By SHELTON BUMGARNER
Marmot’s Hole Guest Blogger
The always thought provoking Kushibo addresses what’s at stake now that the six-party talks have restarted.
ParkatCircle has an interesting post about Korean press fears that the Korean language is experiencing a “crisis.”
Teachers in American public schools have been complaining for years about the decline of students????? English skills. It?????s been blamed on everything from the kids, to the internet, to hip-hop culture.
In today?????s Dong A Daily, there is an op-ed piece called, ???Korean Language in Crisis???? that laments the decline of the Korean language. The writer states that ????expressions that seem to mock Korean flood the Internet?????, and not only puts the blame on the youth of Korea, but also on President Roh, who ????pours out thoughtless words?????.
I couldn?????t help but notice that there is not even the slightest hint that schools may be partially at fault.
GI Korea Blog writes on the announcement that the “Mouth of The South,” the former Mr. Jane Fonda, Ted Turner, is set to visit the DPRK to look at environmental issues there.
The always delightful and insightful Asia Pages has a great post regarding long-term living in Korea as an expat.
To quote perhaps one of the most polite and culturally sensitive ex-pats I have ever met: “I find the longer I stay here, the less open I am to trying things. It’s not like it was when I first arrived and was open to new ideas.” We were talking about a variety of frustrations that were related to interacting with Koreans and the differing East vs. West lifestyles. Trust me, no matter how dedicated you are to truly being culturally sensitive, there is so much room for frustration here.
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Her comment reminded me of something an American gyopo friend of mine said as she neared her two-year anniversary in Korea. “The longer I stay here, the more bad things I see about this place. Like how nationalistic the Koreans are and how close-minded they seem. And how impossible it is to have an educated debate with them on anything related to this country. Or how they all love money or are concerned with appearance. And how no matter what, Korea is #1. I didn’t notice any of this when I first came here. I feel kind of disillusioned now.”
While this is partially true of any country, it is perhaps harder to learn in Korea, especially if you are ethnically Korean but culturally not. And if you have Korean parents who aren’t at all like the Koreans you see here, then of course the shock of “what is Korean” can be overwhelming. (I am not speaking from personal experience but through the observation of some of my gyopo friends.)
The Flying Yangban has a number of interesting posts, ranging from one rounding up reports that “even the soldiers” of the DPRK as starving, to The Heritage Foundation’s advice to the participants of the six party talks.
This week’s, “Korea, Assignment of Choice” moment comes from The Lost Nomad, which writes of Kim Jong-Il’s…huh..ladyfriends.
In the book, ???Wisteria House???? written by Sung Hae Rang, Kim Jong Il?????s sister in law who also served as Kim Jong Nam?????s tutor, describes Kim Young Suk as, ???she has no more significance than the fact that she is the legal wife and official one before his father (Kim Il Sung). Family tree does not include her and she does not even have People?????s Certificate (similar to social security number). She is not found in any legal documents. There is no way to verify who is Kim Jong Il?????s wife other than his own personal acknowledgement.????
13 Comments
My brain is experiencing frequent error messages trying to parse this rant.
“a great post regarding long-term living in Korea”
Thanks for quoting a “polite and culturally sensitive ex-pat” concerning the room for frustration here in Korea. I feel that this person and your American Gyopo friend (and yourself) are victims of a dark side.
http://metropolitician.blogs.c.....l#comments
Some may percieve Gyopos as facing twice the challenges here others may argue Gyopos have twice the opportunities to face those challenges. Nice to see that you reinforce the notion that Gyopo’s have more cred in validing what is wrong about this country. And since when is closing your mind to new ideas being culturally sensitive? As a non-Gyopo mid-term expat. I’d like to say that like any assimiliation attempting foreigner, the dark side has had it’s appeal and really is quicker and easier but to save this comment section turning into a Korea bashing free for all.. thanks to our authors generous quote selection and opinion … I’d like to say that Korean has great fucking personality and if you’re willing to put in the effort it is truly an acquired taste for which those who don’t cop out can really appreciate. The longer I’ve stayed (4 years) the more my perceptions of this country and its people have changed for the better…and therefore the more open my mind has become to being culturally sensitive with an ability to see more of what is good and less of what is not so good. While langauge capabilty plays an important part….as it would too in any oter country… ex pat living in Korea is a rich experience to relish where non korean speaking foriegners can enjoy the culture and kindness of the Korean people more than ten fold if the shoe was on the other foot.
Ryan: Though I am a frequent reader, I have never commented here, but I registered just so I could reply to your comment. Don’t you feel special?
Anyway, I just have to say this: I’m not sure whether you do not understand what the word “assimilate” means, or if you actually believe that foreigners can assimilate into Korean society. I’ve been here ten years (not as long as some, true, but a decent amount of time nonetheless), am married to a Korean, and am studying for my doctorate in classical Korean literature at Seoul National University. I can tell you with certainty that I am not now nor will I ever be assimilated into Korean society.
As a foreigner (non-gyopo, that is–I really can’t speak for gyopos), you may be able to find your place in Korea, but you will never be assimilated. The sooner you disabuse yourself of that notion the happier you will be. It is not dark side or negative thinking, it is just a fact of life and of Korean society.
Or maybe that’s what you mean by “assimilation”–finding your place–in which case I’ve carried on for nothing.
