming of a teacher, and whose attitude toward Korea is unbefitting someone living overseas. Sometimes it's an issue of character, but more often than not it's an issue of training and preparation, of schools not really wanting a native speaker or not knowing what to do once they've got one.

Look, this topic has been done to death on the messageboards, blogs, and this site. People do need to ask themselves what the qualifications are to teach English in Korea, and whether their domestic or imported teachers meet them, But I'm not stupid, I'm not naïve, and I don't believe we're all upstanding citizens. I've been to Monkey Beach, I've been to Itaewon, and hell, I've been to teachers' orientation. I've met enough shitheads to make me wonder why I even bother sticking up for us as a whole. I'm also not foolish enough to think I was hired for anything beyond my passport, so even though my resume isn't bad, I know nobody has read it. It's no secret that a lot of us are brought in fresh out of college, inexperienced, and immature, and that it sticks in the craw of colleagues that so much money is going towards people who didn't even come here to teach.

Now, as I said I think a lot of the problems in the classroom stem from the disorganization, indifference, and even resentment we face that prevents us from being used effectively. I'm trying to bite my tongue a little bit after spending the day with a teacher who came in 10 to 15 minutes late each time, needed to be reminded several times to help the students with their work (it was test prep material, so two heads were better than one), and spent most of the period looking out the window. You really can't bitch about native speakers not being effective or professional when they're often stuck with people like this guy. This guy gets to write an evaluation on me, whereas he isn't held accountable for being a jackass.

But just as there are Koreans who don't deserve the title "English teacher," there are foreigners who haven't earned the title of "teacher." Most people realize that "unqualified" is a stupid word to use, most likely just a lazy translation that's stuck, like "Korean is scientific" or "bibimbap is spicy." And the people who don't realize that, well, to be honest I'm sick of getting angry emails from them so I'll let them stew in their own ignorance. When Koreans use "unqualified" they have no idea what the hell they're talking about. They have no idea how to evaluate a resume, how to work with a native English speaker, or what to make of communication-based classes. They're gonna hire the guy with the best tie and the girl with the brightest smile. When we look around and see Korean teachers beating students, controlling their classes through intimidation, shouting at kids, putting their students to sleep with lifeless lectures, and generally not giving a damn, we ask why all the attention is focused on us as a whole as opposed to the group that does the most damage.

"Unqualified" is tired, and the discussion needs to move beyond "unqualified." What we're really talking about, what it boils down to, is a conversation about what makes a good teacher. When Koreans talk about "unqualified" they're really talking about teachers who don't do a good job. They're talking about teachers who don't want to be there, teachers who lack patience, teachers who make no effort to adapt to challenges, teachers who belittle students, and teachers who show up to work dressed like they're ready for a flag football game. I'm not going to speculate on how many NSETs fit one or more of these descriptions, but suffice it to say it's enough to attract attention, even if we do realize that the media is out to get us.

A lot of this responsibility falls on us to step up. I regret not making myself a better teacher when I was starting out, and while I can make excuses that I was just a hagwon teacher, this attitude brings us right to the point. A good teacher doesn't need to be told he's useful, doesn't need to be told to take pride in his job, doesn't need to be told he's important. A good teacher takes his job seriously and does it for the love of the game. I'll be taking this topic out for a ride soon enough, as soon as I think it through a little more fully.

And the reason I write about this in the local papers, and keep coming back to it, is because schools and Korean teachers need to work us into the system, and I'd like to bring up these issues to more Korean readers. You can't hire thousands of people each year who've never been overseas before, stick them in a classroom, then bitch about it when they don't meet your expectations. You also have to create realistic expectations in the first place, create some sort of attainable goals, and work through them together with the native speaker. To show how this might be done---and I'm not suggesting redo the whole thing to accomodate some foreigners---I'll close here with the last paragraph of my Herald article, which is interesting enough, I think, to spawn an article of its own:

There are a couple ways to reduce the number of "bad" teachers, both domestic and foreign, that are beyond the scope of this column. But we might take inspiration from a bit of recent news.

The government has been recruiting thousands of Korean English "lecturers" to teach practical English, a change that will coincide with the introduction of a home-grown English assessment exam that will domestically replace the TOEFL in a few years. These lecturers have a better chance of success not because they are Korean, but rather because the system is not setting them up to fail.

Comments off, I'm not in the mood.

