Police in Busan have booked nine foreigners in Busan for putting on an unapproved performance that allegedly degraded Korean culture, reports the Kyunghyang Shinmun.
The paper noted that they were booked (but not detained) on procedural grounds (you must seek permission from authorities before holding a performance), but controversy was expected since it was possible police were more concerned about what was said during the performance than the paperwork before it.
All in all, nine foreigners, including a 37-year-old American English instructor at a Busan university, were booked on violations of Korea’s performance laws, while seven band members, including a 30-year-old Canadian, were told to leave the country for violating immigration laws.
The Busan Nine—all apparently English teachers—had formed a performance group called “Right Down” and staged a one-act play called “Oriental Story” on Dec. 1 and 2 at a small theater in Namcheon-dong.
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the performance was made up of 10 short skits that lampooned or degraded aspects of Korean culture foreigners found repulsive. One of their targets, apparently, was Korean immigration officials. During the performance, they ridiculed the entry process, joking (?) that Korean immigration officials ask if you know the Dokdo islets or bosintang (dogmeat soup) or kimchi and claiming that Korean civil servants demand that foreigners adopt the Korean way of thinking (Marmot: Koreans expecting people to do things the Korean way in Korea? The horror! The horror!).
They also lampooned Korea’s “strange” (so the Kyunghyang quoted them) number culture, including Koreans’ insistence on doing things three times (”They even shit three times,” they are quoted as saying), the taboo on the number four, and the use of “18″ as an obscenity. They also ridiculed Koreans’ “saucepan disposition” (naembi geunseong, the tendency of Korean society to boil over quickly about a particular issue but just as quickly simmer down), calling it a “steam iron” (Marmot: I fail to see the association). Finally, they chose to express Korea’s dogmeat culture by pretending to eat with tortured expressions, throwing up, and eating again.
Oh, they also referred to middle-aged women as “stubborn ajuma.” Or something like that. Or so the Kyunghyang Shinmun said.
At the police station, they foreigners in question said about the dogmeat routine that they were just trying to express their displeasure with some Koreans who “force” foreigners to eat bosintang.
Entry to the performance was 7,000 won. Four performances were held, with some 600 people attending in all.
Police said the busts were made because it was an illegal performance, not because of the content of said performance.
Actually, I got an email this morning about the performance, which was apparently called “Babo-palooza.” There are discussions going on about it at Busanweb and EFL-Law. Said one poster at ESL-Law:
Just walked in from Babo-Palooza! at Beach Town on Gwangalli — What a friggin’ joke. More down and out English teachers than you could poke a stick at mocking Korea and Koreans with purile humour barely fit for a mental (###) camp. The organiser “teaches” at a Dong university in Busan and can be seen propping up the bar at O’Briens on any night of the week) spent the night thinking he had a Konglish accent when instead he sounded like a Pakistani. The rest of the losers (including a big chested woman from down under with a gut to match and some gutter baboon who looked like he’d swallowed a sheep) were just pathetic. Ten thousand won to see these monkies performing their favourite hogwan routines with added venom? No friggin’ way! This debacle only confirms my suspicions that Busan is home to the dregs of ESL in Korea. Next time, maybe someone should invite immigration and get these fools shipped home.
Not everyone felt that way, however. This blogger said the show did a “wonderful job walking the impossibly thin line of being witty and occasionally sarcastic without being spiteful or mean towards the Koreans and their culture.” Then there is this blogger, who is apparently one of the Busan Nine. Lamenting his position, he writes:
There is a good possibility that I will be fucked off out of this country. This makes me sad. I don’t want to leave. I’m not done with this place. I’m on the cusp of becoming functionally fluent in the language. I love the food, and most of the folks who I met have been ace.
But this is a nation that disguises itself as a modern industrialized democracy. It is the tenth largest economy on Earth and is a miracle of sorts. But peel the onion and you will see that Korea is still a patriarchal Confucian society, one that tolerates little true dissent or satire, especially from a foreign tongue. We are finding this out now.
If anyone has a detailed account of what was said or—praise be to God—video footage, I’d love to read/see it.
This is usually the point when the comment section flamewar begins.
UPDATE: Here is the NoCut News version of what happened (in Korean). Not really different from the Kyunghyang Shinmun account. The police were quoted as saying, however, that while the show did look at Korean culture from a fairly negative angle, it didn’t really amount to “degrading Korea” and, at any rate, was covered under free speech and hence not subject to punishment. But they added that holding a performance without permission from the Korea Ratings Board and engaging in activities outside your visa status are another story.
UPDATE 2: PusanWeb has posted corrections to what it claims to be inaccuracies in the Kyunghyang Shinmun piece (as summarized here). Be sure to check them out. Also, I should note that I did make one mistake in the beginning of the summary—rather than “arrested,” it should read “booked.” The summary has now been corrected. I’d also like to suggest that it might be better—at least for the sake of accuracy—to write up a refutation based on a full translation of the piece rather than the abbreviated summary you see above.
