Why do Koreans Complain about U.S. Military in Korea?

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Dear Korean,

Why do Koreans complain about the U.S. military force in Korea?

GI Korea


Dear GI Korea,

Allow the Korean first to express his admiration for your blog, ROK Drop. The Korean has been looking forward to this cross-posting for some time.

No matter what the detractors of U.S. military in Korea may say, when push comes to shove, one fact is clear: the presence of American military, overall, is undoubtedly beneficial for Korea.

There is some debate as to whether South Korean military can defeat North Korean military on its own. North Korean military leads in traditional measures of military strength (e.g. number of infantry, etc.) but South Korean military is clearly superior in the technology of their weapons. However, that assumes a war actually occurring, inevitably costing thousands or millions of lives. On the other hand, there is no debate that the presence of American forces serves as a strong deterrent, preventing a war from actually occurring. While peaceful unification would be the most ideal option – please, do not pick fights with the Korean on this topic, since he will address this question some other day – the next best thing would be to avoid a war, and U.S. military is certainly serving that purpose.

This is on top of the fact that if American military did not intervene in 1950, the entire Korean peninsula, rather than the northern half, would be experiencing sustained destitution, famine, and totalitarian dictatorship that daily displays its failure.


The economic miracle that catapulted South Korea into relevance in world economics and politics can be credited to the talent and hard work of South Koreans themselves, which fortuitously converged with favorable international circumstances. However, the credit of enabling South Korea to build a strong economy within half a century must go entirely to the United States. Detractors are free to argue that U.S. acted entirely out of self-interest in helping South Korea, but the Korean does not think the motivation matters. American military freed South Korea from communist dictatorship, and for that South Koreans must be grateful.

Nonetheless, there is no question that many Koreans bitterly complain about the presence of U.S. military presence in Korea. These are some of the areas in which Koreans tend to complain:

The perceived inequality in Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA): SOFA is the treaty that defines the status of the American military within Korea, and many Koreans believe that it is an unfair treaty in various respects. Complaint against SOFA is the umbrella complaint for all complaints.

Land use of American forces: The real estate market in Seoul is absolutely nuts; in choice neighborhoods, prices can easily surpass Manhattan real estate. Therefore, the fact that U.S. military takes up a large piece of prime real estate in the middle of Seoul (Yongsan) without paying any rent does not sit well with many Koreans.

Pollution Issue: Also, when the U.S. military is done with the use of Korean land as a base, there are serious cases of pollution at times. The Korean discussed this issue previously.

Crime by GIs: American military personnel are often implicated in crimes in Korea. Some of the crimes are quite horrific. The most often cited example is a murder of Yoon Geum-Yi by Pvt. Kenneth Lee Markle in 1992. Yoon was a hostess at a club who had known Markle previously. Markle found out Yoon was with another man the night before, and the argument escalated into murder. Yoon was discovered naked with her head bashed in with beer bottles. She had been sodomized with a coke bottle and an umbrella, which were discovered still stuck in her body. While it is incorrect to say crimes by American soldiers are rampant, such crimes, when they do happen, tend to grab Korean people’s attention, much like the way crimes by illegal immigrants (i.e. the perceived “other”) grab the attention of Americans.

Also, while GI criminals would either face court-marshal by the U.S. forces or civilian trial in Korean courts depending on the circumstances in which they committed the crime, the general impression of Koreans is that GI criminals are court-marshaled and receive a slap in the wrist for the crimes. This sentiment was particularly in display in 2002, when two Korean middle school girls were run over by a U.S. armored vehicle, and the soldiers who were operating the vehicle were acquitted in the American military court.

So the question is: why do Koreans complain about American forces in Korea this way, although American military is the one that enabled Koreans to live the current prosperous life?

The Korean can go on and explain why Korean people are justified to think this way on each individual issue, as a parallel to what GI Korea has done at his blog, explaining why these complaints by Koreans are myths. But the Korean thinks there is a more fundamental cause that ties all the issues above; unless that cause is addressed, it is pointless to address each individual manifestation of the cause.

What, then, is the fundamental cause? It is the changing nature of Korean nationalism.

The Korean already explained Korea’s nationalism here. This part is worth rehashing:

“It is crucial to understand that in the worldview of a nationalist, each and every person in the world operates as a member of a team called "United States of America", "Brazil", "Thailand", "South Africa", "France", etc. And each team are striving to outdo one another in a giant world race for power, be it economic, political, social, cultural or any other type one can think of.”

This mentality applies to both older and younger Koreans, but America’s position within this Korean mentality depends heavily on the versions of history to which a Korean may subscribe. For older Koreans, America is a friend and an ally in the great race of nations. The good graces that U.S. military has earned during the Korean War still hold value among older Koreans, who vividly remember the American forces saving the day. To this day, the easiest way for any homeless man in America to get $20 from the Korean Mother is to say “I fought in the Korean War.” Koreans of the Korean War-generation essentially elevated America to the pedestal of sainthood, a country that is purely motivated by altruistic concerns that can do no wrong.

However, the picture becomes drastically different with respect to younger Koreans, usually in their 20s~30s. Again, one must remember that younger Koreans grew up in a drastically different world from older Koreans. They had never seen the destruction of war. Their country was never desperately, starvingly poor. Instead, younger Koreans had seen their country rising to the forefront of world economy, exerting influence that it never before had.

With this new status of Korea, younger Koreans decidedly departed from their elders’ view of America. Unlike (or perhaps, because of) older Koreans’ unquestioned devotion toward the U.S., they viewed American foreign policy with critical eyes, pouncing on every instance in which U.S. displayed anything less than altruism. In fact, many young Koreans have swung to the completely opposite direction from their elders; they are convinced that America will only act out of self-interest, and it would stop at nothing to that end.


In other words, younger Koreans no longer believe that America is an ally in the race of nations. It is another competitor, just like the rest of the world. In fact, it is the most formidable competitor of all, with its vast resources, Herculean economy (even accounting for the recent mess), pervasive cultural power, and towering military strength. Because of America’s superior position in this world-race, younger Koreans observe the U.S. with deep suspicion.

Korean people’s complaint about U.S. military presence is but a symptom of a greater illness: America’s image as a competitor, not an ally. When there is a generalized image problem against America, the U.S. military presence provides the closest and easiest target for those Koreans who have a grudge against America. After all, U.S. military is a physical reminder that America exerts a huge influence over Korea. Nationalistic Koreans do not take kindly to that type of influence, and even the smallest offense by the U.S. military is enough to set them off.

To be sure, Koreans who subscribe to truly virulent anti-Americanism are few in number. Even the new generation of nationalist Koreans does not hate anything and everything about America. Indeed, the opposite is true: American products continue to sell briskly, tourism and study abroad in America are ever increasing, and latest Korean fashion is dictated by the trend shown in American television shows.

However, the new form of nationalism adds a vague fear in an average Korean person’s mind; the fear that, given the right chance, America will take advantage of Korea. Therefore, whenever there is any hint that American military has an unfair advantage in Korea, the most ardent anti-Americanists would use it as a fodder for the fear to flame up into a wide-scale display of anti-Americanism. They expertly distort the truth to sensationalize anything that can be used against the U.S., appealing to the general mass’ vague concern about American influence over Korea. Sometimes their efforts are successful. They succeeded in provoking the mass protests in response to the armored vehicle incident, and against U.S. beef imports to a lesser extent.

An addendum to this point: The Korean does not intend to validate those Koreans who subscribe to virulent anti-Americanism. However, the Korean has to note the appalling incompetence of the U.S. military and the Department of State with respect to handling this type of occurrences. The Korean would not comment on the War in Iraq, except only to say that it generally soured the world’s opinion on the U.S., including Korean people’s opinion. But even without going into America’s grand scheme of foreign relations, time and again the decision-makers of American foreign policy (including the State Department and the military) display a complete neglect towards effort to capture the hearts and minds of their actual and potential allies.

It frustrates the Korean to see so many Koreans believe in lies and distortions about America. But it frustrates the Korean more that many Americans, even the most intelligent and powerful among them, seem to be completely oblivious as to why these lies and distortions work. American foreign policy – military policy included – appears to march to its own drumbeat, regardless of how things may look. Instead of trying to understand the nationalistic fervor that grips most of the world, too many Americans simply fret when they encounter anti-Americanism fueled by lies and distortion, resorting to such idiotic statements like “they hate America because they hate freedom.”

In the meantime, gross falsehood about America gains increasing currency in the rest of the world. New York Times reported that in Egypt, the idea that American government is behind the attacks of 9/11 passes as a conventional wisdom. Why would they believe the crazy notion that American government would kill 3,000 of its own people? Because they hate freedom? Give the Korean a break.

