"Snow Namdaemun" in Sapporo.

Via East Windup Chronicle is this picture of a "Snow Namdaemun" at the Sapporo Snow Festival constructed, as ROK Drop tells us, with help from the Japan’s Self-Defense Force. EWC says that according to a live web cam---which doesn't work for me---you'll notice there's a Japanese flag in front of it, although I haven't found any photos confirming that.



But on the topic of flags is news that a Korean flag near the sculpture was being flown upside down at the opening ceremony. I came across that news via a blog set up for Korean students practicing their writing. The student-poster concluded with:

This happened because of us: Koreans. If we had cared enough about our flag as much as we cared about ourselves this wouldn’t have happened. Also, some Korean students don’t even know how to draw their flag. It is a serious problem. I wish this could be a good opportunity for us, Koreans, to think about our flag and love our country.

That's rather . . . vague. The lone commentor added:

It is very true that most Koreans do not know how to draw a flag. I agree that it is important to understand the symbolic meaning behind a flag. However, the Japanese are not stupid. I think it was an intentional way of showing Korea that they are still above us.

In December I was teaching a lesson about the Korean flag and was surprised by the number of students who didn't know how to draw the flag. So while it's embarrassing I'm sure to see your national flag flown upside down, I'm going to venture it was ignorance rather than an intentional sign of disrespect. And given how often the same error occurs among Koreans, let's not get too worked up about it.

Ham Tae-shik to be evicted from Jirisan home after 40 years.

From the Facebook group "Save Mr Ham Tae-sik":

Mr Ham Tae-shik, the venerable shelter keeper of Piagol in Mount Jiri, South Korea, has been living in the mountain for over 40 years. He was monumental in convincing the Korean government of the late 1960s to establish a national parks program in Korea, and he opened Korea's first mountain shelter in 1970.

Despite Mr Ham's significant role in the history of Korean national parks and continued service to the well-being of his nation, the Korean National Parks Service, after several years of pressuring Mr Ham, are evicting him from his mountain shelter home.

Mr Ham, who is nearly 81 years old, had been living in the mountains for nearly 20 years by the time the Korean National Parks Service was established.

The Facebook group directs you to sign a petition to allow Ham to stay.

Please sign our petition to save Mr Ham and his home. Help send the message to the KNPS that given his past and continued service, Mr Ham deserves to stay in the mountains and continue to live the life that he loves: in service of the mountains and the mountaineers that visit them.

More from the thread on Dave's ESL Cafe:

Thats quite terrible. I know Mr Ham. I've shared many a cup of tea and bowl of Ramien with him over the years. He is one of the kindest most gentle, wisest people I have ever met.

For those who don't him. He has been living on the mountain for 40+ years not because he is some nut. But because he loves Chri-san more than anything elese in the world. Without him is is unlikely the K govt would have made Chri-san a national park.

One of the true pleasures of hiking on Chri-san is the chance to run into Mr Ham and chatting for a few minutes. It'll be sad if the Govt can pull off this eviction.

Single mother had sex with 960 johns last year.

According to police via this Donga Ilbo article, a fortysomething single mother slept with 960 men last year, men she met through

Kim Ja-young's apology for (Korean) Nazism.

Interesting opinion piece in the Korea Times earlier in the week about one woman's reaction to South Korea's use of Nazi imagery in bars, restaurants, and commercials. Here's a bit of the article:

Recently I began a friendship with a Jewish man. He is the first Jewish person I have met in my life. We talked about Korea and some other countries where he has lived or traveled.

While listening to his experiences in Korea I felt embarrassed when he talked about seeing a jazz bar in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, which painted on its exterior wall a portrait of an infamous Nazi SS officer standing on a tank. Really? Could there actually be a Nazi bar in Mokpo?

This reminded me of Brian Deutsch's article, ``Insensitivity About Nazism," which appeared in the April 22, 2008, edition of The Korea Times in which he discussed a Nazi-themed cosmetics ad campaign in which a well-known Korean actress appeared dressed as a Nazi officer, holding a cap emblazoned with a Nazi style logo.