UPDATE 3: Commenter “Spook,” who says he is “intimately connected to the story,” has some very interesting things to say in the comments. And this, if true, should make a lot of people nervous:
In addition to claims of violations of E-2 visas, these guys are being prosecuted (persecuted?) for putting on an illegal performance. This is an issue that affects everyone, including bloggers, since right now there appears to be some question as to what kinds of activities foreign workers can do other than work, defecate and sleep. When these guys went in to the police, the police also discussed the illegality of another local event–a regularly-held Poetry night at a local bar where foreigners and Koreans would get up on stage and read poetry and play music to an audience for free. Guess what? The police said that was illegal. Are you in a band that plays in Itaewon on the weekends, or a mix-master at a Shinchon dance club? Guess again! You’re breaking the law according to Pusan police. Talking to a small group of Korean friends on the street? Who the heck knows, right? Could be illegal. This has a HUGE chilling effect on what we foreigners can do in Korea. Frankly, I’m not really sure anymore we can do.
Chilling.
UPDATE 4: The Korea Herald has run a piece on the Pusan Nine (or is it 15?) that is much more sympathetic to their plight than the Kyunghyang Shinmun. You’ll definitely want to check it out.
Pusanweb, meanwhile, is working hard to put out the fact… and only the facts. You’ll want to keep checking over at their website to get the latest on this case.
267 Comments
First!
which Korea do we live in again?
I have no idea if performing without permission from “authorities” is a big deal to the Korean government, however, taking money for a performance is definitely a major issue for immigration.
A Japanese guy who has done more to help the Korean underground scene than anyone else I know got fined and kicked out of Korea for doing that — despite receiving some significant support from local newspapers and others (even the Ministry of Culture knew of his case and were trying to help). But the feeling at immigration was, a violation is a violation. At least they lightened the fine somewhat and allowed him back into Korea after a few months.
Anyhow, point being, taking money for public performances in Korea, not a good idea. If you want to make a point or express yourself, you better do it for free.
How impertinent of South Korean government to arrest and deport a bunch of foreigners who broke the law!!!
I see no problem with the contents of their performance, but it seems pretty clear that they did break laws by hosting a commercial performance illegally and should therefore be punished appropriately.
Oh, no, not the “Foreigners busted” thing again!
Robert,Your theme must be “Racism in Korea” rather than holiday seasons stuff for this December,huh?
People must get permission from “authorities” to perform a play in a theater? I could understand if it were done on a public sidewalk, but why would they need permission to perform in a theater? Is it due to the fact that they charged for it?
Does that mean the people who perform anti-American skits on the streets during demonstrations have also gotten permission from authorities?
I wonder if it is illegal to write about “an illegal performance” on the Internet? Marmot, did you check with your lawyer before posting on this?
Ordinarily I’d predict this to reach 150 comments, but the Sauna post & KBS post might have drained all our spleen…
Ordinarily I’d predict this to reach 150 comments, but the Sauna post & KBS post might have drained all our spleen… 150 is only possible if Pawi gives us a rant.
Sorry, but this is news to us. It is understandably of lesser importance to a Korean refugee in Canada.
You know, there is a popular blog (run by a Korean) called “Angry Asian Man” that does nothing but highlight instances of anti-Asian racism he finds in the U.S. each day. He doesn’t seem to take a break for the holidays either.
You ought to check it out; it might be more to your liking than “The Marmot’s Hole”.
Yes, if they’re going to charge 7000 won for the performance. That’s a violation of the immigration law because they had no permit for extra work or running a business.
Plus, how smart is it to tease and make fun of the Korean immigration? The Korean immigration didn’t have to go by the book and charge these guys because after all, it’s just harmless performance. But I’m not surprised at all that the immigration were eager to throw the book at them.
I’d like to see B.Carr’s thoughts on this from a legal standpoint. I’m no legal expert, but it seems to me that if a small group puts on a performance without a permit, only the organizer(s) and perhaps theater manager would be facing any penalty. But for the authorities to bring all of the performers into the police station and then run checks on their immigration status seems to prove that they were personally targeted above and beyond what the situation would normally call for.
Had a small group of Koreans done a performance (no matter the subject matter) without a permit, the worst that would have happened would be small fines or a couple of bribes. I don’t think the police would take the Korean actors to the police station and run checks on them. It’s pretty obvious the extreme response from the police was due to it involving foreigners and the subject matter of their play.
If they’d been doing a play bashing Japan or defending the honor of Dokdo, they’d be heroes in the media. Instead they’ll probably be deported.
As others have noted, it’s no surprise that foreigners get in trouble when they are making money illegally in an obvious way that almost rubs it in Immigration’s nose. The fact that they’re doing it criticizing Korean society is almost a side issue, but pretty dumb and asking for trouble. Look at what happened to the U.S. Ambassador’s wife over jewelry sales and the expat actorsthose expats in “The Host.” 600 people at 7000 won a ticket means these folks made upwards of 4 mil for some pretty silly-sounding crap. After reading some of the brief reviews here, if I’d paid money, I’d want to see justice done too.