As Americans, it is not enough for us to complain about what people of the world think of us; we should be asking ourselves why they think of America that way, and what we can do to change that perception. United States is the greatest exporter of culture in the world. No other country can hope to rival America with its ability to persuade people through mass media. American companies employ the most sophisticated methods to persuade people to buy all kinds of crap. Then why is it so hard for the State Department and the U.S. military stationed abroad to use the same methods? Why is it so hard to have offices that are dedicated to directly engaging the local media and people, and sell America? You are telling the Korean that America can sell Coca-Cola to Egypt, but not the silly idea that America would not kill 3,000 of its own people just to start a crusade against the Middle East?

Destroying the enemy is necessary, but never sufficient. Unless we also win the hearts of the people of the world, there will never be a complete victory in such a diffuse war as War on Terror. Americans must recognize that the battlefield is not only in the streets of Baghdad, the obstruction not only in the mountains of Afghanistan; there is another battlefield in the hearts and minds of every person in the world, and we must handle at the obstructions of lies and half-truths as much as we negotiate the treacherous mountains.

The Korean is aiming this toward the American policy in conducting the global War on Terror, but engaging the hearts and minds of the people has a universal application, which includes Korea. Korean nationalism is not going away soon, but Koreans deep down recognize the benefits of the protection afforded by the American military. If the U.S. forces in Korea can find a way to engage Korean people in a sophisticated manner – emphasis on “sophisticated”, not in the ham-handed way government people tend to act – complaints against American military presence would be minimal. (See, for example, an excellent analysis from ROK Drop about the lessons learned from the Armored Car Incident.)

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Ask away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

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The Ultimate Korean Looks List – How to Pick Koreans from Other Asians Just by Looking at Them

Monday, September 8, 2008

Dear Korean,

So many people tell me they can tell the difference between Asian groups (i.e. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc). I can't. Are there REALLY distinctive physical features that can instantly tell a person's nationality, and what are they?

Joanne

Dear Joanne,

Are there really distinctive features among Asians? Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes.

It is a skill that requires subtle differentiation. It is like tasting for difference in Merlot and Shiraz. If you were a first time wine drinker, you may not notice. However, once you get the difference, you would not be able to tolerate the philistines who do not see the obvious differences.

While the Korean has his own way of telling apart all Asian ethnicities, he will only write about how to tell Koreans apart from other Asians, since he only claims to be an authority on Koreans and no other ethnicity.

To be clear, this is an attempt to distinguish various Asians just by looking at them. More obvious indicators like looking at people’s last names or listening to their languages/accents are omitted for the purpose of this post.

Many, many thanks to our great associate editor who provided brilliant points that the Korean missed.

Disclaimer

But first, the Korean must put out some important disclaimers, since the Korean has a feeling that this post is going to get him into a lot of trouble. Here it goes:

1. The Korean already knows that broad, stereotypical generalizations are often incorrect, and insulting to those who do not fall into that generalization. But please realize that this post does NOT contain that type of generalization.

In other words, the Korean is never saying that “All Koreans are X or Y.” Rather, he is saying that “People who have X or Y traits tend to be Koreans.” The Korean thinks this is a fair statement, as there are certain things that Koreans do that few other Asians do. Although the list may seem to sound otherwise at times, please know that the Korean never intends to say "All Koreans are X or Y."

2. The Korean also realizes that on the blog, it is sometimes difficult to tell if the Korean is serious or joking. Well, there should be no question about it in this post: THIS POST IS MEANT TO BE IN HUMOR. Please do not get upset.

How to Use the List

1. With many Asians, there is no single feature that gives away their ethnicity. Often, it is multiple factors adding up. Therefore, the Korean assigned “Confidence Level” to each category, ranging from 1 through 5. Weigh different confidence levels to calculate the probability, and make the most probable prediction.

2. This list would show that the strongest indicators are related to fashion and style. Therefore, it may not be very applicable with Asian Americans, because Asian Americans slowly assimilate their style into the mainstream American fashion. How far assimilated depends entirely on the individual; one Korean American’s fashion would be indistinguishable from Koreans in Korea, and another Korean American’s fashion would be indistinguishable from your boy/girl next door. Therefore, this list is most applicable to: Korean tourists, older Korean Americans (because they tend to retain more from their original country), and recently immigrated Korean Americans (ditto). With many Asian Americans, this list would be of little help.

3. Even when everything seems to point to one direction using the list, and the sum of confidence level is totaling in 100, you will often be wrong nonetheless. Just think how ridiculous it is to characterize the looks of 73 million Koreans worldwide! The Korean considers himself to be as good as anyone, but his success rate is about 75 percent, tops. Again, please don’t take this exercise seriously.

Enough chitchat—onto the almighty list!

The Ultimate Korean Looks List – How to Pick Koreans from Other Asians Just by Looking at Them

The Big Distinction – Let’s first make sure that you can tell East Asians (= Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and Southeast Asians (= Indonesian, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Cambodian) apart. Pushing the wine analogy a little further, the distinction between East Asian and Southeast Asian is the distinction between red and white wine. If you can’t even do this, there is no way you can apply the rest of the list. Stop reading now.

Throwing a wrench in this distinction (like Rose wine maybe) is that there are many Southeastern Asians who are ethnically Chinese who migrated to the region many centuries ago. (The Hmongs) These people, appearance-wise, are indistinguishable from regular Chinese, although they will say they are Vietnamese, Indonesian, etc., when asked. There is no way to predict this population other than geographic concentration. As far as the Korean knows, ethnic-Chinese-Southeastern Asians in America tend to be concentrated in Central California and around Minneapolis somehow. (Confidence Level = 1). There may be other regions; the Korean just doesn’t know.

Numerical Inference – In America, Korean- and Chinese-Americans outnumber Japanese Americans. Therefore when you see an Asian person in America, assuming you can make the “big distinction”, the choice is usually 50-50: Korean or Chinese. (Confidence Level = 4) Since Koreans physically look most similar to Japanese, if you can narrow a person down to either Korean or Japanese, the numerical inference says the person is likely to be Korean.
This indicator, however, loses strength in areas where tourists are prevalent, such as Times Square, Disneyland, and major airports.

General Physique – with respect to body types, on average, Koreans tend to be taller and bigger than other Asians. Asians who are on the taller side (between 5”11” and 6’3” for men, between 5’7” and 5’10” for women) tend to be Korean. (Confidence Level = 2).

General Complexion – on average, Koreans tend to be a shade lighter in complexion than other Asians, except Japanese. However, very pale skin occurs in all three ethnicities. Highly unreliable in California, where everyone is tanned. (Confidence Level = 1)

General Facial Features – on average, Korean and Japanese tend to have smaller facial features, i.e. smaller eyes, nose, lips, etc. In other words, Asians without any strong facial features (i.e. flatter face, without a strong nose or thicker lips, for example) are more likely to be Korean or Japanese. Once you narrowed it down to here, you can use the numerical inference depending on where you are. (Confidence Level = 2)

Facial Hair (Men) – Asian men who sport a strong, thick facial hair (beard, goatee, etc.) tend not to be Koreans. (Confidence Level = 4) Those who do have facial hair tend to keep it trimmed short, and beards or stubble never extend to the neck. You will never, EVER see a Korean neckbeard. (Confidence Level = 4)

Eyebrows (Women) - If an Asian woman's eyebrows have been not just plucked, but shaved and trimmed into a thin shape, she’s likely Korean. Korean women prefer to shave than pluck when styling eyebrows, because the prevailing belief is that over-plucking causes the skin around the eyebrow to sag with age. (Confidence Level = 3)

Eyes – once upon a time, the lack of epicanthic fold (i.e. “double eyelids”) tended to indicate non-Korean; with the prevalence of plastic surgery among young Korean women, this indicator lost some of its effectiveness. But among men and older people, this is still a decent indicator. (Confidence Level = 2) (Picture is from a Korean plastic surgeon website, with a somewhat NSFW name.)

Compared to other Asians, Korean eyes are set relatively shallow. To measure this, extend your index finger, and place the fingertip on your eyebrow and lower part of the finger on your cheekbone. With shallow-set eyes, your finger touches the eye. Deep-set eyes sit beneath your finger. (Confidence Level = 2)

Amongst women, Koreans are the most likely to wear colored contact lenses, or even circle lenses to make their iris (and their eye in general) look bigger. (Confidence Level = 3) Wearing glasses are uncommon for young women past high school. (Confidence Level = 3)

Nose (Women) –Due to popularity of plastic surgery in Korea, young Asian women with narrow, pointy noses tend to be Korean. (Confidence Level = 3)

Lips – On average, Koreans and Japanese tend to have thinner lips than other Asians. (Confidence Level = 1)

Teeth – On average, Koreans have a high awareness of cosmetic dentistry, and adult Koreans will have relatively well-formed, well-maintained teeth, whether it is natural or from years of wearing braces and retainers. (Confidence Level = 4) Koreans are also likely to get gold molar caps and infills – peer in when they say aaaah. (Confidence Level = 2)

Armpits (women) – Lack of armpit hair tends to indicate Korean, as Korean women are probably the only Asians who shave or wax their armpit hair. There is a lot of stigma in armpit hair, the usual lines of it being disgusting and unsightly and unladylike. Moreover, some Koreans are genetically unable to grow armpit hair. (Confidence Level = 3)

Facial Expression – in a neutral state (i.e. not talking with a friend or watching something in particular), Koreans tend to look like they are pissed off. (Confidence Level = 2)

Hairstyle (Men) – Currently, long, shaggy haircut is the trend in Korea, so a young Asian man who sports the style is likely to be Korean. (Confidence Level = 5)

Shaggy Cut - Example (Picture from a Korean shopping website that sells hair curlers.)