Heat wave warning for Jeollanam-do.

From the Joongang Ilbo, which says a warning goes out when the temparature is above 32 degrees Celcius for two days in a row:

The Gyeongsang and South Jeolla provinces have received the first heat wave warnings of the year.

The warning, which was issued yesterday by the Korea Meteorological Administration, comes 11 days earlier than the first one last year.

Temperatures rose to 35.3 degrees Celsius (95.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in Milyang and 34.9 degrees Celsius in Hapcheon, both in South Gyeongsang; 33.4 degrees Celsius in Pohang, North Gyeongsang; and 33 degrees Celsius in Suncheon, South Jeolla, according to the state weather agency.

Temperatures throughout Jeollanam-do were high on the 25th: Suncheon's Hwangjeon-myeon reached 35.4, Hwasun 34.7, Gurye 34.4, Gokseong 34, Suncheon 33.4, Mokpo 29.2, and Yeosu 28.2.

If you're stuck in Suncheon and can't get to a beach, why not take a dip in the sewage plant, as advertised on the Suncheon government website last summer?

THE SEWAGE PLANT IN SUNCHEON IS BECOMING VERY POPULAR AS THE PLACE OF DABBLING IN WATER FOR CHILDREN

The playground at the wastewater treatment in Suncheon is gaining popularity among students of kindergarten.

According to the city, the number of nursery schools visiting the playground of water has increased largely because of the heat came earlier than normal. Until now, the month of July, 3500 children, over 15% compared to last year, have fun from there.

This playground of water which was founded in 2004, attracts children with a water composed of various models of characters from comics and 12 types of attraction where children can have fun with the experience by games.

The city provides that there will be more children visiting with the beginning of summer vacation and really focus on the development of equipment and management of hygiene.

In addition, the city is planning to install a small pool, slide and a fountain held after the budget hundred million won, so that more children play in safety.

The facilities such as the artificial field of sports and in-line, the learning center on water etc, are always open to the public.

If you run a search for 순천하수종말처리장 you'll see it's not what the awkwardly-rendered name suggests, but that doesn't mean it's not worth sharing anyway.

Hitting a teacher in retaliation for corporal punishment not self-defense, court says.

From the Korea Times:

A former high school student has lost a suit which she filed to annul a school's disciplinary action against her after she hit a teacher. A local court ruled that a student hitting a teacher in reaction to corporal punishment did not constitute legitimate self-defense.

The Seoul Administrative Court Thursday ruled against the 18-year-old student, who graduated from a science high school in Seoul and is now a university freshman.

According to the court, the unidentified girl was taking a rope-skipping test during a physical education class last November. A sophomore at the time, she needed to take the test to graduate early. When the teacher did not let her take the test at her designated turn, she protested, speaking impolitely.

The teacher demanded she move aside so that other students could continue the test, but she refused. He then hit her on the head with an attendance book he was holding. The girl slapped the teacher on the cheek, and then the teacher attacked her with his hands and feet, causing her to receive medical treatment for 12 weeks.

The school ordered her to take six days of special lectures for disobeying and hitting the teacher. She accepted the punishment, but filed the suit later to annul the measure, claiming her action was legitimate self-defense against the teacher's improper instruction and corporal punishment.

The court, however, rejected her claim saying, ``It is wrong for a teacher to hit a student with the attendance book despite protest, but slapping the teacher on the cheek is neither a proper reaction nor self-defense.''

Actually I agree that slapping a teacher after the first hit was a bad move, but maybe that's because I've been desensitized by seeing lots of more, um, vigorous punishment at school. But Christ, how can a teacher beat a student bad enough to require 12 weeks of treatment and get away with it?

It also said that the school's discipline was not an abuse of its discretion even though the student received serious injuries inflicted by the teacher.

The teacher was earlier fined 3 million won and received a disciplinary warning, after the student sued him over the attack.

Wow, that's quite a message to send to teachers.

More on release of "Hebei Two."

On the 11th the Indian Embassy released the following statement regarding the impending release of the "Hebei Two":

Government of India welcomes the verdict of the Daejon High Court, Republic of Korea, delivered on 11 June 2009 in which the two Indian seafarers - Captain J. S. Chawla and Chief Officer Chetan Syam of the marine vessel "Hebei Spirit" have been held "not guilty" on the charge of criminal negligence leading to destruction of property. This verdict once again vindicates the position of the two Indian seafarers that there was no criminal negligence on their part in the accident involving their ship.

