Comments on: More reason why I don’t follow polls

By: usinkorea

usinkorea — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 05:35:54 +0000

It might not be a poll, but read twice the Korea Times editor’s contribution to the world of the printed word today

By: R.elgin

R.elgin — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:38:42 +0000

Joshua, I question *any* polling done in Korea simply because there is so much misapplication scientific methodology in certain fields, especially statistics and especially in Korea. I would not take it seriously unless I could study the methodology — even from Gallup. For all we know, the name “Gallup” could be another form of foreign branding, which is a commonly popular means of increasing the validity of anything in the Korean market.

By: JYC

JYC — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 21:26:48 +0000

I think the term is “Turcologist.”

Korea and Turkey are both very nationalist countries; maybe that’s one thing they have in common. Mustafa Kemal (aka Ataturk) came up with lots of crazy ideas about “grey wolves” and the “Sun Language Theory,” and other romanticized stories of the racial origins of the Turks on the central Asian steppes in order to replace Islam as the official ideology. Turks to this day are still taught in school that they are the descendants of the same people that China built the great wall to repel, in spite of the much more likely probability that like the people of Egypt today, they descend mostly from the same people who have always lived there, in this case former Greek speaking Orthodox Christians.

By: libertine

libertine — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 21:06:18 +0000

Oops, screwed up the KP index calculation for North Korea. It should be as follows

+20 points for casting out the Japanese imperialist aggressors

+5 points for cute football cheerleaders

-1000 points for widespread famine of millions of Koreans

-200 points for ensuring that the most famous Korean in the world is a bizarre, evil dictator

(20 + 5) / (1/10) + (-1000 + -200) * (1/10) = 130

By: libertine

libertine — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 21:01:50 +0000

Attempting to understand mainsteam Korean attitudes often leaves foreigners scratching their heads. I’ve developed the Korean Pride (KP) Index, which can be used to explain or forecast Korean mainstream opinions on any subject.

Korea Pride index =

(sum of positive factors) / N + (sum of negative factors) * N

where N = non-Korean multiplier. use 10 for non-Koreans and 1/10 for Koreans.

Examples:

USA

+50 points for helping out during the Korean War

-5 points for instilling ??????s with a westernised worldview

-5 points for having a GDP/capita that is over double that of South Korea

-2 points for referring to raw fish as sushi rather than chobap

-10 points for running over school girls with tanks

(50) /10 + (-5 + -5 + -2 + -10) * 10 = -215

USA registers a strong negative KP index of -215, thus explaining the latest poll results.

Turkey

+50 points for helping out during the Korean War

+5 points for having a GDP/capita that is 62% below that of South Korea

(50 + 5) /10 = 5.5

Turkey resisters a marginally positive KP index of 5.5.

Douglas MacArthur

+20 points for helping out during the Korean War

-2 points for a statue of his foreign likeness existing on Korean soil

(20) / 10 + (-2) * 10 = 0

Douglas MacArthur registers a KP index of 0, thus accounting for the lack of consensus.

North Korea

+20 points for casting out the Japanese imperialist aggressors

+5 points for cute football cheerleaders

-1000 points for widespread famine of millions of Koreans

-200 points for ensuring that the most famous Korean in the world is a bizarre, evil dictator

(20 + 5) / (1/10) + (-100 + -50) * (1/10) = 130

A KP Index of 130 explains the Unification Minister’s track record.

The possibilities are endless, and should be used by all countries to guide future diplomatic relations on the peninsula.

By: CT

CT — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 20:53:06 +0000

Perhaps the affinity with Turkey goes to the perceived status relationships that Korea has with other countries. Each country is higher or lower than Korea, and Koreans behave accordingly. Turkey is the only country that Koreans don’t seem to feel higher or lower than. I can’t explain this, but through talking to Koreans over the years, I’ve found that Turkey is the only country that Koreans somehow feel “equal” to.

By: Curious (a.k.a. Sewing)

Curious (a.k.a. Sewing) — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 20:39:19 +0000

Turkicologists?

By: Curious (a.k.a. Sewing)

Curious (a.k.a. Sewing) — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 20:38:37 +0000

I stand corrected. It would be superficial to say it only started with the World Cup. Interesting about how Turkish translations of Korean literature sell well; interesting too about Korean Turkeyologists (to coin a rather lame term).

By: oranckay

oranckay — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 20:21:37 +0000

“I would guess that the Korean-Turkish affinity goes back to the 3rd-place final of the 2002 World Cup, where the 2 teams?? players held hands, etc. at the end of the game.”

Turkey fought in the Korean War, there is some sort of exchange program between the army academies in each and Korea sells Turkey military hardware (nothing fancy). Some have said part of the affection comes from being: far apart so there’s no negative history, in similar “sorta wanna be, sorta don’t” alliances with the US, serious about religion but still open to others, and many many more things. Whatever the case it didn’t start with the World Cup and Korea has “Turkey” experts who’ve written lotsa stuff about it (sometimes it’s hard to find books about other countries written by Koreans instead of being translated from English), and while way behind English and French the Korean literature that gets translated into Turk sells well.

By: Curious (a.k.a. Sewing)

Curious (a.k.a. Sewing) — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 18:29:54 +0000

I would guess that the Korean-Turkish affinity goes back to the 3rd-place final of the 2002 World Cup, where the 2 teams’ players held hands, etc. at the end of the game. At the time, media pundit-types were speculating that this in turn was an acknowledgement of Turkey’s contribution to the Korean War (apparently they were among the larger UN contingents after the US).