Hairstyle (Women) – The currently trendy haircut is the “mushroom cut” or “princess cut”. A young Asian woman with this style is likely to be Korean. (Confidence Level = 5)

Mushroom Cut - Example (Picture from a Daum.net Q&A section.)

Princess Cut - Example (From here. Please pay attention to the haircut.)

With older Asian women, the ajumma perm is a strong sign. (Confidence Level = 4) (Picture from an Empas Q&A section. The lady is Kim Hye-Ja, a very famous Korean actress.)

(Also, the Korean would be remiss if he did not link to Stuff Korean Moms Like post on perms on Korean women.)

Even when not following a trend, Korean women have expensive haircuts, and their hair looks expensive and heavily layered (there is very little hair actually hanging down). Not very reliable, as there are many non-Korean women who specifically seek Korean hair salons. (Confidence Level = 1)

Headgears (Women) – Many Korean women are big fans of caps. They like to think it keeps them fair-skinned. You should see our SPF 75+ sunscreens, sold at $50 a pop. No joke. Asian women who wear caps tend to be Koreans. (Confidence Level = 4) With older women, wearing a large visor that looks like a welding mask is a sign that they are Korean. (Confidence Level = 3)

Makeup (Women) – Korean women have acquired a mastery of cosmetics unseen in other parts of Asia. A particularly well-made-up Asian woman (e.g. with well-plucked eyebrows, good level of foundation, perfectly split mascara, well-drawn eye-liners, nice selection of lipstick colors, etc.) tends to be Korean. (Confidence Level = 4)

Depending on the woman’s propensity to wear makeup, you may occasionally see a woman who has a tan line along her face, or her face is distinctively two shades lighter than the back of her hands – meet the dreaded ‘makeup tanline’. That’s right, boys and girls, she wore so much makeup she couldn’t get sunburnt. (Confidence Level = 3)

Accessories (Men) – Asian man with a “man bag” tends to be Korean. (Confidence Level = 2) Also, due to the popularity of “couple rings” -- i.e. rings that boyfriends and girlfriends wear, akin to "promise rings" in certain parts of America -- an Asian man wearing a ring at a non-wedding-ring position tends to be Korean. (Confidence Level = 3)

Accessories (Women) – Big hoop earrings and chain-type accessories are popular among Korean women currently. (Confidence Level = 2) A perennial favorite of Korean women is the shape of a ribbon tied into a bow. (Confidence Level = 3) They will wear earrings, pendants, mobile phone charms, and even clothing randomly decorated with bows often pre-tied or pre-cast in its shape, but somehow, will never actually tie a ribbon into their hair into a bow.

General Fashion (Men) – Currently, the fashion trend in Korea for men is tight-fitting clothes, especially skinny jeans. (Confidence Level = 3) Korean men have no fashion sense of their own that can’t be vetoed by the women; they are dressed by surrounding women - like how tides are determined by the pull of the sun and the moon - the largest force usually being their girlfriends. This makes their clothing rather … uh, unisex. (Confidence Level = 4)

Socks (Men) – What if they’re all wearing business suits and you can’t tell? Check their ankles. Your authentic Korean will always wear white sports socks with his business suit, and if they’re feeling dressy, some sort of hideous carpet-patterned grey socks. (Confidence Level = 2) Bonus points if the socks have a brand decal on them, and a prize goes to anyone who finds the ubiquitous Playboy Bunny! (Confidence Level = 10++ with Playboy Bunny, though “BYC” can be substituted; 5 with socks with decals; 3 with grey socks; 2 with white socks)

General Fashion (Women) – For young women, fabrics are often extremely thin and the colours are muted (primary colours are for kids, strong pastels for older women). (Confidence Level = 5) These clothing are often layered on top of another, usually combined with leggings that end at the knees and a bolero jacket. Most blouses, tops and jackets are cut very high at the waist. Wearing halternecks and singlet tops on top of baggier, longer-sleeved clothing is very common. (Confidence Level = 5) In winter, patterned pantyhose are worn under the leggings. (Confidence Level = 5) The clothing themselves often lack sequins or fancy detailing except at the chest level. (Confidence Level = 5) The clothing itself is never dressy, but the accessories such as belts, handbags and jewelry often are over the top. (Confidence Level = 4)

Add all that, and the ensemble looks like this:

The overall look is that of a literally overdressed woman who outgrew exactly half of her wardrobe. Leggings poking out of denim skirt? Korean. Three different tops and two different bottoms on at the same time? Korean. Halterneck top on top of a t-shirt? Sadly, Korean. Is that a kid’s cardigan draped over her shoulders? Yeaaaaaaah, Go Corea!

Wintertime – Come wintertime, many Koreans wear naebok (lit. innerwear), which is a type of thermal underwear. However, unlike most thermal underwear, naebok is very thin and very, very tight-fitting. They come in hilariously unflattering colors of red, pink, peach, grey, light blue and the traditional(?) peach with white horizontal stripes (or would that be white with peach horizontal stripes?) Although naebok are much tighter-fitting than the Mormon magic underwear and are designed to be worn over normal underwear, telltale bulges and bits of naebok peeking out often gives a Korean away in winter. (Confidence Level = 4)

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

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Korea-Japan Relation Saga, Part III – WWII

Friday, February 23, 2007

See other posts in this series: Part I Part II Part IV Part V

This post is a particularly difficult for the Korean to write because, after all, he received a good amount of education in Korea, especially when he was young and impressionable. It is difficult for the Korean to be objective, but he will try his best.

We are still dealing with the question as to why Koreans hate Japanese so much. If you only read one post out of this series, the Korean recommends this one. Although there is plenty of bad blood that goes back thousands of years (as the Korean illustrated in earlier posts,) the old bad blood only comes back because the modern relation between the two countries was so incredibly bad.

First, some historical background. By early 20th century, Japan was emerging as a world-scale superpower both in terms of its economy and military strength. Its status was simply unrivaled in East and Southeast Asia, which produced no other nation that measured up to Japan. Subsequently, Japan began colonizing Korea and China. Korea was annexed to Japan in 1910, and was not liberated until 1945 after Japan had lost World War II.

It is important to realize that the nature of Japan’s 36 year rule of Korea was brutal and exploitative, in a way that was fundamentally different from most European colonization. European countries colonized areas that were not exactly “nations” in a modern sense, like India and sub-Saharan Africa. In India, for example, there was no shared sense of nationhood between Bengalis in the north and Tamils in the south. (In fact, they don’t even speak the same language, and to this day must use English to communicate.)

On the other hand, Korea had a very strong sense of nationhood that lasted for thousands of years; furthermore, Korea had despised its island neighbor for its lack of cultural achievements. Japan’s rule over Korea was therefore completely unacceptable to Koreans everywhere, and Koreans rebelled in a scale that was incomparable to any other colonized regions in the world. In reaction, in order to maintain its colony, the Japanese colonial government was constantly on surveillance, and its brutality escalated over the period of colonization, peaking at the end of World War II.

When one (especially a Western one) hears the words “Atrocities of World War II”, the first response would always be “Holocaust.” And there is no doubt that it is a good answer. On the other hand, such a focus on Holocaust tends to blind us from other atrocities of World War II. And it is a historical fact that many of those atrocities were committed by Japan, upon Korea and China. This is not to diminish the horror of Holocaust. There certainly has not been any mass murder that was as wide-scale, efficient, and systematic (and therefore horrific) as Holocaust. The atrocities committed by Japan are smaller in scale (because they didn’t quite kill 10 million people) and less systematic (because some of them essentially involved soldiers running amok while the government didn’t do anything, e.g. the Rape of Nanking, whereas the Holocaust was actively organized by the government.) But the Korean believes that the Japanese atrocities are at least as depraved as the Holocaust, if not more. It’s like trying to compare Timothy McVeigh and Charles Manson. McVeigh killed a lot more people after a lot more preparation, but Manson tortured his victims.