I recall seeing this ad on Youtube. In the background were the sounds of shell-firing rounds, the German language and the text ``Even Hitler could not get East and West at the same time." This Nazi-themed ad was hardly an issue in Korean society and was largely ignored by the Korean media.

Frankly, when I watched this ad with my friend, we just laughed. Even though the commercial showed Nazi propaganda or made mention of Adolph Hitler, I don't think it bothered most Korean people's conscience, including mine. Surely, most Koreans have sympathy for Jewish people because we suffered similar cruelties by the Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation. I believe that when pressed, most Koreans would express having bad or negative feelings about Hitler or Nazism or fascism in general. However, the problem is that we don't appear to have much interest in people's business or problems other than our own.

I recall that my friend and I talked about what it would have been like if the actress in the above-mentioned ad had dressed in a colonial Japanese military style and the sentence was ``Even Ito Hirobumi, who was the biggest culprit behind the Japanese colonization of Korea, could not get all of Asia." At the very least, the following day the cosmetic company headquarters would have been egg-bombed by protesters, I reckon.

It is interesting that a Nazi-themed advertisement was not controversial until it stirred up discontent by expatriates living in Korea. It is surprising and shameful that after being chastised in the international news, neither the Korean cosmetics company nor the ad agency apologized and excused their actions stating they just wanted to highlight the ``revolutionary" aspects of Hitler.

The coverage from last spring is spread out on this blog over a few different posts, though they're a little awkward to read because of so many updates and amendments. The two most relevant I guess are

* "Coreana wants the ads removed from Youtube."

* "New Coreana Nazi video pretty much the same as the old Coreana Nazi video."

so give them a read if you're not familiar with the story.



Ms. Kim closes her piece with:

As a Korean and friend of a Jewish person and member of this global village, I want to apologize about the Nazi-themed cosmetics advertisement and bars that feature Nazi imagery here in Korea. I hope my apology will be considered acceptable.

There is no need for her to apologize to anyone, though it's a thoughtful gesture in a thoughtful article. Now, let's keep in mind that we oughtn't push our Western perceptions and meanings on Koreans who most likely don't hold the same values. After all, to cite a more trivial example, how sick are we of hearing about Dokdo, a territorial dispute that is of utmost importance to Koreans but meaningless and borderline offensive to Westerners? In fact, I resent being told how to call the Sea of Japan in my own language, and dislike having our language and politics dictated to us on the Liancourt Rocks matter by ethnocentric foreign special interest groups.

Obviously Koreans generally don't have such a strong reaction to Nazism and its symbols as Westerners, just as many of us harbor no animosity against the Japanese. Yet the point of the campaign last spring to remove the ads and get a satisfactory apology, and of smaller rants in protest of the bastardization of our language and culture, is to remind people that while each culture interprets things for itself, symbols oughtn't be entirely divorced from their historical context. That's why we were upset by the flippant use of Nazi imagery in the commercials, and that's why we cringe when we hear Koreans saying "oh my god!" or "sexy" all the time. It's arrogant to dictate only one possible meaning for a symbol or phrase, but it's equally so to adopt them with no regard for their preexisting meanings to other people.

Korea Sparkling Widget neither sparkling nor "Sparkling."

Even though I was voted "Sexiest Korea Blogger" and "Best Korea Blogger Under 30" this month, I didn't have the visibility last month to get a spam comment inviting me to try it out the new Korea Sparkling Widget from the Korea Tourism Organization. All the other kids got one. But it looked like shit when I saw it for the first time, and it's proven unpopular with the bloggers. Stafford lampooned first it on Hub of Sparkle, and Charles Montgomery went at it on his blog, watching and listing a bunch of the short animated scenarios. An excerpt from his site:

Watching this widget reveals far more about what Korean thinks about foreigners (uncouth idiots) than it reveals any reason a foreigner would want to visit Korea.