Government of India understands that the lawyers of the Indian seafarers have already approached the Prosecution for lifting the exit ban on them.

It is hoped that the exit ban on the two seafarers will be lifted and that they will be able to return home soon.

The Korea Times has more:

The two returned to India on Friday, June 13, two days after the verdict, receiving torrents of support and attention.

"The Hindu," a local media outlet that reported their arrivals, described the scene as this:

``While Captain Chawal flashed victory signs to the media, Chetan's younger son burst into tears, overwhelmed by the huge media presence. However, he later danced to the drumbeats of the victory rally held outside Mumbai's international airport.''

Chawla was quoted as saying, ``During the interrogation, I thought I would never be able to get back home. The interrogation was conducted in Korean, which we could not follow. Even the judge kept shouting at me; he was not fair. We also received little support from the Indian Consulate in South Korea.

The embassy denounced his comment as non-true.

The case attracted international criticism, especially from international trade unions and shipping management groups.

The international community has strongly objected to the rulings by the Korean courts, describing the guilty verdict as ``scapegoating'' and the sailors as ``passive victims.''

Ecologist Mark Shryock, who followed the case closely, once wrote to The Korea Times, saying, ``They are rapidly becoming international heroes, while at the same time Korea grows more and more unpopular. The irony is that while their case is gaining international momentum on a daily basis, in Korea, the imprisonment of Chawla and Chetan has prompted little interest.''

Shyrock had a lengthy piece in the Times in January, and to pick off where that excerpt left off:

But scrutiny of the case should be raised in Korea immediately because it is beginning to damage Korea's public image abroad. There has been much talk lately about branding Korea. Unfortunately, this issue is branding Korea in the worst ways possible.

The shipping world is starting to threaten the halting of all shipments to Korea. This is in addition to an already well-organized movement in the shipping world and India to create a global boycott of Korean goods.

The U.K. newspaper, the Financial Times, recently published an article saying that, ``If the boycott movement grows, Korea will be placed in a very serious situation, as it imports all of its energy from abroad."

Korea should be seriously concerned over this possible scenario. But Korea should also be concerned that at a time of a global financial crisis the international financial media is beginning to print speculation of the possible financial consequences of such boycotts.

I can say personally that I have met with a group of internationally connected bankers who feel this issue is already hurting Korea and has the potential to be catastrophic.

In addition to this, thousands have already gathered in protest rallies in India. Calls for a boycott of Korean products are now numerous and growing daily. This is now spreading beyond just the shipping industry and India, and is beginning to be heard in growing sectors around the world.

Toward the end he appealed to the "branding" angle, so near and dear to local politicians and mouthpieces:

To much of the rest of the world, this verdict is such a mockery of justice that collusion seems the only plausible answer. Korea needs to understand it can no longer afford this kind of justice and that the cultural need for this kind of justice had better be rethought.

This issue is not going to go away and the longer Korea detains these men, the greater the negative branding is going to be.

Interestingly South Korea and India are currently working on a free trade agreement, though neither the newspaper articles nor the Indian Embassy's press release make any mention of this case, which one would think would likely come up.

Shots aren't scary.

Gwangju kindergartners got acquainted with characters "예별이" and "예랑이" at the Namgu Cultural Center last week.

.

Young Koreans ignorant about Korean War, survey finds.

On the anniversary of the start of the Korean War comes news that

A survey of 1,000 adults over 19, conducted by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MPAS) in April, showed that 36.9 percent of respondents said they didn't know when the Korean War had broken out.

By age, 56.6 percent of those in their 20s said they didn't know when the war had occurred, while 28.7 percent of those in their 30s and 23 percent of those in their 40s said the same thing, it said.

``This is a very serious problem that more and more people, especially youngsters, are not well aware of or not interested in the Korean War, where millions of South Koreans were killed,'' an official of the Ministry of National Defense said. ``Pan-governmental efforts are required to make people understand properly about the Korean War and, in particular, educate youngsters about the war and history.''

Extra! Korea links to the Korean Herald coverage, which focused more on the involvement of other nations:

A total of 624 people, or 79 percent, said that they knew only five countries or less that sent troops to help defend the South during the Korean War. Only 55 people, or 7 percent, said they knew 10 countries or more.