Here is the list of atrocities committed by Japan to Korea. They are organized by the Korean’s subjective ordering of least depraved to most depraved. Read on, and see if you agree with what the Korean said so far. For the things for which Wikipedia has an entry, the Korean provided a link. That does not mean that the Korean thinks the Wikipedia entries are entirely correct; they are there just for the sake of reference.

Various Cultural Affronts – the biggest thing under this category would be Japan’s attempt to change Korean names into Japanese style names, known as Chang-ssi-gae-myeong. As the Korean explained before, family name is extremely important to Koreans, and forcing to change them is an intolerable insult. Japan also stole innumerable treasures from Korea, such as porcelain products, paintings, old books, and so on.

Another affront was more subtle. The Japanese colonial government turned the main palace of the Korean Emperor into a zoo. Many palace buildings were torn down – the most notable is Gyeong-bok-gung, half of which was torn down to make way for the colonial government building. Still another is borderline hokey. The colonial government drove in hundreds of steel shafts into major mountain peaks in Korea, under the belief that doing so will cripple the spirit of the land. The shafts were still being dug out in Korea to this day.

Murder of Empress Myeong-Seong – Empress Myeong-seong was a strong-minded wife of Emperor Go-jong. She was a shrewd politician and a diplomat, who often tried to use other superpowers (mostly Russia) in the region to check the rising influence of Japan upon Korea. A Japanese lieutenant general (with or without the backing of the Japanese government is unclear) commissioned what is essentially a band of Japanese thugs to enter the imperial palace in broad daylight and stabbed the Empress to death. Her body was carried away into a corner of the palace and burned by the same band. This historical fact was recently recreated in a musical “Last Empress”, which played in the U.S. in 1998. Read the Wikipedia article here. (Scroll down to “Eul-mi Incident.”)

Kanto Massacre – in 1923, there was a massive earthquake in Kanto, Japan, which killed more than 50,000 people. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the Japanese government declared martial law, and issued a special advisory that Koreans were conspiring to commit murder, rape, arson, and poisoning the wells. This created a mob riot and massacring of Koreans living in Japan. Up to 6,000 Koreans are believed to have been killed. Read the Wikipedia article here. (Scroll down to “post quake violence”.)

Forced Labor – As World War II intensified, Japanese government drafted Korean men for its war efforts. The number ranges anywhere between 300,000 to 1 million. They were mostly put in hard labor, usually in mines or factories. Quite a few of them (estimates range from 20,000 to 200,000) were killed or injured in mines or factories with substandard (to put it nicely) labor conditions.

Torture and Massacre – Japanese colonial government liberally tortured those who were arrested on the suspicion of independence movement for Korea. The most well-documented case is that of Yoo, Guan-soon, who was a 19-year-old student of Ewha School when she played a key role in organizing the March 1st Movement, the largest mass-protest against the Japanese rule in 1919. Yoo was arrested and died in prison; her teachers at Ewha were able to retrieve her body because Ewha was established by Americans and Principal James Fry of Ewha threatened diplomatic actions if the body was not returned. The returned body of Yoo was in six pieces; her scalp was missing; her nose and ears had been cut off, and all of her finger and toenails were plucked off.

Brutal suppression of independence movement was not limited to individuals. In response to the March 1st Movement, in April 5th, 1919, Japanese military police marched into a village of Je-am-li, a village known for its Christian-based independence movement. The police rounded up roughly 30 Christians in the village into the town church, locked the doors and set the building on fire. 22 died trapped in the building, and 8 were shot outside of the church as they tried to escape.

Comfort Women – As World War II raged on, the Japanese military, directly and indirectly, rounded up between 100,000 and 200,000 women to be used sex slaves, euphemistically called “Comfort Women”, for the Japanese soldiers. These women were usually raped 20 times a day, and as many as 40 times a day, according to accounts from survivors. The women were mostly Korean and Chinese, but there were also a few Dutch and Australian (read: white) women kidnapped from Dutch Indies and various Pacific islands. Read the Wikipedia article here.

Unit 731 – this one is so incredibly depraved that the Korean can’t even go into describing it. He will only say that it was a secret medical unit of the Japanese military, conducting various human experiments. The Wikipedia entry is here. Just read it.

So, why do Koreans hate the Japanese?

How can they not?

-EDIT Oct. 21, 2008 7:07 p.m. EST- While the Korean put this part of the Korea-Japan saga as a representative sample, please remember that this is only one part of a four-part series. The Korean has been noticing that many of the comments here could have been addressed simply by reading other parts of the series. Therefore, please read all four parts before expressing any opinion. The Korean believes his readers are intelligent: waiting to grasp the full picture before opening one's mouth is the least that an intelligent person can do.

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

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Korea-Japan Relation Saga, Part II: Pre-Modern Times

Friday, February 9, 2007

(See Part I here.)

Here is one thing that Americans tend not to understand about the world: most countries in the world have a very long history, and the modern citizens of those countries identify with their history 100 percent. For example, as much as Americans learn about the heroics of George Washington, relatively few people can fully identify with and remember his victories and defeats. Our hearts don’t sink when we hear about the travails of Bunker Hill, and we (on average) don’t get too pumped at the image of Washington crossing the Delaware.

It’s different for the rest of the world, and the rest of the world certainly includes Korea. Here is an example: the oldest sons of the Park family each have a set of roughly 30 books that describe their lineage, called jok-bo (the “family chart”). Jok-bo lists every single male member of the Park clan and their wives, tracing from the very first Park who was born in 69 B.C. With the knowledge that their family line literally stretches over several millennia, ancient history in Korea is never “ancient history” in a way Americans use the word. No matter how long ago an event may have happened, the event never loses relevance in the collective consciousness of Koreans.

(Incidentally, this is probably why so many popular Korean dramas are set in ancient times. One of the most popular dramas in Korea now is Ju-Mong, which is about half-mythical, half-historical figure believed to have lived around 30 B.C. Somehow, the Korean thinks that a drama about the Founding Fathers won’t do as well in America.)

So what happened in the ancient history between Korea and Japan? Naturally, given that it is a long history, there were good times and the bad. The important thing is that, because the modern relation between Korea and Japan was so egregiously bad, Koreans tend to learn in school the points of the history that make themselves feel superior and villainize Japanese.

First, about the “making Koreans feel superior” part. Koreans tend to stress that Korea has always been culturally superior to Japan, and to some degree it is true. Since the beginning of time until around 18th century, China was the cultural center of East Asia, and Korea was closer to China than Japan. Therefore, Korea was undoubtedly superior to Japan in such arts as understanding ancient Chinese texts, calligraphy, china-making, etc. that were fashionable in China. Around 5th century, Baekje, one of the three kingdoms that occupied the Korean Peninsula, played a large role in transmitting Chinese characters, pottery, Buddhism, and so on. (Baekje was eventually defeated by Shilla, another one of the three kingdoms, and some Korean scholars argue that the current Japanese monarchy is in fact the lineage of Baekje kings in exile.)

Even past the ancient time, Korea sent masters of those arts to Japan to teach the locals as late as until the 17th century. Lost in this discussion is that Japan was quietly becoming the leading economic power of East Asia, since Japan was more receptive toward accepting goods and ideas from Europe. In fact, the relation between Korea and Japan are similar to the relation between France and Britain as the Industrial Revolution was going on. Britain was certainly getting wealthier, but it still looked to France for haute couture.

As to “villianizing Japanese”, there is no better place to turn than the Japanese invasion of 1592, known in Korea as Im-jin Wae-ran (“The Japanese War in the year of Imjin”). Wikipedia has done an excellent job describing the war, so the Korean will leave the detailed account to them. Here, the Korean will only describe why this war, among many wars that Koreans suffered, particularly stays with Koreans.

First, the war was the most recent large-scale conflict, and in fact probably the largest-scale war that Korea has ever fought, until Korean War. Although Korea has been invaded many times over, the 1592 invasion was the most recent occasion on which Korea truly stood at the brink of a complete occupation by a foreign country. Second, it is particularly difficult to accept that it was Japan, to which Korea has been culturally superior for thousands of years, that almost overran the entire country. Japan in fact kidnapped many skilled Korean artisans, reflecting the fact that they were in fact culturally inferior.

Third, the Korean victory involved some incredible heroism; the most notable one is Admiral Yi Sunsin, who has never lost a naval battle, although on the land the Korean army was being completely overrun. In his most famous battle at Myongryang Straits, he took on the Japanese fleet of 133 battleships with the last remaining 13 battleships of the Korean navy, only to emerge victorious by destroying 120 Japanese ships. Since Admiral Yi’s campaign was so incredible, his portrait is on Korean money (on 100 won coin), his statue stands in front of the largest road in Korea, and numerous novels, movies and TV series about him have been made. In this light, Koreans can never forget that Japan is the enemy. It’s just like Nazi Germany, actually – as long as Schindler’s List and Indiana Jones are popular, it will never be forgotten that Germans were Nazis and bad guys.