I watched this thing for about 15 minutes and jotted down its little scenarios, which I reproduce below. Seventeen out of the twenty-four scenarios unarguably reveal David (our waegook hero) to be a dangerous idiot. What kind of brilliant marketing scheme is that?

Montgomery took it to the Korea Times a few days ago.

I watched some 24 vignettes during my viewing, and in 17 of them, Dave, the foreigner, was represented as a dangerous idiot who brings danger and shame wherever he goes. In one case he kicks a Korean in the testicles, in another he falls off of a ladder while hanging lanterns, is hit with a stick and pierced by an arrow and shocks an entire family of Koreans by entering their house with his shoes still on.

These are not messages that would appeal to any potential tourist. Rather, they paint Korea as a dangerous place full of potential social pitfalls. It's possible that these vignettes are meant to be humorous. If so, it's another mistake. How many countries with more successful culture-tourism campaigns use Three Stooges-type humor for self-promotion?

Most public school teachers will note that the scenarios on the wicket---which Montgomery listed on his post---are similar to those we find in our English textbooks. They often feature dialogues and readings of Westerners embarrassing themselves in Korea. You'll invariably find chapters about spicy food or tricky chopsticks or white kids who stomp through the Korean house with their shoes still on. Hell, one of the songs from the elementary school curriculum is of a Western kid going "Don't take off your shoes / Don't take off your shoes / We don't take off our shoes in the house." As if they couldn't think of any other way to teach "do" and "don't" other than drawing on something that makes us look boorish. Like an elementary-level Korean textbook with a dialogue about ordering dog soup, or a song that goes "Don't cover your mouth / Don't cover your mouth / We don't cover our mouth when we cough." Or maybe there'd be a skit about how Korean families don't even know enough to capitalize the name of the kid they're hosting, right "david"?

Montgomery closes on a positive note in his KT article:

The good news is that this represents an opportunity for the KTO. The initial idea was a good one. Creating a useful and interesting widget, and spreading it through a partially viral marketing campaign, was an inspired idea. Unfortunately, the widget as currently designed is unproductive, perhaps even destructive, and the target locations chosen for it do not seem chosen to maximize impact.

I hope that the KTO will go back to the drawing board on the widget, and this time involve some input from members of the target audience, perhaps even involving the same bloggers the KTO has targeted as potential hosts of it. The widget itself needs new content and the effort to place it on websites needs to be re-aimed.

There are many interesting and beautiful features of Korea that could be presented by it. Additionally, Koreans can be quite friendly and hospitable. It is these kinds of elements that Korea should put at the front and center of its culture-tourism marketing, not poorly-animated slapstick demonstrating what goes wrong when cultures collide.

Yes, the foreign buffonery is very tiring, the tendency to show us making mistakes or embarrassing ourselves or just acting foreign, and it's hard to find positive Western role models on Korean TV, examples of teachers not making asses of themselves or otherwise rendered ridiculous. (Though we must remember that Korean TV in general enjoys slapstick and fish out of water humor. And we might also try looking to those outside the English-speaking foreign community for examples of more successful integration). Moreover, you have to question the target audience of the widget: somebody not in Korea or not familiar with Jeollanam-do won't get the short about the Jindo Moses Miracle, to say nothing about feeling alienated by the white guy's actions, while people already in Korea will just roll their eyes at the same tired stereotypes of awkward foreigners.

Anyway, and this is me writing without putting much thought into it, what about putting together a widget that scrolled through a list of upcoming festivals or cultural events? I'd be interested in checking out something that told me what was going on every month, or when a concert was coming to town, or what festivals are happening each weekend.

Brian in Jeollanam-do takes two 2008 Golden Klog Awards.