Apprantly the show ran more than once, but 3 or 4 times. With sold out 600 tickets per show, that’s a nice rake in for three or four nights.
“We are finding this out now.”
How insightful could they have been?
CM - Try re-reading what I wrote. The way the various stories have been written made it sound like there were two issues here: 1) Performing for money, and 2) Getting permission for to perform in public.
Obviously point 1 is true (which was the point of my post). My question was whether people in general (or foreigners in particular) need to get permission from the government to hold any kind of public performance, even for free.
Cm,
According to the article, they were not arrested because they charged for their performance, but because they did not get prior approval from the Korea Media Rating Board, which is a committee that screens the content of performances.
By the way, apparently you also have to get permission from the Korea Media Rating Board to post video or music files on the Web (see here).
Apparently, the play did not get its XXX rating from the board before its performance.
Well, if that’s the case gbevers, then what is the charge against the seven band members, including a 30-year-old Canadian, who were told to leave the country for violating immigration laws?
What immigration laws did they break?
Not sure if this is true, but here.
But not if every one of them took some of the money.
Even 600 in total would be impossible in Pusan [even Seoul] for an amateur show. Maybe they marketed it in their Hagwons…
Keep talking like that, JiMong, and it’ll be back to photos of old Japanese buildings. Think I’m bluffing? I’ve got a whole bunch from Incheon on my sidebar I haven’t blogged about yet
In due seriousness, JiMong, this isn’t a deliberate editorial decision—there’s just been a sudden, entirely coincidental spike in foreigner-related stupidity in the news (Beauty-Gate, Sauna-Gate, now Babo-Palooza-Gate), and being the weak-willed individual I am, I lack the self-control and ethical conviction NOT to blog them.
Howdy.
I am one of the producers of the show. There are several inaccuracies the Marmot’s post. I figure he got a lot of it from a Korean article, so it’s no surprise.
First off, we did TWO performances in a small theater that only fit 80 people. So only 160 people saw the show. NOT 600. I have no idea where they came up with that figure. We spent 1,500,000 won on the show. We took in less, so we LOST money. Do the math. We never tried to make money on this thing to begin with. It was for fun, and any profit made would be donated to an orphanage. There’s a reason we only charged 7,000 won.
The name of the show was “Babo-Palooza!”, not “Oriental Story.” And I will withhold the band’s name, so as to avoid incrimination, but they are not called “Right Down.”
And NOBODY has been punished yet. They have brought many of us in, questioned us, taken our urine samples and fingerprints, but no charges have been filed. They will take everything to the prosecutor, who will then make the decision.
It is apparent that we broke the law by staging a production and charging an admission fee. As one of the producers I’ll take responsibility for that and accept whatever punishment is meted out. But the vigor in which the cops are going after us suggests a motivation deeper than just busting us for visa violations. They were offended by the content of the show (a lot of Koreans loved it, btw) and are using these other laws as a pretext to punish us for dare poking fun at some local sacred cows.
This thing is taking on a life of its own in cyber-land, but please make sure your facts are correct before wagging your finger and blowing your horn.
CT
http://www.livejournal.com/users/tharp42
dtwSickboy, the site you quoted has some error in information or misinformation, I don’t know which.
It says,
But the school’s site:
why they don’t hire ‘native speakers’, nowhere does it say ‘foreigners’:
http://www.cyjenglish.com/images/whynot.gif
The people that they do hire according to them, are described here:
http://www.cyjenglish.com/images/rules.gif
The site doesn’t say “foreigners have AIDS” and “many are gay”.
Rather the accurate translation is: “difficult to tell the background of the person and what kind of person he is, whether they be gay, have AIDS, take drugs, or have sexual harassment”.
The meaning is totally different from “many foreigners are gay and have AIDS”
Please do.
I’m just the messenger. I’d suggest you send your complaints to the person who wrote it.
I’m just the messenger. I’d suggest you send your complaints to the person who wrote it.
Back on topic.
Besides, that’s not even what I was pointing out.
Back on topic…
Boy, ripe accusations from a man that failed to do his own homework.
i think it’s an acceptable form of entertainment.
“Boy, ripe accusations from a man that failed to do his own homework.”
Nice snarky quip, but glaring inaccuracies are being published about this show, and I think that it’s only fair to point them out.
Having been here long enough to have my belief in Occom’s razor knocked out of my head, I’m convinced that these events are do to Ban Ki Moon becoming king of the world.
tharp42, stand corrected. I had the impression from the posts at the Pusanweb forum that it was shown multiple times, not twice.
But are you surprised immigration is going above and beyond to nail you, after the content of the show making fun of immigration and Korean culture? But then again, no one has been charged, so the prosecution I predict, will probably drop the case.
regarding the 3 thing, it’s true.