Speaking of World War II (hey, look at that segway!), it must be noted that Koreans don’t normally hold a grudge for over 400 years. However, they can certainly hold a grudge for about 60 years, especially if the depravity of the acts that caused the grudge is simply beyond imagination. It is fair to say that all the ancient history discussed in this part would have been "ancient history" if the events in the early 20th century did not happen between Korea and Japan. But it is undeniable that Japan perpetrated some horrible acts to Koreans in the early 20th century, which makes Koreans continue to ruminate upon the war that happened 400 years ago.

p.s. Commenter Ginny got the right answer for the last part’s question. There has been a dispute over the name of the sea on the east of Korea and on the west of Japan; Koreans want the name “East Sea”, while Japanese want the name “Sea of Japan”. Read the Wikipedia article here.

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

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Gangsters and Thugs, Criminals and Hoods

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Dear Korean,

I've been doing some reading for a project and came across a reference to the Korean mafia. Can you give us a little primer on them? What makes them different from other organized crime syndicates? Their history? What types of services they provide? How they are structured? How they are seen by the Korean society? How influential they are in contemporary Korean politics? how, and if, they operate trans-nationally (especially in Southeast Asia)?

HHC


Dear HHC,

First, let the Korean direct you to Curtis Milhaupt's The Dark Side of Private Ordering: An Institutional and Empirical Analysis of Organized Crime. (If you have LexisNexis, the citation is 67 U. Chi. L. Rev. 41.) It is the most excellent article that the Korean has ever read about organized crime.

Milhaupt mainly discusses Yakuza, or the Japanese mafia, and his big idea is this: "The activities of organized criminal firms closely track inefficiencies in formal legal structures, including both inefficient substantive laws and a state-induced shortage of legal professionals and other rights-enforcement agents." In plain English, it means that organized crime syndicates do not randomly choose their illegal enterprises; they in fact choose enterprises that deal with inefficiency in the market created by the law.

(The Korean's favorite part of the article: "Identifying members of Japanese organized criminal firms is not difficult. ... As Joseph Castellano (the son of reputed mob boss Paul Castellano) put it, "What is a Gambino crime family? . . . Does this Gambino crime family have an office? Does the office have a plaque on the door that says, 'Gambino crime family'?" In Japan, the answers would be, in reverse order, "yes," "yes," and "read our rules and creed.")

As a quick example in the U.S., take an illegal gambling/bookmaking operation. There is a market demand for gambling, but the supply is legally prohibited in most states. Therefore, we have an inefficient market in which the demand far outstrips the supply. Organized crime syndicates fill this gap, provide the extra supply and bring the market to an equilibrium.

So there is the answer for your first question. What is the difference between Korean and other country's mafias? Nothing. Cross-national studies of organized crime have shown that all criminal syndicates show remarkable similarities, even down to the terms they use. Cosa Nostra referred to their cut (i.e. protection tax) from merchants as "wetting the beak"; Triad refers to it as "dipping into the fragrant oil."

So, like any other criminal syndicates, Korean mafias operate in areas where there are legally created market inefficiencies. Those areas are generally loan sharking, prostitution, illegal gambling, smuggling (drugs or other contrabands), and so on. They are often seen extorting protection money from street vendors, since street vendors are usually illegal and the police wouldn't do much if the vendors' property were damaged. They are also known to be heavily involved in construction industry, because 1. getting bids for construction often involves bribery on all levels, which is the kinds of services that organized crime provides, i.e. loan sharking and prostitution, and 2. it also involves very large amounts of loans, often secured by using body parts as collateral. Korean mafias certainly have networks outside of Korea, especially in China and Southeast Asia through which most illegal trades (of women and goods) occur.

Korean mafias are sometimes involved in politics. In the 60s, they were often hired by the dictator government in order to break up the opposition party meetings and conventions. Imagine George W. Bush hiring Cosa Nostra, Crips and Bloods to break up Democratic National Convention, beating the crap out of Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama! That's exactly what happened in Korea in the 60s. (Maybe that's what this country needs to jolt people into consciousness -- Americans tend to take their democracy for granted.)

Now that democracy has taken hold in Korea, mafia involvement in politics is more or less limited to working as an independent contractor for government projects that require violence. Such projects are usually forcibly driving people out of their homes and business in order to make way for a new public project. Gangsters were widely used during the 1988 Seoul Olympics to remove street vendors, who were considered unsightly for the foreign visitors. (The Korean has no idea how the preparation for 2008 Beijing Olympics is going on, but he would not be surprised if things were very similar.) Most recently, thugs were seen beating the crap out of people who were living/doing business around CheongGye-Cheon, a covered stream in downtown Seoul that Seoul's mayor decided to restore for aesthetic purposes.

(Incidentally, the Korean felt very torn about the CheongGye-Cheon Project. On one hand, many poor people were driven out forcibly, without any consideration for their livelihood; on the other hand, Seoul desperately needed greenery and people of Seoul simply love the place. Here are two pictures. You be the judge. Top: Street vendors like the man in the photo were concentrated in the old CheongGye-Cheon area. Bottom: The restored CheongGye-Cheon, decorated with lights.)

But truth be told, organized crime in Korea is not very influential compared to Yakuza or Triad. The history of organized crime in Korea is short and there never was any famed empire such as the Gambino crime family. There never was such a huge market inefficiency (e.g. drugs in the U.S.) that made criminal syndicates incredibly wealthy and influential. The guns regulation in Korea is extremely strict, putting a limit onto the physical damage that any group of thugs may inflict. (In fact, not only is possession of guns in Korea illegal, but also possesssion of a knife/sword whose blade is longer than 15 cm, or about 6 inches, is illegal without a permit. It's one of the things that the Korean likes about Korea more than America.) Aside from the areas of operation mentioned above, an average Korean would never deal with anyone from a criminal syndicate for the duration of his or her life.

Of course, pop culture operates on denying reality, so recently there is a deluge of Korean movies dealing with lives of gangsters, beginning with a mega-hit Chin-Gu ("Friends"). The Korean recommended Chin-Gu if you are curious about getting a glimpse of lives of Korean thugs. It's a good movie. Perhaps the biggest influence of Korean organized crime is striking the inspiration of good film makers. But then again, that's the same everywhere, attested by The Godfather and Infernal Affairs.

(An aside: if The Departed wins any Academy Award, the Korean will pour some raging shitstorm upon Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Scorsese can add the most minimal garnish on Infernal Affairs and walk away with the Oscar that Andy Lau deserves? Hollywood is such bullshit.)

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

-ADDENDUM: 02/05/2007 10: 30 p.m.- According to today's news, organized crime of Korea has deeply infiltrated into the entertainment industry. Popular actor Kwon Sang-Woo has filed charges against Kim Tae-Chon, a well-known criminal syndicate boss, for extorting Kwon to hold a tour in Japan. In addition, apprently Kwon's manager formerly belonged to an organized criminal syndicate, and also extorted Kwon to gain exclusive management rights for two years. Of course, organized crime in the entertainment industry is nothing new, and again same across all countries.

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Korea-Japan Relation Saga, Part I: Background

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Hello The Korean!

In the past I had heard that the Japanese look down upon Koreans. Recently, I heard that now in Japan everything Korean is "cool" and "hip". So, my questions are 1) Why the bigotry in the past? and 2) Why the heightened status now? Thank you and I love your website.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Hey, Korean!

Love your blog, it’s funny and informative… when you are draft age, do you have an option of which branch to join? If so why didn’t you become an ROK Marine? I hear they kick ass.
My favorite local sushi bar is owned by a Korean; he also makes great teriyaki; when I went to Seattle I had some good sushi (much more expensive, though) but really no better than the Korean’s. The chef (Japanese) asked me where I was from and I told him, then I described how great the Korean’s sushi & teriyaki bar is, and he was really offended, couldn’t hide it. If I was Korean I’d have punched him out for putting on such airs and acting so superior, but since I’m white I just left a crummy tip. So my question is this: What’s this continuing animosity between Koreans & Japanese? Do the Japanese really think they’re superior to other Asians?

Drunken Psycho,

USMC Ret.

Greetings and Happy New Year, Korean,

I'm a newbie to your site, and am having a grand time reading and learning. Thank you.
I'm 48, caucasian, and my girlfriend is 47, Korean, and we have lived together and I have loved this woman with all my passion and heart for the past 4 years. My question is, I tend to enjoy Japanese restaurants. She absolutely abhors anything Japanese, citing the abysmal treatment of the Korean peoples in WWII and before, and probably after. What is her block against the Japanese? Yes, I did some studies in college about the treatment, but the Japanese basically treated EVERY country, nation, people very badly. The Chinese, the Philippines, etc. So what is her problem?

