Yongsan, hub, English… what’s more to say?
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Yongsan: Dream Hub?
This entry was written by Robert Koehler, posted on February 14, 2008 at 1:03 pm, filed under Ministry of Barbarian Affairs, South Korea. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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37 Comments
Hub.
Hub?
Hubba hubba
Can we safely add the word hub to the list of Words Without Meaning? Globalization, Art, God… and now Hub!
Hubcap on the shoulder of the global highway.
Another dry wet dream in the offing.
All this talk of hubs
Does the people no real good
When they’re up the creek
Hub this and hub that
We dont wanna hub that looks like that
I dont wanna hub that looks like that
(With apologies to the Sex Pistols. “Bodies” from Never Mind the Bullocks.)
Hub! Huh, yeah
What is it good for?
Hub of hubs
i gotta wonder when all this hub-a-palooza’s gonna end. besides, everyone worth their salt knows by now that a “hub” anywhere in Korea is about as useful as a grandma with teeth in a geriatric porno.
have any of the hub dreams (delusions) even come closed to being realized???
Here’s a novel idea…Instead of wasting millions on developing a part of the city that they hope will attract foreign tourists…How about investing that money on developing the areas where they already go?
PS. “If you build it, English speaking foreigners will come” (from the movie ‘Hub of Dreams’).
11. just a few years ago when it was awarded title “Hub of Human Trafficking.”
I think they’ve since lost that title, thankfully.
Whitey, is that a typo or are you being politically correct in renaming the sex pistols’ song?
Yeah, it’ll work because this time the use of English will be *encouraged*.
These hubs are kind of like the English villages they keep building that keep failing because they follow the same tired formula that doesn’t work.
Free housing for foreigners. Discounted office space for foreign companies / tax breaks. Visa rules that allow foreigners to have part-time jobs. All of those things would help this place succeed. Otherwise, this’ll just be another slice of modern Korea…
… which isn’t bad, I guess, in the end.
It’s a little schitzo, isn’t it though? On the one hand companies like Lone Star are given such a hard time here, on the other they build fantastic new cities for companies like Lone Star to do business from.
Is it just baiting the trap with the next little bit of cheese? Maybe another foreign company will fall for it?
#14, If I understand your question correctly, you are asking if “Bodies” is the name of the Sex Pistols song. Yes, it is.
I changed the lyrics, as the original words would not be suitable for a family forum like the Marmot’s Hole.^^
so the National Pension Fund isn’t losing enough money already?
As a Korean American, this makes me frustrated. I wish instead of trying to Americanize (or Anglocize?) Seoul, why don’t we KOREANIZE it. The first time I went to Seoul, I was thoroughly disappointed by the lack of actual Korean culture that was present in the city. And all these attempts to make Seoul a more “global city” aren’t exactly working, if I’m not mistaken.
I know, you expected everyone to to walk around in a hanbok and live in thatched-roof houses kept warm by burning dung. Perhaps some animals and naked children in the streets. Instead your senses were assaulted by a prosperous, modern city. If only they knew you were coming, the Koreans could have eschewed the corrupting influence of modern developments like sewerage and electricity to stay “pure”.
Personally, I blame Japan.
6-star luxury hotels, hi-rise residential complexes, office towers for financial companies…Hm.
It’s not like I don’t want Korea to have its own Dubai, I do.
Koreans are great builders. There’s a reason Kangnam’s main street is called Teheran-ro, after all. Middle East construction contracts financed that strip. They think of buildings as an all-round solution. But buildings alone won’t populate the hub.
Here are some better ideas:
-Allow foreign legal firms to operate freely in Korea.
-Allow Korean companies of all sizes to hire foreign professionals; greatly expand the number of E7 visas granted.
-Drop the law that degree-granting institutions be non-profit, thereby attracting foreign schools.
-Speed up the adoption of foreign accounting rules, whether US GAAP or IFRS. Make the audit reports public.
-Break unions. Stop forcing companies to pay salaries for union executives that do no work. Unwind many of the laws that make layoffs all but impossible.
-Resolve Lone Star - immediately.
-Privatize English. Get the government out of the business entirely, including the regulating of it.
-Get serious about enforcing punishments against the chaebol and their executives when corruption, collusion, fraud and illegal wealth transfer is proven.
This will bring in more foreign money. Foreigners come here for money (many stay for love, but they came for money). Bringing foreign money will bring foreigners (the stated goal).
BTW - it’ll be good for Korea as a whole, too.
Korea Sparkling English Hub!
Be the English Hub!
Korea Hubbing!