Many apartments and buildings in South Korea don’t have a 4th floor, or it’s F.
4 being same as Sa, or sounding the same as death in Chinese letters. About the only thing positive about #4 in South Korea maybe the number 4 hitter in baseball.
I don’t think the obsession with 3, and the phobia of 4 is necessarily indicative of Korea being a backward nation.
They probably do a ton of this in China.
Japan. Abstaining from another comment that “it is all Japan’s fault”, the Japanese do have worshipping of numerous Shinto related gods for almost every situation. And they turn to Buddhism for more solemn situations, such as death.
I hope I added more fuel for the discussion.
Just kidding.
I kind of always wondered why Koreans don’t have an idol of Yi Soon Shin at restaurants, whereas the Chinese have the Guan Yu, Guan Ping, and Zhou Cang. I thought at American Chinese restauarants, Guan Yu would scare away customers more than bring them in. I think the cat or the jolly fat guy is more appealing.
Expect more, Mr. Monkey.
Yes, I did. The Kyunghyang Shinmun. As linked. And mentioned several times in the post.
On the off-chance you’re referring to me, I didn’t wag a finger (with the exception of the “한국 공무원은 한국적 사고방식과 지식을 요구한다” comment) or blow my horn. I just posted what I read in the Kyunghyang Shinmun. And followed it up with a couple of links, including one to your blog and another defending the production.
PS: If you’d like me to publish a refutation of the Kyunghyang piece—I am very aware that the Korean press can butcher stories—I’d be more than happy to do so.
In today’s Korea, people understand “원어민” to be non-Korean native English speakers. Few, if any Koreans, would consider a “원어민” to be anything _but_ a non-Korean and would exclude from that even those kyopos who are native speakers of English.
Also, the “clarification” that Robert pointed out refers explicitly to “외국인”, so it is certain that cyenglish is using the terms interchangeably.
“On the off-chance you’re referring to me, I didn’t wag a finger (with the exception of the “한국 공무원은 한국적 사고방식과 지식을 요구한다” comment) or blow my horn. I just posted what I read in the Kyunghyang Shinmun. And followed it up with a couple of links, including one to your blog and another defending the production.”
I think you’ve given us a fair treatment, actually. I just wanted to point out the inaccuracies I saw.
Ah… harkens me back to “Soju mamma” on youtube. They had to have known that it would cause a fuss…You guys have degree’s right?
Anyone who thinks that this case is simply about neutrally enforcing the law against people who clearly broke it is foolish. The police and prosecutors have a lot of discretion when it comes to enforcement. Consider the fact that it is against the law to ride a motorcycle on the sidewalk, a violation that is punishable by a fine of up to KRW700,000. This is conduct that is not only annoying and inconvenient, and a blight on Korea’s aspirations to be regarded as a first world country, but a dangerous menace to public and personal safety. But the law is almost never enforced. Why do the authorities waste limited public resources trying to intimidate a small group of harmless foreign pranksters - (who since they didn’t make, didn’t even set out to make, any money, technically didn’t violate their immigration status; failure to comply with the registration requirements for theatrical performances is another matter); why don’t they rather focus on eradicting a behaviour that seriously compromises public safety and quality of life? Another glaring example of how the intersection of overreaching govt interference (registration of theatrical performances) in general (that afflicts Korean too) and lingering anti-foreign sentiment in Korea renders Korea not yet ready for prime-time. If what these guys did is actionable, we all better start thinking - which is actually what Kun Hyung wants you do to so that you’ll compromise your own liberty through self-censorship — about the fact that this interpretation of the immigration laws makes one subject to deportation at any time you rattle the chains held by your Korean employer by doing anything other than obey, or otherwise doing anything not expressly authorized by your visa status, including having the temerity to maintain or comment on a blog. Sure, it ain’t Myanmar and SLORC, but a hub it isn’t.
Robert, I don’t think we needed that quote from ESL-Law about how ugly or fat the actors allegedly were. That’s just mean.
railwaycharm: Soju Mama didn’t cause a stink beyond Marmot’s Hole comments section, did it?
They did break the law and they haven’t even been charged yet….so how can the producer and others blame the immigration office yet?Even the US ambassadors wife case was as big as this in the media but i don’t think she made fun of koreans or their culture..
If you break the law and it leaks in the papers,you are gonna pay for it. That is the case in any country , hub or not.
I tumbled to this one too late. Sperwer’s got it covered. The violations of law are to be found in not registering the performance (for the organizer), and in taking pay to perform (for the “actors”) without permission from immigration authorities. Too many things are violations of law here in Korea — it’s a deliberate web the powers-that-be have woven, so that everyone is out of compliance with something, at all times. All the better to have a convenient stick to beat them with when they get out of line! Whether uppity English teachers or foreign
lawyerslaborers, newspaper publishers critical of the administration (watch out for that tax investigation), or businessmen late with this month’s apple box, everyone is always guilty of breaking some widely-disregarded law which may be enforced at a whim. This is what’s known in the trade as Rule by Law vice Rule of Law.I have no doubt the performers were fat and ugly. (Probably Canadian too. Which means the fat-and-ugliness is probably attributable to too much Kraft Dinner.) And in my mind, this should be reason enough to immediately deport them after completion of a six-year jail sentence.