Thanks to all the organizers of and participants in Hub of Sparkle's 2008 Golden Klog Awards. Congratulations to Korea Beat for being voted the Best Korea Blog of 2008. Brian in Jeollanam-do was voted

* Most Thought Provoking Korea Blog
* Angriest Korea Blogger

I got back to Suncheon tonight from three-plus weeks overseas, and I'll have more on that in a couple days, and more comments on these award proceedings later, too. But for now, thanks again to my readers and to everyone who voted for me or for anyone else. And thanks to all the teachers, professors, students, parents, writers, and everyone else out there who made 2008 a very good year for Korea blogs. I hope 2009 will be just as fruitful and productive for me, both on this site and in the classroom. Just a little less angry, maybe.

68-year-old Jeonju woman has failed driving test 771 times.

Wow, Jeollabuk-do just made international news. And not for lion-tiger fights this time. An excerpt from AFP:

SEOUL (AFP) — A dogged South Korean grandmother has failed her driving test 771 times, police said Thursday, but a local newspaper reported she will keep trying.

The 68-year-old, identified only by her last name Cha, has taken the test almost every working day since 2005 in the southwestern city of Jeonju. She failed again Monday for the 771st time.

"It was a record-breaking number here," Choi Yong-Cheol, a police sergeant supervising the test in the city's Deokjingu district, told AFP.

"I wonder if she will try it again for a 772nd time."

The Korea Times said Cha will in fact be back for another attempt.

Jokes about Koreans' generally shitty driving and attention to traffic safety aside, the case here is likely that she is old, poor, and can't read.

Test of Proficiency in Korean registration has begun.

From yesterday, and will be open through February 16th. Visit the official TOPIK website---specifically the .pdf linked on this page---for more details about registration and the exam. The test will be held on Sunday, April 19th in South Korea, and Gwangju's will once again be at Chonnam National University.

If you have websites or resources you've found helpful for the six-level exam, please add them in the comment section. Remember, previous exams and their answer keys are found on the official website. I'm going to see if I can't get up to Level 3 this time, but having neglected my studies for, like, ever, I'm not confident about my chances.

Hwasun's Amortel (아모르텔)

I'm writing this in January but I only published it in February, to help fill the void while I'm on vacation. I had planned a bunch of other posts in January and February, but they're really long and I didn't have enough time to prepare them. So, it'll be another short write-up on a local motel. Last month, in another post-dated entry, we read about the Jungfrau Motel in Hwasun county. Today it's the Amortel.

I mentioned this one in my longer entry on love motels, remarking on the goddamn telescope in the room. The Jungfrau's VIP room also has a telescope, so maybe it's not that special. But I'll tell you what, the Amortel looks like an excellent motel. There are five kinds of rooms, ranging from 40,000 to 100,000 won per night. All of the rooms look good, but if you're going to make the trip out there, you might as well splurge on the four-room VIP room. Both the VIP and the Special rooms have access to a balcony with a shower, steam sauna, bath, and goddamn telescopes. Take a few minutes to browse the photos on the motel website; that'll be far more interesting than me talking about everything.


Balcony of the VIP room.


A look inside the VIP room.


The loft in the Special room.


In the Semi-special room. What a disconcerting name, but included here so you can see it's got a tub.


The Equalizer.

Like the Jungfrau, the Amortel is located near Dogok Spa Land, a bit of a drive from Hwasun-eup---the main town in the county---but would thus be accessible via buses 200 and 318 from Gwangju. Hwasun itself is boring---as is nearby Gwangju, come to think of it---but the motel could be either a nice change of pace for night, or a starting point for trips into Boseong, Damyang, Yeonggwang, or the other attractions in Jeollanam-do.

What studying English for seven years will do.

I saw this linked on Otto's site a while back, but I can't find the exact page.



It's always embarrassing when you get asked relatively simple questions but you don't know how to respond. For example, it wasn't until last year that I became familiar with the ~ㄴ지 얼마나 됐다 construction, which is used for asking how long since you've done something. So, we routinely hear something like "한국에 온지 얼마니 됐어요?," or How long since you've come to Korea? When you hear it and judge the context clues you can probably figure out what it means, although without recognizing the sentence pattern it can be tough to answer something more intelligent than "this many."