Oh, the hub with it…
#19:
Actually, no. I know full well that people in Korea don’t run around in hanbok and live in thatched-roof houses. When I say that I was surprised by the lack of Korean culture was the fact that people in Korea often have no appreciation for their own culture, and are eager to bulldoze their own culture and customs and replace them with Western things. For example, traditional Korean buildings, such as hanbok in the Bukchon area, are being constantly demolished and replaced with newer and more modern buildings. What’s more is that most people are happy for the change, or at the least don’t mind.
I hear you frederick, but I like to think that Korea is now in a phase where people slowly get rid of their bulldozer mentality (from the Park Jeong-Hee era) and start developing the appreciation for the finer things in life, such as culture and tradition. Perhaps the recent Namdaemun incident will accelerate that process… but then maybe it’s just my fantasy.
#20: woah, I used to pass by Teheran-Ro every day and not once did it cross my mind that Teheran was supposed to mean THAT.
#20 - Teheran-ro was renamed after the mayor of Teheran visited. I think the road was called Samsung-ro, but I’m not sure on that. I don’t think it was because Middle Eastern construction contracts financed the area - but then again, I can’t be entirely sure.
Oh, I didn’t mean the origin of the name. I just didn’t realize Teheran = Tehran, haha.
LinkD:
Can you hold your breath as long as a Jeju diver on inter-stellar life support? It still won’t be long enough.
February 15, 2008 (Reuters) Transliteration Error Lands Canadian “Hub” Specialist in Hot Water
Billy B. Robertson, a Canadian equity markets analyst and recent victim of mass layoffs in the financial industry following the subprime meltdown, thought he had found his dream opportunity when he heard about Korea’s need for “Hub” specialists.
“I have always been interested in the nurturing of fine Hub,” said Billy during a phone interview from his prison cell in Seoul. “I heard that the Korean market was drastically underserved in the area of Hub, particularly in the area of Hub financing, and I thought I would be welcomed with open arms.” So, Billy packed up his spreadsheets, stuffed his pockets with ‘seed money’ for his new venture, and boarded a plane to Korea.
Blood tests conducted at the request of Korean Immigration officials confirmed Mr. Robertson’s extensive experience in the field of Hub. “It’s like Lone Star all over again,” said Billy, “they say they want foreign help to build up an industry, but as soon as someone takes them up on the offer, they bring down the hammer. How are Koreans ever going to get good Hub at this rate?”
Asked about his future plans once he resolves his current legal problems, Mr. Robertson gave a surprising answer. “You’d think I’d be down on Korea after all this, but I still see great market potential here. I’m thinking of a pizza chain; top item will be ‘Billy’s Famous 버섯 Pizza’. It’s not Hub, but I think Koreans will like it once they try it.”
Sperwer: Yes, but you read the MH, so I was hoping you might transmit my suggestions to such influential policymakers as you have access to. Feel free to call them your own. And there’s always the UN SecGen…
Seoul is the armpit of Korea. If you really want to see ‘Korean culture’ (and meet some much, much more hospitable people — most Seoulites are assholes) get yourself out to the provinces. Big cities are mostly all the same.
#30,
I rarely had good Korean food in Seoul.
As a Korean we need to welcome ideas like this, but unfornuately people are not willing to be imaginative not yet atleast.
Hopefully President Lee will change this.
I can’t believe people like Robertson are being marginalized in Korea, he has experience and expertise that can help the economy.
I wonder if the shopping malls at that Yongsan development, keeping with the korean way, will charge twice as much as similar places in other large asian cities.
If they’re really going to stay with the “Korean way”, the retail spaces will be pre-sold (”bunyanged”) out in tiny parcels to marginal, ajumma investors — so that the whole thing turns into one big undifferentiated rummage sale.
Linkd:
I’m saving my breath for more rewarding activities.
This has happened in part because millions of Koreans chose to live overseas, many in Western countries, where they developed fondness for Western things.
Had Koreans just stayed home, they would have been more happy with their own culture and customs, more like, say, Laos and Bhutan.
FWIW, I haven’t met that many Westerners who think Korea is turning Western and abandoning traditional Korean mindset and culture.
“Seoul is the armpit of Korea. If you really want to see ‘Korean culture’ (and meet some much, much more hospitable people — most Seoulites are assholes) get yourself out to the provinces. Big cities are mostly all the same.”
I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in rural 충청남도. Trust me, the mindset is similar, if not the same. Gwangcheon is basically like a much smaller and less crowded version of Seoul, with a more rustic atmosphere. The people act, dress, talk the same (Yes, much of the younger generation speaks in 표준말, not the usual saturi). More or less, people there litter A LOT more than the average Seoulite. I highly doubt any of the people that I’ve met and observed in 충청남도 “appreciate” Korean culture.