Charles, I accept your post on my poor usage of the word assimilate. Even though I work for a Korean company and have a post grad degree from a Korean school.. excuse the metapor… I still stick out like dogs balls and will never be assimiliated.
However, that wasn’t the point of my post. The easiest thing to do is wear ones ignorance on your sleeve and by constantly pointing out what is wrong with Korea and Koreans you are building a wall that will impede any kind of allow me to say integration..no no I’ll go with harmonisation…. reinfocing the notion of us and them (don’t wanna get into Ed. Said so will stop now). In short.. if you think you can harmonise or if you think you can’t..then you’re probably right. Would you agree?
Glad my poor word selection made you feel compelled to post. As a veteran of 10 years, it’d be great to get your two cents worth on the Korea bashing of others and attempts to find your own place.
“As a non-Gyopo mid-term expat….” Huh? When is your term up? Anyway, it’s a mixed bag for waegukin in Korea, and probably always will be…the longer I’m here (five years and counting) the more entrenched the social problems seem, and also becomes more apparent that there are aspects of the society that deserve respect. In other words, I take this place at face value. Maybe that’s what Ryan means by “harmonisation”–but its no different from how I lived in the States. That’s why I find either extreme of some commentors here — that Koreans epitomize every vice known, or that they’re a guileless, endlessly fascinating bunch — a little bizarre. I like that the Marmot shows resepect, but does not pull punches.
foreigner wrote:the longer I?m here (five years and counting)The longer you’re where? Your flag says you’re in the U.S. of A.
Ahh, the “invisible hand” of the proxy server…I’m in an office building in Seoul right now, writing this instead of working
Since you’re using a proxy server, by “working” do you mean reading glorious news from the Worker’s Paradise about the Dear Leader?
I’m reading boring news from the Worker’s Hellhole about the Dear Leader getting free electricity
I’ll tell you what sucks about Korea… staying at work way too late or coming in way too early to do business with North America. I’m feeling it too……is this dark side????
In short.. if you think you can harmonise or if you think you can?t..then you?re probably right.
In other words, how well you fit in/find your place/harmonize depends on your attitude? Can’t argue with that.
As for my own two cents, well, I tend to be rather verbose when voicing my opinion, so I’ll try to keep this short. Every place has its good points and bad points, and I try to focus on the positive. It’s not always easy, but I do try. There are a lot of things that I don’t like about Korea, but I try not to dwell on them. I try not to bash Korea either, but I believe it is possible to have a reasonable discussion of a country’s shortcomings. I guess it all really boils down to attitude, which I suppose lines up with what you were saying.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the dark side, though. We all have negative moments, and just because you dislike something about Korea doesn’t make you a bad person–as long as you don’t let that negativity fester and take over your whole outlook.
Don’t know if that made any sense…
ryan, it’s hard to take your criticism seriously when you use a lot of cursing, but i think you completely missed the point here.
the “culturally sensitive person” was critisizing herself. she was blaming herself for not being open to new things when she felt she probably should be more open-minded. she was not intentionally blaming korea for her own lack of openness. so please give her credit for her honesty and the ability to see what was wrong from her side (and i don’t think it matters what her racial background is, gyopo, non-gyopo, etc.)
i also want to point out that there is a difference between korea-bashing (which is whining for the sake of being an ass) and raising issues or questions that don’t make sense to someone and which, well, may be a blow to a nation’s (Korea’s) ego but are grounds for good discussion, education, etc. i don’t think such people who raise these issues (no matter how “ugly” these thoughts may seem) should be made to feel guilty for questioning things that go unexplained to them (and again, it doesn’t matter what your ethnic background is).
and just as you accuse people of seeing the bad or dark side of a culture, i guess i accuse you for seeing only the bad or dark side of my post.
i mentioned gyopos who have returned to korea and have had very positive experiences. the post was not dedicated to the entire criticism of korea although criticism within the post did exist but is that a crime? it wasn’t hateful criticism. it was the sort of stuff people say amongst themselves but are too afraid to say in public as they fear the exact same reaction you gave.
maybe this will get me in trouble some day but i am not afraid of such reactions like yours and i am willing to call things as i see them in the hopes that things can be explained to me and that discussion can be generated.
i don’t think i owe anyone an apology for writing that post. it had some stuff that was difficult to hear but it wasn’t written out of pure hate.
sure i get frustrated living here and that frustration may have beared its ugly side at the end of the post, but as a person who has been living overseas yourself, i think you can acknolwedge that it is quite normal for someone to feel this way once in a while. when it becomes unhealthy then it is time to leave, but you can’t expect everyone to love it anywhere all the time.
if the post came off as being racist and hateful, then i apologize as that was not my intention. (i didn’t publish the post immediately after writing it but waited a day and read it once more before putting it on the blog as i wanted to be sure that i wasn’t coming off as being too unfair. i’m glad i waited. i went back and softened some things that i was feeling strongly about and perhaps unfairly during the heat of the moment when writing it.)
if you are still calling for my head on a silver platter, then i am williing to discuss this further offline. you know the blog’s address and the contact information is on there.
thanks for hearing me out….
gosh… you expats…if you don’t like korea then GET THE FUCK OUT! its simple as that… i doubt that koreans want you there anyway.