The number of those who knew three to five countries was 443, or 56 percent of the total. A total of 142 people, or 18 percent, said that they knew one to three countries.

The number of those who did not know the countries at all or were not interested was 39, or five percent. Of the 39 people, 82 percent were 20 years old or younger.

The percentages of the respondents who knew that the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia joined the war were 97 percent, 84 percent and 77 percent, respectively.

The respondents were rarely aware that the Philippines, Luxemburg and the Republic of South Africa joined the war.

Here's another excerpt from the Times article:

The war broke out on June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops invaded the South, crossing the 38th parallel, the line diving the two Koreas. Twenty-one countries dispatched troops under the United Nations flag to fight against North Koreans backed by China.

The war resulted in a devastating death toll with at least 2 million Korean civilians killed, according to data. South Korea sustained more than 1 million casualties, while estimated communist casualties were 2 million. Casualties among the United Nations allies totaled 16,532.

I'm not sure if I should read something into their omission of the United States here, their 36,516 dead, their 92,134 wounded, and their 8,176 MIA. Sure, the effort here is to recognize the contributions of the many other nations in what is often reduced to a four-country war, but I'd be interested to see how many Koreans are aware of how much the United States gave to the Republic of Korea. For better or worse many both inside Korea and out hold the United States responsible for the war, but that doesn't nullify the sacrifice hundreds of thousands of Americans made.

Anyway, we found similar numbers last year when the MPAS looked at students:

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security said Monday that a survey of 1,016 middle and high school students showed nearly 57 percent didn't know the war started on June 25, 1950.

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.

Only 56 percent said they felt threatened by the North's nuclear weapons development, adding that the chance of another Korean War taking place was very low.

I liked the Joongang Ilbo headline from last June: "Teenagers are patriotic, but dunces at history." From the Joongang Ilbo today, a bakery in Seoul made cakes with the flags of the 16 nations who fought on the South Korean side.

Roh Moo-hyun t-shirt reaches French TV show.

A host on a French TV show is in the Korean news a little for wearing a shirt with a caricature of the late former president Roh Moo-hyun. The story is among the most-read international stories on Naver, and is on the front page of other news sites. As far as I can tell, and please correct me if I'm wrong, it's not a matter of taste but just that a t-shirt with the former president has turned up in France.





It says "사랑하는 세상" along the bottom.

Chairman of the Presidential Committee on National Competitiveness wants to tinker with romanization.

Hey, you know what'd help foreigners read romanized Korean? Picking a system and sticking with it.

Anyway, just for fun I plugged some different spellings into Google. I've only seen some of them used on signs, but I've seen all of them used in guidebooks and on "English" webpages.

Jeollanam-do - 121,000 results
Chollanam-do - 22,500 results
Chŏllanam-to - 7,370 results
Jeonranamdo - 2,490 results
Chullanam-do - 746 results
Chunranam-do - 409 results
Junlanam-do - 136 results
Junranam-do - 93 results
Brian in Jeollanam-do - 18,000 results
Gwangju - 1,170,000
Kwangju - 1,340,000
Gangjin - 108,000
Kangjin - 92,200

I didn't include Suncheon or Sunchon or Sooncheon or Soonchun here because there is a Suncheon in North Korea which would skew the results; well, actually it's Sunch'ŏn, as North Korea uses the old romanization system. Nonetheless you'll find it commonly used down here as well, and the messageboard for English-speaking Suncheonians spells it the old way. But, if you use that style and don't spell it with the thing above the "o" or the apostrophe it would sound like 순촌 or 순존, or even 선촌 or 선존, rather than 순천. The confusion is compounded by the coexistence of two romanization systems plus a bunch of hybrids.

New 50,000 won bill is here.

From the Daejeon Ilbo.

No jokes about bringing you yesterday's news, please. The new 50,000 won notes debuted yesterday, with Gwangju and Jeollanam-do getting 1150억원 worth.

The selection of Shin Saimdang was a controversial one, which I'm sure Google can tell you more about. One of the latest controversies was over the size of her face and whether the painting accurately depicted what her family believes she looked like.

The new note will make for thinner wallets---the largest denomination was the 10,000 won bill---and will, the Korea Times says, "shift transaction culture."

``Fifty-thousand-won will soon become the new standard in spending,'' said Kim Young-min, a spokesman of I'Park Mall, a high-end retailer, who explained that retailers are going to make all sorts of adjustments to make it easier for consumers to spend the new banknote.