Damn, do I need to go into hiding now?
You’re not Canadian, are you?
Oh G-d, here comes the anti-Canadian thing raining down. I am a yank through and through but even I have time for our friends to the north.My word! You are not jewish, are you?
Rule by Law versus Rule of Law. Brilliant. This is how the government can remain as autocratic as it was in Park Chung Hee days, yet still be considered democratic, because in every instance the public will say (as we are saying of the Busan Nine) that the poor suckers should have known they were breaking the law.
I agree, Railway. I yield to no one in my conviction that Canada is the source of all evil in the world. But I’m starting to feel sorry for this ill-starred people.
“Rule by Law” has a very long history in the East, having been formerly theoretically and institutionally elaborated thousands of years ago in China under the rubric of Legalism. Hitler and Mussolini on the “right” and various people’s democracies on the “left” were also experts at this dodge in modern times. Just enemies of liberty and tyrannies all.
a-letheia from Korea (South) your flag
Posted December 15, 2006 at 12:12 pm | Permalink
Ah… harkens me back to “Soju mamma” on youtube
railwaycharm: Soju Mama didn’t cause a stink beyond Marmot’s Hole comments section, did it?
It was a complete comedy of errors that it did not! The English teachers puking etc..
I was shocked it did not raise the ire of someone.
“But this is a nation that disguises itself as a modern industrialized democracy. It is the tenth largest economy on Earth and is a miracle of sorts. But peel the onion and you will see that Korea is still a patriarchal Confucian society, one that tolerates little true dissent or satire, especially from a foreign tongue.”
Well, my hat is definitely off to these guys because they pretty much “took one for the team”. The team being those of us in Korean who find that, to paraphrase J. Scott Burgeson, writer of the old zine Korea Bug, ” culture is wierd”. All cultures.
This show is a backlash of sorts against the PC assholes who think that you have to find every aspects of someone elses culture exciting and refreshing at all times. Fuck that…sometimes shit is aggravating and wierd. And *thats* what makes it great, not pretending like it’s all equal. I don’t find it funny that korea is patriarchal and stratified…I find it funny and annoying that koreans pretend it’s not on the global stage. They deserve and desperately *need* someone to shove that in their face
That is how it begins… Soon you’ll be paying $500 million just so your president can meet with Canada’s
all-powerful overlordprime minister.Were these foreigners to have staged - or merely participated in - a performance critical of USFK or the Bush Administration, I doubt that Immigration would have chosen to act. Call it a hunch.
jdog: You’re right. Culture is just another word for how people do things. To say, as Koreans often do, “We do this because it is our culture” is like saying “We do this because we do this.” And there shouldn’t be any taboos against criticizing it.
As someone intimately connected to this story, there are a couple of points in need of clarification:
1. The show in question was not about making money. Never. Tickets were sold to defray production
costs (renting the theater, costumes, etc.) AND to regulate the number of audience members
(’if it’s free, how can you keep people out’ sorta
thing). It was a small theater (60 capacity that was stretched to 80 to accommodate the audience, some of whom were turned away. The ‘actors’ rehearsed nights after work for two months before the performance. No one got ‘paid’ and nobody made a dime on this. In fact, the show ended up costing the producers money. Who works a ‘job’ that is tremendously time-consuming and costs that person money (other than Gaeseong Industrial workers… oops, there’s a knock at the door. The police? Man, they’re fast!)
2. The show was about building bridges between the
foreigner and Korean communities by poking fun at both. If anyone is curious about the content, read this review (http://www.socius.or.kr/content/view/436/). It describes every sketch in great detail. You decide just how ‘offensive’ it was.
3. In addition to claims of violations of E-2 visas, these guys are being prosecuted (persecuted?) for putting on an illegal performance. This is an issue that affects everyone, including bloggers, since right now there appears to be some question as to what kinds of activities foreign workers can do other than work, defecate and sleep. When these guys went in to the police, the police also discussed the illegality of another local event–a regularly-held Poetry night at a local bar where foreigners and Koreans would get up on stage and read poetry and play music to an audience for free. Guess what? The police said that was illegal. Are you in a band that plays in Itaewon on the weekends, or a mix-master at a Shinchon dance club? Guess again! You’re breaking the law according to Pusan police. Talking to a
small group of Korean friends on the street? Who the
heck knows, right? Could be illegal. This has a HUGE chilling effect on what we foreigners can do in Korea.
Frankly, I’m not really sure anymore we can do.
If the wider world started getting the facts straight,
the foreigner community (and many Koreans, I might
add, since technically they would be violating the
performance law for their own band, fund-raiser, etc.
activities) should be up in arms about this.