Michael

Dear Alice in the Wonderland, Drunken Psycho, and Michael,

What a group of questioners, and how hilarious that this is the question that ties them all together! The virulent hatred between Koreans and Japanese is well-documented, and the Korean, although trying to rise above it, is not an exception to the trend. (See here for the evidence.)

Let’s take care of some tangents first. Drunken Psycho, yes one can choose one’s placement in the military at draft age, although with a lot of limitations. The regulations are too complicated to describe in detail, but in general “desirable” spots (desk jobs, close to home, etc.) require some tests and lottery (and often, some connection to pull the strings,) and “undesirable” spots (on the front, first to be summoned to combat, etc.) has less requirements, generally height, weight, and physical fitness. ROK (Republic of Korea) Marines certainly kick ass – they are generally known as the “ghost-catching marines,” and they take immense pride in their elite status. In fact, they are the most insufferable among all insufferable Korean men who went through military (described here.) The Korean left Korea before draft age so he didn’t have to worry about which branch to serve.

Michael, you can’t be serious about your second to last sentence. Suppose your girlfriend was raped, then the rapist would have the nerve to say, “Don’t get mad at me, your girlfriend is not the only one that I brutally raped!” Doesn’t quite work, does it? Readers, I cannot stress this enough: whatever you send to the Korean WILL BE ON THE INTERNET FOR EVERYONE TO SEE!! THINK TWICE BEFORE CLICKING “SEND”!!

Alright, onto business. Korea and Japan were placed near each other for literally thousands of years, so their history of interaction is very long and complicated. So this epic saga will be in four parts: background, pre-modern, WWII, and post-war. After everything, it would be easy to see why Koreans so violently hate the Japanese.

Of course, since this is the age of people not reading anything too long, the Korean will give a summary in today’s edition. Here goes the historical relation of Korea and Japan, in one paragraph:

In early history, Japan owed much (but not all) of its cultural heritage through Korea. During 15th and 16th century, after Japan was unified after centuries of civil war, Japan relentlessly invaded Korea; this was the last large-scale conquest campaign that Korea suffered until the 20th century. In the early 20th century, Japan once again invaded Korea, annexed it, and committed atrocities that rivaled Holocaust, such as Unit 731 and Comfort Women. After the war, many Japanese leaders would continue to pay tribute to the war criminals of WWII, claim that Japanese Imperialism was beneficial to the invaded countries, and deny the existence of their atrocities. Currently, Korea and Japan still have territorial disputes stemming from the annexation era. But recently, as Korea began to produce highly popular cultural products that Japanese consumers enjoy, Korea-Japan relation is entering a new era.

Whew! That is way too condensed, and doesn’t really help understanding anything. But if you are the type who are content with the most basic of knowledge, then there it is. Others, more details will be forthcoming. Keep on reading!

(Note: The Korean chose the above map because it must have been made by a Korean person. Guess why. The answer will be on the next part.)

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

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On Diddling Foreign Beings

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Dear Korean,

I am a gringa who recently visited Korea with a teaching group and spent time with some Korean college students. Of course, all of our cracker boys had huge crushes on the small, dainty, ultra-feminine Korean women. I never expected the reverse to be true. Compared to the cute little Korean girls, us Americans felt like huge amazon women. But, one of the Korean guys told me that they all lusted after western girls. Since returning to the US, I have heard from other Korean men that western girls are too big and hairy for them. Was the first Korean telling the truth or was he just trying to take advantage of a stereotypically loose American?

Gringa

Dear Gringa,

All the Koreans you spoke to told 100 percent truth. You made a classic mistake in dealing with immigrant minorities -- thinking that those in America are the same with those in the motherland. Korean Americans are a very different species from Koreans in Korea, and the same principle applies to every minority in the U.S. who immigrated from somewhere else.

Korean American men, after all, live in America. They have seen, dated, and (hopefully) had sex with all different kinds of women. Majority of Korean American men, in the Korean's experience, do prefer Korean or Asian women. The Korean thinks it's really more about familiarity; the first people that all of us ever see are our parents, so we are more used to people who look like us. (Disclaimer: The Korean is an equal opportunity dater, although the Korean Girlfriend is, in fact, Korean.) But certainly, plenty of Korean men say they don't like white women because they are too big and hairy.

Koreans men in Korea are a different story, and the lesson here is this: men are the same everywhere. When you visit any American porn site (No link. Find your own.) there is always a separate category for "Asians". Well, guess what? If you visit any Asian porn stie, they always have a tab that says "white". In fact, the Korean is convinced that if we met an extraterrestrial being tomorrow, there will be alien porn on the Internet the day after. Men are fascinated by the idea of dipping their pen into all kinds of different inks, and this runs true across time and space. As much as there is yellow fever in America, there is white fever in Asia.

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Sweet and Sour Emotions

Friday, January 12, 2007

Dear Korean,

please explain the reason why Koreans don't smile as much as those of us born in the ole U.S.?

Jim B.


Hi, dong-seng!

I myself am Korean-American but still can't figure out this cultural phenomena. What's up with all the yelling with Korean people when they converse casually? I see it on Korean TV drama and in real life. I once heard 2 ah-juh-shee shouting really loud outside my window. I thought they were fighting but it turned out they were just talking...."I CAN'T GO GOLFING WITH YOU THIS WEEKEND!" I'M GOING TO ARIZONA!" And as much I love my family, it is rather embarrassing to hear my dad and his friends' raised drunk voices reverbrating throughout the whole restaurant. Is there a particular reason why Korean people tend to YELL when they're merely carrying on a normal conversation? ghoom-ghoom hah-da. mi-gook sah-rham han-tae yi-sang-ha-da.

Diana P.



Dear Mi-gook Sa-rahm-deul ("Americans"),

First, about the picture. The Korean searched Google Image for "yelling Korean" and four pictures of this girl showed up first. Having never cared for Korean pop culture even when he lived in Korea (except in certain contexts), the Korean has no idea who that is. But she's pretty hot, so why not? This blog could use some sprucing up anyway.

The last sentence by Diana P. was meant to say "I'm curious. It's strange to an American," but she mangled it. It should have said goong-geum hae-yo, mi-gook sah-rahm eh geh yi-sahng-hae-yo. (Or drop the two yo's since she called the Korean dong-saeng, "little brother". But she misspelled the romanization of that too.)

Alright, enough extra stuff. What's with Koreans facial expression and voice?

Couple of things out of the way first. In Korea, smiling is not the best thing a Korean can do for her reputation. People who smile a lot are traditionally considered too "light". A grave countenance is to be maintained at all time, in order to show that you are a serious person to be taken seriously. But this cultural factor is fading away as Korea has become more westernized, and only old school Koreans in their 50s and up truly follow it. (What is interesting, however, is that Korean Americans often retain old Korean habits that went out of fashion in their homeland. On the whole, Korean Americans are a heck of lot more conservative than Koreans in Korea because of this. More on this topic later.)

Another thing is that yelling in Korean dramas fall into a different theory than what the Korean is about to suggest. Characters in Korean dramas yell for the same reason characters in Bollywood movies sing - it's a cheap way to convey emotional content without relying on sophisticated dialogues or acting. Not that all Korean producers and actors are incapable of using such things: many Korean movies excel in conveying emotion through the subtlest subtleties. (One of the Korean's favorites is Waikiki Brothers.) But Korean dramas appeal to, shall we say, a less sophisticated audience. The Korean has a feeling that this may change at some point: there has got to be a market in Korea for artfully made television series, like Six Feet Under or Friday Night Lights in the U.S. But as long as there will be ajummas who sit on their asses doing nothing but watching dramas in Korea, there will be yelling in Korean dramas.

So, what about Korean people not smiling or yelling? They may seem like two different things, but they both have the same answer: Koreans are straightforward folks, and they feel absolutely no compunction to engage in social phoniness.

Like the Korean said before, Koreans are efficient folks and they do not like to waste time and energy. All the frills must go, and included in the frills is the need to hide emotions and engage in pleasantries. Life alone takes enough effort already anyway; why waste energy making shit up, and then waste time trying to figure out how people are really feeling? So Koreans smile only when they are truly happy, and Koreans talk up a storm when they are in a good mood. (It's not surprising, therefore, that the nicest Korean restaurants in Korea always have private rooms and very little public space.)

Immigrant life is full of drudgery already; would that load of dry-cleaned clothes be any lighter if you smiled at it? Save them smiles, dispense them when they count, and you don't cheapen them like those of a car salesman's. And if you're having a good time, why kill it by trying to be hush-hush about it? Surely a loud party is a happening party; the opposite cannot be true. We know all this in America already, but somehow we made up this phony rule of appearing to be happy and appearing to be having a bad time. What's the point?

There is no reason to be embarrassed, Diana noo-na ("older sister", for calling the Korean "dong saeng"). Your father is just having a good time, and there is no reason to hide it. If anyone complains, tell him to remove the stick up his ass and yell his conversations too. As anyone who's familiar with no-rae-bang ("karaoke") knows, yelling one's head off is pretty fun.