For example, instead of selling one T-shirt for 35,000 won, retailers may start selling two for 50,000 won. Plus, popular 99,000-won promotions may be adjusted down to 49,000 won to encourage spending, according to industry experts.

A housewife interviewed by the Joongang Ilbo brings up another good point:

“The new bill will make my wallet flatter and lighter and I like it,” she continued. “But I am concerned that due to the existence of the 50,000-won bill, I will feel pressed to pay at least 50,000 won as congratulatory money when I am invited to a wedding.”

In Korea, the cash gifts guests bring to weddings and funerals are fixed according to custom at 30,000 won, 50,000 won or 100,000 won. There are also concerns that the new bill might cause businesses to round off product prices - for example, relabeling a good that now costs 45,000 won as 50,000.

A Dave's user brings up another inevitable shift in culture:

Will this cut down on foreigners pulling out their W300k gangster rolls at every opportunity?

Mixed-Koreans with "distinct skin colors" exempt from mandatory military service.

That isn't news, but it stands out in an article about a professor calling for the military to adapt to the inevitable rise of mixed-race Koreans approaching service age.

Those who have distinct skin colors, such as black or white, are exempted because they might have difficulty mixing with Korean colleagues at barracks, an MMA spokesman. But if an Amerasian or Eurasian wants to serve, the ministry can review his joining the military, he said.

As of last year, there were 148,000 mixed-race families in South Korea, according to government data. The birth rate of the mixed-race families is around 2.3 percent, up 1 percent or more over ordinary families, it said.

The number of Kosians eligible for the mandatory military duty is expected to increase about ten times to 2,200 over the next 10 years, said the spokesman.

From a 2006 UPI article, which like many items of the time contrasted the "Hines Ward craze" with the way visible minorities and biracial Koreans are actually treated:

The government said that a revision of the military conscription law passed by the National Assembly last June included the provision that mixed-race men born after 1986 could enter military service. The law previously banned men who "clearly appear of mixed racial background."

Robert Koehler of The Marmot's Hole, in a comment on a Foreign Dispatches post about what the ban said about Korean racism and xenophobia, gave some insight into why mixed-race Koreans had been theretofore banned from serving in the military:

About the military exemption, the reasoning behind it is not that mixed-race individuals would be prone to treachery. Rather, the exemption is granted because--and with good reason--the authorities believed that social attitudes being what they are, mixed-race individuals would have an extremely difficult time adjusting to barracks life. Life in the Korean military, by most accounts, is tough, with hazing by seniors being pretty rife. The authorities--and they probably meant this with good intentions--felt there was no need to put visably mixed-race individuals in a situation where they would be beaten and abused for two years straight. Anyway, the government passed a revision to the military service law last year allowing mixed-race men into the military if they choose, and there is now debate over whether to ammend the law to extend the mandatory draft to them as well.

I'll close with the comments of Seoul National University's Kim Kwang-eo, in the Korea Times article quoted above:

``With the rise in mixed-race soldiers, the military would become a society where a variety of cultures co-exist, so many different problems might arise,'' the professor said.

He said the military should come up with measures to deal with potential problems with the envisaged multicultural camp culture. The professor suggested that the military establish special training programs on language, culture and others for the mixed-race conscripts.

Police issue summons to political cartoonist in Wonju for insulting LMB.

According to the Korea Times:

Police issued a summons Tuesday to a cartoonist who put insulting phrases about President Lee Myung-bak in a cartoon printed in a gazette. Wonju Police Station in Gangwon Province said it asked the cartoonist, identified as Choi, to turn himself in to the station.

The 44-year-old cartoonist drew a cartoon where members of a family pay respect to a monument of a soldier who died defending the country in the city's promotional paper.

Police have launched an investigation of the cartoonist since last Friday after city government officials filed a complaint against him for ``interference with business.''

On one side of the monument, there are two abusive sentences subtly hidden in the form of patterns. One says ``he should be killed.'' About 22,000 copies of the ``Happy Wonju'' gazette were printed and delivered to residents there and in nearby cities.

Here's the cartoon, via NoCutNews:



This Naver blog, among others, has a photo with the words on the monument enlarged:



"이명박 죽일놈" and "이명박 개새끼" it says, sounding more like my students than a newspaper cartoonist.