4. The treatment of the ‘accused’ at the hands of the police. Most of those brought in for questioning were contacted at work (yes, police showing up at the university or institute) and then brought down to City Hall to the Criminal Investigations Division for 2+ hours of questioning on that same day (usually as soon as the person could get off work). Some were asked for urine tests for drugs, all were asked to sign statements saying they didn’t want their embassies informed, and during the interviews, the police frequently referenced the content of the show. Believe me, folks, this ain’t about an illegal performance or E-2 visa violations. It’s about content, so again I’ll recommend that you read the review linked above to make your own decision.
5. The overall investigation. Earlier this year, these same group of kids put on a play and charged money (again to defray production costs). The authorities knew about it, referenced it in the current interrogations with the accused, but did nothing about it (the play had nothing to do with Korea). Between that play and this sketch comedy show, one of the producers contacted the Pusan city government to request funding for the sketch show. The producer (a foreigner) was turned down, but to my knowledge, was not told of the illegality of such performances.
During the actual sketch show, a police woman attended the second (of only two) performances on Saturday night. She sat through the whole show and said nothing. Aren’t police supposed to stop crimes if they see them being committed? Shouldn’t she have shut down the performance and acted immediately? At the very least you would think she would have asked the organizers to see their ‘performance permit’, but she remained silent. My opinion is that she wanted to see the content first. Oh, how do I know a policewoman attended the show? She was one of the interrogating officers who interviewed a cast member who actually had spoken to her the night of the show. She was sitting in the front row and afterward he went up to her and asked if she liked it. Did she then identify herself as a policewoman? No. She said she found the show offensive and that was it.
Is there truly any surprise over this? Poke fun at Korea from within Korea and obviously there is going to be some form of backlash from the Korean people. Satire, comedy, and sarcasm are something Koreans have not yet developed in their 5000 year history.
So, instead of doing the poking from within Korea, do it from the outside when you return to your home country.
Daily I see Korean people engaged in “stupid people tricks” here in Australia, and I don’t hestiate to point it out and laugh when they do. Such non-sense should not go without recognition. VANK (Volunteers Against Non-Sense Koreans) collects daily tales of theses stupid things Koreans do within their homeland and abroad for all to enjoy and have a chuckle at. Congrats to the Chosun-Ilbo for providing much of this content.
Overall the level of xenophobia and discrimiation experienced by foreigners living in Korea does not remain out of thought once they leave Korea. Korea is doing a great job at disposing of foreigners and returning to their previous state as a Hermit Kingdom (unwelcoming to all outsiders).
I’ve dropped my plans for a musical parody of the political-economy of Putin’s Russia.
Didn’t read all the comments.
Just wanted to commend the reference to “The Busan Nine” and wonder how many of us got it?
And did Marmot use it from knowledge of the Chicago 7?
If so, big kudo. Nice reference in many ways.
There’s no doubt that you are insightful about Korea today. And, I do know that discrimination and racism are part of rotten side of Korea. It’s out there so badly against foreigners and minors. The problems won’t be solving by hiding it. And all of these (Beauty-Gate, Sauna-Gate, now Babo-Palooza-Gate) news came up to the surface in a row. Yet, I did not see any suggestions on these issues from commentators. That’s why I was more than welcome to see Mr. Hurt’s post for “Demand for an Official Apology from KBS”. Maybe, I was bit tired of reading more and more bashing rather than criticizing comments. Maybe, I was tired to receive all the stupid emails from K netizens for my daum petition board on beauty-gate. It’s your blog and the show runs by you. My apology if I offend you by my comment.
Thank you so much for remind me my status in Canada. I almost forgot
dogbuttdogbertt! Definitely, I will check the “Angry-Asian man”site so I could see yourdistortedbalancef views. Oh! please also accept my apology since I don’t know what your problem is,,,, but I’ll bet it’s hard to pronounce.Very informative, Spook. And very depressing.
No apology needed—I wasn’t offended. Sorry if I came off as if I were. Actually, I was thinking the same thing you were—given the recent material posted, the Hole was starting to look like a blog dedicated to discussing Korean racism. Which it’s not.
Spook provides the perfect response to the inanity of the taxman’s “they haven’t even been charged yet”:
Anyone who doesn’t appreciate that this sort of police conduct is intrusive and prejudicial - particularly in Korea - has, at best, been lulled into complacence by having mostly lived somewhere where you generally can’t get rousted simply for hanging around talking shit.
“Chilling”, indeed - as I pointed out in #38 et al.
And Robert, these people were in fact arrested - compelled to appear at police hdqtrs - and interrogated, intimidated into providing urine samples and waiving their right to consular advice; they just were not detained after they were booked.