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

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Who Knew Restauranteurs and Customers were Mortal Enemies?

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Dear Korean,

Why so many Koreans so hot-tempered? I work as a waiter at a Korean restaurant. Even though I am obedient, non-complaining, and always smiling, (my grandparents were REALLY Japanese and instilled similar values in me) the customers (ajummas in particular) do not seem to care, and only demand more water, more pori-cha, and lose their heads when an empty panchan plate is not removed from their tables. I have seen Korean waitresses at other restaurants and their rude behavior toward the customers (and me), and would think that my generosity would have them turning a new leaf, but it does not. I just want to know why there are so many that have such abbrasive personalities that do not respond well to a pittling little college student trying to make next semester's tuition payment and his tendency to treat everybody with respect.

Tofu Master Extraordinaire

Dear Tofu Master,

It’s the Japanese blood in you. Koreans can smell it. Koreans cannot wait for the giant earthquake to come and sink all those islands into the depths of hell. (I’m not making this up. There is a Japan-made movie that describes this scenario exactly, and it did pretty well in Korea by all accounts, although everyone who has seen it agrees that it was a shitty movie. ) The Korean will soon do a series on Koreans’ well-documented hatred for Japanese, so this discussion will be saved for later. Or maybe they are mad because you keep on misspelling things. It’s bori-cha (“barley tea,” delicious) and banchan (“side dishes,” an essential part of any Korean meal). Those two are understandable, but misspelling “abrasive”? Come on.

Just kidding Tofu Master, the Korean should be the last person to tease anyone for their nationality or their spelling skills. You got the correct impression of a very interesting phenomenon that occurs in any service industry run by/patronized by Korean people. Why does this happen?

On a fundamental level, Korea is a country that transitioned from being an agricultural society to being a post-industrial society waaaaaaay too fast. (In fact, entire East Asia is like this.) So the mismatch between how people behave and where the society actually is begets many hilarious consequences, including this one.

It happens in any service industry, but take restaurants for example. In the good old days when Korea was poor and everyone was hungry, restaurant owners was doing a huge favor for their customers. Ever driven through some parts of the country where you don’t see a gas station for hundreds of miles, then found a place that sold gas for four dollars per gallon? Do you care if the place is shady or the owner gives you an attitude? That’s exactly the restaurant situation in Korea in the old days. In an agricultural society, who the hell would eat out when it’s a huge challenge already to get some eating out of the ground? Only those who were traveling (and can afford things) would purchase food, and they absolutely would not care how shitty the food or the service was. Without that restaurant at that place, the travelers would have starved anyway. So service providers in Korea traditionally assumed this attitude of “Be grateful that I’m doing business here,” and did away with all the frills like smiling or not throwing food on the table. Cooking and serving food are hard work already; people expect the server to smile as well? Jokka. (“Go fuck yourself.” Literally, it translates to "peel a dick.")

Later (in fact, much later), Korea got richer and competition among restaurants finally emerged. But the attitude survived, since Koreans know that (being practical as they are,) they eat the food, not the service. But action calls for an equal and opposite reaction, so react Korean consumers did. Sensing that now the customers were the king of the market economy, Korean customers decided to toss out all the pleasantries against service providers as well. After all, being polite to everyone is tiring. (The Korean thinks that it’s the stress from being polite all the time that drives some Japanese people to go on mass-murdering rampage a few times each year. But that’s another story.) The singular force in this movement, of course, is the ajummas, whose irrepressible energy constantly seeks out for new advantages they can exploit.

So, Tofu Master, you are caught in a race toward the bottom. Customers don’t care about shitty service because they expect them. And customers are shitty toward you because they expect shitty service anyway. The Korean advises you to join the race, since you will find that the bottom will be quite lively and fun. Who doesn’t enjoy a good shit-flinging fight? Except for the Japanese I guess.

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

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Rapid Fire of Bad Manners

Monday, January 8, 2007

Hey Korean,

4. Is it true that a Korean man's ga gee is smaller than other races?

6. How come Koreans have table manners of a rabid badger? i.e. my uncle lifted a butt cheek and let one rip at the dinner table and everyone continued to slurp away (in Korea not US).

8. What can a Korean man do to prevent the loss of life burping after a good Korean meal? Mints don't help.

R

Dear R,

4. "ga gee" means an eggplant. It is true that eggplants grown in Korea are smaller than American ones. As to what you were trying to say --ja ji ("penis")--speak for your ssibal self. The Korean would show his to prove otherwise, but there is a court order against such an act.

6. First, the meal was within a family, and there is a certain leeway. Nonetheless, that might have been just your family....

8. .....and you just proved the Korean's theory. Why the hell would you burp? Gargling with [INSERT PRODUCT NAME HERE] tends to help.

The Korean really needs some product placement credit - that could have been a free bottle of Listerine or something. Oh, and sending in 12 questions does NOT help. The Korean appreciates it, but one at a time people.

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Off the Boat, but not Landed

Dear Korean,

I went to college in New York and had hung out with 1 1/2 generation immigrants from all over Asia. In my experience Koreans tend to be the slowest to assimilate and to learn English, compared to other East Asians. I'm talking about people who came when they're less than 10 years old who still spoke English in incomplete sentences with a heavy accent. Is that something you have noticed too? If so, what do you think is the reason for that?

Fellow AA

Dear Fellow AA,

“Compared to other East Asians”? That’s a bit misleading, isn’t it? There are only three East Asians – Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese. Japanese people stopped immigrating en masse long time ago, so there are no Japanese FOBs. (“Fresh off the boat,” Asian equivalent to “wab”) So you’re basically comparing Koreans and Chinese. And the Korean did not really notice the difference between those two. (or three, if you want to get technical and separate Mainlanders and Taiwanese.) There are always some group of FOBs among Koreans or Chinese that are always slow to assimilate, no matter how early in their lives they move to the U.S.

The Korean cannot speak for the Chinese folks with any sort of authority, but as far as Koreans go, there are several reasons why this happens. First, these are usually the people who immigrate later than age 8, when the “language instinct window” closes and language learning has to be forced, not automatic. And there are enough Koreans in the U.S. (particularly in big cities) to live a life pretty comfortably without speaking any English, provided that the person has no ambition to make anything out of himself in the American society.

Second, a significant number of Koreans who move to U.S. are precisely of that sort. Many, many Korean students (as young as second graders) come to U.S. because their parents fear that they won’t make it in the brutal educational system in Korea. (And it is brutal indeed, but that’s another story.) But the inevitable truth is that some of those Koreans are too dumb to make it in any educational system, especially the system that runs in a different language. If these kids stayed in Korea, they would be the types who huddle in the back of the class, doing just enough to get by in school, and smoking, drinking, and partying out of school. It’s not all that different from American kids who do the same, because dumbness is evenly distributed across countries, cultures, and languages. It’s just that dumbness manifests itself in a different form—not learning English—for those dumb kids who are stuck in a different culture and language, since, as the Korean said previously about learning language, assimilation is not a walk in the park.

-CORRECTION- The Korean is currently reading The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker, which is a fascinating book. According to the Language Instinct, an average American six-year-old commands 13,000 words (or to be precise, listemes, the term include idioms like “cutting the cheese” whose meaning has nothing to do with “cut” or “cheese”,), and an average American high school graduate knows roughly 45,000 words. My previous entry said 6,000 words to carry a conversation, and 10,000 words to read newspapers. The Korean got the numbers out of memory, which was wrong. The Korean stands corrected.

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Reason Why Life as a Minority is Difficult, No. 5098

Saturday, December 16, 2006

(Note: If you're curious about the sudden deluge of posts, it's because 1. nice people like you guys keep on sending questions, and 2. the Korean is in his finals period, and he doesn't want to study. Keep them coming!)

Dear Korean,

Why do Korean and other Asian business owners seem to guard their individual parking spots like Ninjas? There is usually a crummy sign that says "liquor store only".

Unsigned.

Dear Korean,

Last year, my neighbor of 30 years sold his house to a Korean couple. They've come to the house maybe 10 times and had a contractor pour a new concrete slab in the basement. The contractor also tore half of the roof off and left it that way, even in the rain. Is it traditional for Koreans to buy a home that is OK to live in and not move in? Is that new basement where they brew the Kim-Chi? What are the words to the "Welcome to the Neighborhood" song in Korean and when is it a good time to sing them?

So Many Questions-Too Little Information
*Hollywood, CA*

Dear Anonymous-Liquor-Shop-Frequenting Coward and Many-Questions from Hollywood,

You might wonder why these two emails are put up together. It's because they have something in common. Guess what it is. I'll give you 10 seconds.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Time's up.

Answer: They both see a curious behavior by person(s) of a certain race, and they are trying to figure out some race- or culture-based explanation.