USINKOREA: Reminded me (for no particular reason but the form of the title) of the Harrisburg 7 rather than the Chicago 7 (who were really 8, if you include Bobby Seale, who was originally indicted with the 7 pieces of whitebread). Remember them? I knew Daniel Berrigan from a couple years before he and his brother and the others trashed the draft records at the Harrisburg Selective Service offices, including mine :)),when he was the Catholic chaplain at my undergrad uni.
at least they weren’t tasered.
link to Youtube video
Well, the media got the story all fouled up and riddled with inaccurate information- Big farkin’ surprise!
These performers are being targetted for the content of their performance, plain and simple. The police/immigration explicitly state that they are not targetting this group for the content, but for visa violations. They are doing this to make you think that they are doing the exact opposite of what they are really doing. Well, I wasn’t fooled.
They are being condemned by people who have no idea of the concept of satire. They do not understand lighthearted ribbing and think of it only as attack on Korea. They think of comedy as people dressing in funny costumes or school uniforms and calling each other “ugly” while slapping themselves on the forehead.
Regardless of the what the foreign audience thought- the majority loved it- the most telling is the Korean audience reaction. Most everyone I saw were laughing just as hard as the foreigners. My friend’s husband- a rugged, Busan man, not known for any sense of humor- was howling! He thought it was hilarious!
There is a minority who are so thin-skinned as to not understand that parts of the show were satirizing Korean behaviors, not Korean culture. There is a difference.
Is it Korean culture to be rabidly fanatic about Dokdo? No, that’s a behavior.
The skit about boshintang/dog soup was good in the fact that it showed how Korean people push Korean food and whatnot onto newcoming foreigners. Many times, the foreigner is disgusted at first- take kimchi, bondaegi, dog soup. It can even induce nausea, but, the foreigner can eventually learn to like it. This was all done to the “Green eggs & ham” theme with a little vomit humor.
This show was pretty even in it’s satire. It parodied stupid foriegn teachers, foreigners who do nothing but drink and complain about Korea, loser foreigners who think they are bigshots in Korea- it got ‘em all.
The first skit about complaining foreigners broke out into a song and dance number about Americans’ obsession with guns- “What Korea really needs is guns!”. I thought it was great and I’m American. So is the main actor.
The media story as well as the haters portray it as only an attack on sacred Korean culture- a real farce!
Sperwer—They might very well have been arrested. I made the correction, however, for translation’s sake; wouldn’t want to put words in the Kyunghyang Shinmun’s mouth.
Keep in mind that even if the performers/producers are not deported, they will probably be fired from their jobs. There is that clause about “obeying the laws of Korea” in all of our contracts.
This is a witch hunt!
The sh1t storm got started at Pusanweb.com & ESL-Law by a few foreingers who are supreme loserse whohave nothing betterto do, but try and sully other people. They had a beef with this show and wanted to take it down along with everyone involved.
If you read the “review”-if you can call it that- from ESL-Law in the original piece, you’ll see that the loser who wrote it had nothing intelligent to contribute. They only sought to destroy the performers by spreading lies about the organiser’s alleged drinking habits and comment that one of the female performers has large proportions as if that somehow lessens them as people and worsens the terribleness of their show.
This should show you what kind of level this idiot “reviewer” is operating on.
These idiots are nothing but haters who contribute nothing to our community and only seek to take down other people because they are such losers.
A urinalysis test for failure to get a work permit to conduct a non-profit performance????
This kimchi smells rotten. The Pusan police department are the ones who should be investigated. Korea as a whole should be ashamed.
Also, the foreign “netizen” loser started a rumor on the ESL-Law & Pusanweb forums that drugs were being sold and consumed at the show.
He, I know it was a he, did it for no other reason than to cause trouble for the people involved. It was probably the same loser who chose to disparage the female performer over the size/shape of her body!
This guy should be deported from the planet!
I have no sympathy for people who break Korean law, none. However, shouldn’t the police do things that really matter? Things like enforcing basic traffic laws the violation of which ranks them at almost the top of the world in regards to traffic DEATHS.
Brendon:
Although I’m Canadian, I find your comments about Canadians funny as hell!
by any chance
is anybody from the Busan Nine connected with The Yangpa?
Brendon might want to clarify the details, but I’ve heard it is now possible to sue Korean police officers if they have been rude to you. First thing I would have done if I was one of the performers was inform the cops that I knew of this new law.
“When you stick your head in the gorilla cage, don’t be surprised when he grabs a good handful of your neck” Flip Wilson
Seems overreaching, but nope — there is a legal concept known as “reasonable suspicion”. English teachers with maple-leaf flags on their backpacks are almost certain to be hopheads. Jack ‘em all up, I say.
What gets me about this, and again, I haven’t had time to read all the comments, is how these expats can be rounded up for offending Korean sensibility, and when Koreans read about it in the papers, the mildest form of reaction will be simple agreement that the police did the right thing and the expats should be deported and fined, but a typical reaction would be to off-handedly say the teachers should be roughed up or something.
Yet, this same society can’t get much energy flowing across the masses when it is reported that a Nazi bar is doing business in one of its major cities - that the waiters and waitresses wear brown uniforms akaa Hitler’s fanatically political supports/intemidation troops - complete with swastika armbands.
Something like that comes out, and the expat community reacting to it just doesn’t understand Korean culture - it really isn’t meant the way it looks, its just a concept, yada yada yada…
But I guess they are making progress…
Judging by the limited amount of attention I was able to give to the TV foreign beauties posts here and elsewhere, it seems a fair number of Koreans were upset at what happened there.
Give it another 100 years……and you’ll see….
P.S.
Robert,
Did you have the Chicago 7 in mind when you wrote that phrase?
I did a report on them and Abby Hoffman the year Abby Hoffman killed himself before he killed himself.
I don’t think the two were related……….
I am curious what would happen if some people with F2s staged such an event, but didn’t charge?
How much is the fine for an illegal performance?
I’d like to point out that the Busan police are certainly providing an incentive for expats to spend all their time in bars or just stay home and smoke weed. What else are they going to do, anyway?
But a thought occurs to me: if we really wanted to end prostitution in this country, maybe we could organize a “Take Your Foriegner to Work, and then Room Salon” night. Spread the love. Set some busts in motion. You know the drill. After that, maybe we could start riding our motorcycles down the sidewalk.
What would be funny is a free “Bagopalooza” (yes, Bago) where foreigners wear bags over their heads, or masks….
Why, yes, usinkorea, I did have the Chicago 7 in mind, although I believe the “City-Number” construction is used rather frequently nowadays.
Working Notes for a Romantic Comedy Play that Won’t Get Me Deported:
He’s a Japanese scientist measuring the ocean floor, she’s a Korean reporter covering a story on Dokdo, and - no, scratch that. He’s a handsome chaeobol scion in the first class compartment of the KTX, and they’re three Western beauties en route to Busan, Jewel of the East. Humor ensues as the beauties all vie to win the chaebol scion’s favors…
When will foreigners learn? You are not supposed to make fun of Korean culture. You must marvel at the temples, relish your kimchi, delight in the music, and get wet/hard over the hallyu star of the moment. This is the appropriate response.
Satire? Come back in another 5000 years.
beautiful
all of it
yes right
satire won’t work here in Korea
you should go to Thailand or the Philippines
Sperwer, my sister-in-law was hit by a motorcycle-driving asshole on the sidewalk last week, and almost every day the assclowns pass within centimeters of me on the sidewalk. All of which is illegal. But yeah, an amateur performance by ESL teachers gets more attention by the authorities. Hub of Asia.
1. I wonder if this means the Royal Asiatic Society Korea will have to shut down? They do performances.
2. Also the government quite often uses those without the correct permit to do work for there ministries (side jobs, level testing, etc.)
3. The timing is suspicious, http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/ko.....read=21920 think about it Dong University would have just finished marking final grades. The teacher can NOW be deported without a disruption in the teaching schedule or student marking(minor a few embarrassments). They have already started hiring and the corpse aint even cold yet. Something is rotten about this.
Police sure wouldn’t pull a stunt like that during PIFF either.
3. In addition to claims of violations of E-2 visas, these guys are being prosecuted (persecuted?) for putting on an illegal performance. This is an issue that affects everyone, including bloggers, since right now there appears to be some question as to what kinds of activities foreign workers can do other than work, defecate and sleep. When these guys went in to the police, the police also discussed the illegality of another local event–a regularly-held Poetry night at a local bar where foreigners and Koreans would get up on stage and read poetry and play music to an audience for free. Guess what? The police said that was illegal. Are you in a band that plays in Itaewon on the weekends, or a mix-master at a Shinchon dance club? Guess again! You’re breaking the law according to Pusan police. Talking to a
small group of Korean friends on the street? Who the
heck knows, right? Could be illegal. This has a HUGE chilling effect on what we foreigners can do in Korea.
Frankly, I’m not really sure anymore we can do.
Could it get more Orwellian. Pretty soon we won’t be able to gather in groups larger than 2 or 3 without being deported.
That’s why I asked.
The reference struck a chord with me as being rather brilliant. Not sure exactly why - that the two situations fit or not.
The Chicago 8 (reduced to 7) were leading packs of people into violating laws on the books.
They were taken care of by a corrupt mayor who ruled his domain like Park Chung Hee.
They were also convicted in court by a judge notorious for his verdicts - thus convicted by a broken system.
To me, the reference just rung an interesting bell.
I can’t see how they could have put all the time they did into preparing the skits and failed to look into those registration/visa issues that are being used to mask this move. I also question the wisdom of inviting natives to the gig, since it takes no more than 24 hours in country to realise one is in an irony-free zone of world-beating xenophobia.
I see more scrapes like this as Korea moves into unification mode.
They should get the proper permits and stage another show, free admission.
@slim: ahahahah, unification. Oh wait, you were serious.
@someguyinkorea’s last comment: I don’t know what to say. I̵