There are many reasons why life as a minority in the U.S. (or anywhere else in the world for that matter) is difficult, and this is one of them. Whenever a minority individual displays an odd behavior, the first thing that jumps to a non-minority person's mind is "I wonder what it is about his culture that makes him do that," rather than thinking "well, that's just a weird guy."

Of course this difficulty is hardly life-threatening to minorities (given that lynching was very popular in the good old days), but it sure is highly annoying. It's annoying because it shows that you are still looking at the color of the skin first. It's annoying because one weird guy can bring down the reputation of an entire race/ethnicity. Worst of all, it's so fucking annoying that I have to care about what that weird guy does so that he doesn't bring down the reputation of my ethnicity.

Remember William Hung, the short, ugly Chinese dude who had 15 seconds of fame for singing and dancing horribly on American Idol? The Korean would not have to give a shit if he were any other race. But because he's an Asian, the Korean cannot help but watch him and see what other stupid shit he would pull, because the Korean KNOWS that there will be many idiots around the country who are thinking, "Gee, he's really stupid and ugly, but maybe it's an Asian thing."

Put another way, it's unfair and tiresome for one to be a representative of one's race all the time. And it's frustrating to see another one of your race failing at that representative function, which would not even be assigned to that moron if people learned to look beyond a person's race!

Drunken Coward, has it ever occurred to you that it would hurt the business if a customer came to the store and couldn't find a parking spot right away? Or that it would be really annoying for the owner/employees to find a parking spot far away from the store every day? Questions from Hollywood, the Korean has no idea why your Korean neighbors did what they did with the house. Maybe they were trying to renovate it, then ran into a financial trouble or something. What kind of culture would possibly condone leaving such a massive economic asset unexploited and in disrepair?

There are many things that people don't understand about other people, and cultural differences can explain some of them. That's what this site is for. But dear readers, whenever you observe an oddity by a minority, please use give it a little thought and see if you can find a non-cultural reason for it. If you are stumped, please ask the Korean, but at least take a guess.

More relevant questions will be coming later.

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Ask away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

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You're not a Man until You Survived Military

Friday, December 15, 2006

Dear Korean,

Why is it that every time I see a Korean at the rifle range he has at least one assault rifle? Is there some sort of rule that if a Korean owns a gun it has to be an AK-47?

Unsigned

Dear Anonymous Coward,

The Korean is one of those people who think the 2nd Amendment became obsolete when the U.S. government began to own tanks and fighter jets. So naturally the Korean does not have much experience in guns; the Korean fired a gun only in one occasion, at the LAPD Police Academy. But that's another story.

Here's a guess: (almost) all Korean men have been through the military, and that experience makes them more familiar with assault rifles rather than puny handguns.

You cannot talk about how Korean men are without talking about their military experience. Currently, standard length of the military draft in Korea is 2 years and 4 months. If one is assigned at a non-combat position (i.e. JAG officer, medics, secretarial duties, etc.,) the length is 3 years. I can try to explain what the usual military experience entails, but I'll let the following picture do the talking.

I'm sure you get the idea. (That pose is called Wonsan pok-gyok, which translates to "bombing of Wonsan." Wonsan is a port city in North Korea. This punishment is applied liberally for various causes, such as being slow in marching, losing a soccer game, or overcooking sarge's ramen.)

Having been through this experience for more than 2 years, post-military Korean men become completely insufferable. Imagine your most insufferable Red Sox fan (pre-World Series win) bitching about his misery and multiply by 100, that's your typical Korean man. I have had the worst experience! My ssibal ("fucking") sarge made me eat food out of a trash can! I ran 10 miles a day wearing full gear every day! Of course, attendant to the horror stories are their own stories of heroics. I may be out of shape now, but I was fucking fast when I was in the military. I was the striker for our platoon soccer team, and I once caught a wild boar with my bare hands! Put some Korean men together with some booze, and goondae ("military") will be ALL they will talk about. (All the stories above are the real ones that the Korean heard with his own ears.)

Do you have a good goondae story? The Korean would absolutely love to hear it. If you send in a good one, it will be posted.

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Ask away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

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Special Two-Question Edition

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Dear Korean,

A while back I helped a Korean get elected to public office. His Korean supporters were constantly amazed that a normal white dude would be willing to help him. Any thoughts on the older folks and their white worship? What gives? These were all wealthy successful businessmen who ostensibly bought into the bullshit American dream story - why'd they care so much that a white guy would help (read: be paid to) get one of their own elected?

Spicy BBQ

Dear Can't-be-All-that-Spicy-if-You're-White BBQ,

Why the white worship? Two words: Korean War. In the minds of the generation of people who went through the Korean War, the fact that Americans (which is equivalent to white people) saved them from the incoming bbal-geng-i ("commies") never, NEVER leaves their mind. You have to keep in mind how primitive Korea was at that stage, when the older folks were mere children. (At 1953 when the Korean War ended, Korea was poorer than such economic powerhouses as Paraguay, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. Per capital GDP? Around $35.) In their minds, white people saved them and brought Korea to modernity. Even to this day, the only thing that a homeless man in the streets of LA has to say is "I fought in the Korean War" for the Korean Mother to hand him a $20 bill. In the minds of older Korean folks (especially those who came to America), white people were elevated to the all-knowing, all-powerful demi-god status, and it would indeed be a shock if one of such demi-gods lowered himself to help out the primitive and backwards Korean people.

This white worship, by the way, led older generation Korean Americans to emulate the white people and try to out-white the white people in all aspects. One of the results of such effort is that older Korean Americans are probably the most racist people in America. But more on that later.

-EDIT: Dec. 17, 2006, 2:30 a.m.- It just occurred to the Korean that the Korean War was the first time when racially integrated U.S. troops were deployed. But black soldiers in Korea were relatively few, and it was not enough to overcome Korean people's strong prejudice against them which would develop later. But that's a topic for another day.

Dear Korean,

Hi! I want to know why so many older Koreans refuse to learn english? My mother-in-law is very sweet but my husband and I can't talk to her unless one of his 6 sisters or brother are around to translate. What is the deal? Is she just saying that, but really knows what's going on?

Confused Whitey

Dear Pale Beast of Burden,

In the words of Chris Rock, the Korean will not hit you, but will shake you real hard and scream, "what the hell is wrong with you woman???!!!" No one refuses to learn English, like no one refuses to become a millionnaire.

But if the Korean ended at that, you would not understand why. So I will try to calm down and go through the reasons one by one.

1. Learning a second language is HARDER THAN ALMOST EVERYTHING.

Let me put this in numbers. In any language, people generally use roughly 6,000 different words and idioms/expressions to carry everyday conversations. If you want to read a newspaper, you have to at least know about 10,000 different words/expressions. (A medium-sized dictionary contains about 100,000 words.) Have you ever memorized 10,000 different things in your life? Even 6,000 different things? And then you have to arrange them in the right order (the order that you are not used to) to make sense.

All of this comes so easily and naturally when you are young, so most people take language learning for granted. (Before 10 months and 16 months old, a child usually learns about 50 words a month. Try doing that if you have spare time.) But it is, in fact, extremely difficult to do, especially if a person is advanced in age and has to work all day, as immigrants have to do (since, obviously, Americans won't do it.) In the room that the Korean used to use in LA, there are dozens of boxes full of flash cards with vocabularies written on them. There are about 8,000 cards in all. The Korean was 16, still young, and had nothing to do after school. It took 5 hours a day, every day, for a year. And it was the most difficult thing that the Korean ever had to do in his whole life.

2. You always sound stupid in the second language.

Again, language comes so easily when you are younger. Even a 7-year-old can construct a sentence in a flash. But if you tried to construct a sentence in a foreign language when you are past 20, you would be slow, and often wrong. And you know you are slow and wrong, and you see the listener getting frustrated. And you know perfectly well that this is something that a 7-year-old child can do, but you can't fucking do it. It's humiliating. Do you think a Korean mother-in-law will risk appearing stupid to her daughter-in-law? Not a chance.

3. The silent period.

Despite all this, I'm pretty sure that your mother-in-law understands more than she lets on. The linguists have something called "the silent period," where a child becomes quiet before she becomes a total chatter box. Under natural development, this occurs between age 2 and 3, when a child acquired around 2,000 words. This process has been known to happen for second-language learners as well. It basically happens because a person during the silent period would understand about 1/3 of what he hears, which is not quite enough to form a response to.

Whitey, the Korean is certain that you had no ill intention when you asked that question. But whenever people ask "Why don't immigrants just learn English?" (like this idiot,) it just INFURIATES the Korean because the Korean personally knows how difficult it is. So please be nice to your mother-in-law, although I am sure you are nice to her already. And for crying out loud, just learn some Korean. You are younger, and she outranks you.

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Ask away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

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