As many of you regular readers know, I am not the biggest fan of the English press in Korea. Like many expats here, I opine that that the daily English media I consume always has a nice puffy and glossy varnish. Sure it has some facts, but gone seems to be the grit and vitriol translated and cataloged here at the “Hole”.
What I do find interesting about the English media is its ability to inadvertently show what goes on behind the curtain, either on what goes on in Korean society, the Korean newsroom, or both. So consider how I reacted to this news on serial killers:
Joong-Ang Ilbo reporters and the Korean Institute of Criminology, a state-run crime and criminal justice research agency, profiled 54 known Korean serial killers for three months beginning in July.
Fifty-four? There have been at LEAST 54 serial killers in Korea. Considering Korea’s lack of records, or willingness to discuss, prior to the Korean war, that is an average of one a year. Yet in my nine years here, I figure I could count on my hand the number of times a serial killer was talked about, let alone “known” (ie convicted). The search box at the upper right of that JoongAng piece was just dying to be used for a little research.
After searching ”serial killer”, here are all the English mentions in the English JoongAng daily from 1998 to present (for brevity I only cite the names, not all the articles):
Unidentified Killer in SW Seoul (possibly Yoo Yeong-cheol)
Unidentified Killer in Seoul (again, possibly Yoo)
Now of those, Kim’s and the Hwaseong cases date before the 1998 limit of JoongAng searches, and were mentioned only a background on other stories. They are still valid to me. The two unidentifieds are possibly Yoo, but I don’t have the energy to cross-reference the cases pin them down exactly. The Hongdae killer is more rumor than a case, in fact the word “serial” is directly attributed to a rumor.
But lets charitable and say this is list of 5-6 serial killers in the Korea catalogued by the Joongang. This somewhat collaborates a statement made in one of the articles cited above, and again found in a 2004 edition of the JoongAng:
Since 1976, there have been five serial killer cases in Korea. Except for one case in Hwaseong in 1986, the murderers were either caught by police or turned themselves in.
Now if you consider all this, you can get a few conclusions:
1. Given some evidence in support, the Joongang statement could very well be true. In turn this would mean that of at least 54 cases of Korean serial killers, 49 were active in a period of about 20 years (post-war to 1976). Korea must have been a very violent place back then.
2. The JoongAng some how got its facts wrong. That is to say these 54 killers were more evenly distributed over the past fifty years, were chronicled in detail enough to be analyzed today, and yet some escaped noticed by JoongAng’s crack staff.
3. JoongAng has a strong standard for what is considered a “serial killer” than the experts (or one would think the Korean Institute of Criminology would qualify as such), and thus either actively or passively squashed reporting.
4. The JoongAng did dutifully report on these serial killers, but only via its Korean language channels. Thus making the above a bold-faced lie to the foreigner public.
Now granted there could be a bit of all four behind the curiosity, but I tell you its just another reason I am hesitant to consider Korean news a source of record. And even more disturbing, to think I consider the JoongAng one of the better ones!
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
Did you know that “English” should be capitalized?
colontos, I’d bet he does. We call them typos.
“[O]ne of the greatest joys a white person can experience is to catch a grammar mistake [as] [f]inding one allows a white person to believe that they are better than the writer” — #99 Grammar « Stuff White People Like.
Of course, “best” should be “bet.” As a white person, can I feel joy and superiority over myself for finding my own mistake?
I think there is much weight in your conclusion number one. People have rosy and nostalgic picture of the past. But consider this… back in those days students were routinely beaten up at schools by both the teachers and other students. You figure when everyone is poor and violent, you’ll produce some whack jobs. I can imagine a dictator hiding the truth to make it seem like he is doing a good job running the country. Some really awful cold blooded atrocities occurred during the Korean war….
Hell, the Korean police should be counted as one of the serial killers considering the number of student demonstrators they gleefully by torture.
We all make mistakes from time to time with keyboard strokes, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and overall organization, but I think some of us need special encouragement to improve in these areas.
Sorry Nathan. I guess it’s a good thing I’m not teaching English in Korea.
I think it’s a sign of progress. The English press is nowadays much more likely to print stories that are negative on Korea. You’d never see such a story in the 90s.
Of course, the 2004 story is either a lie or a reflection of “official” data at the time.
For Christ’s sake (it IS Christmas after all) would you please read (and think about) your fucking posts before you press the send button? If you start your blog post with this tripe, you deserve to be fleeced:
“Like many expats here, I opine that that the daily English media I consume always has a nice puffy and glossy varnish. Sure it has some facts, but gone seems to be the grit and vitriol translated and cataloged here at the “Hole”.”
“I opine” is about as pompous as it gets. Indeed, it would seem to remind someone of that fair adjective, “puffy” that that that that you so artfully used to characterize the country’s english media. “Like many expats here..” No, please don’t speak for me thusly…
Does anyone know anything about the man that got stabbed in Hongdae at “go gos” in the early hours of the morning, Sunday the 21st of December 2008? All I saw was him being carried out by police and all the blood all over the floor. I’m not sure if he survived or not.
Does anyone know anything about the man that got stabbed in Hongdae at “go gos” in the early hours of the morning, Sunday the 21st of December 2008? All I saw was him being carried out by police and all the blood all over the floor. I’m not sure if he survived or not.
Oh, and a bit more friendly advice for you, dramster: if you’re going to make “conclusions” from one of your posts, don’t number them. It brings more attention to the rather high likelihood that you’ve missed a few possibilities. And, if you “don’t have the energy to cross-reference the cases pin them down exactly,” wouldn’t it be better if you simply didn’t opine at all?
@8 First, I said “many”, which is not even a majority. How you can construe you’re even in that group is either facile (look it up Webster) or begs a pathological need for a sense of inclusion. Seriously, were you held as a child.
As for “opine”, if you feel it’s pompous, what do you suggest? I dislike “opinion” in this case, since I do not intend to offer a judgment or conclusion. Perhaps I could use “think”, however it is so general a word it does not capture what I want to say. After some thought I think the best word should have been “I conjecture” (or is it “I conject”?). Consider that word is more than two syllables however I suppose it surpasses your standard of “pompous” and brings us back to your original crux.
“Puffy” was a pointed choice on my part, since some newspaper stories are referred to as “puff pieces”. I suppose I could have used “fluffy” since the words are use alternately in the trade. Which one do you prefer?
Thanks for your constructive criticism. I look forward to your future input.
@11 Fair point on the numbering. I may have been in the PowerPoint world too long, and the nasty habit has carried over.
As for the cross-referencing, I think you’re nitpicking a bit. Even if I did include them as unique cases, the projected number is still only 6-7 serial killers. I fail to see how generous estimate like that would change my thoughts. If it’s not “where are the other 49-50″, it would be “where are the other 48-49″.
WTF are you talking about???
“First, I said “many”, which is not even a majority. How you can construe you’re even in that group is either facile (look it up Webster) or begs a pathological need for a sense of inclusion. Seriously, were you held as a child.
Excellent work, Dram Man.
Re: 8. “Does anyone know anything about the man that got stabbed in Hongdae at “go gos” in the early hours of the morning, Sunday the 21st of December 2008?”
If the victim wasn’t Korean, and you haven’t read of the incident in an English paper by now… you won’t. I wish it weren’t so, but it is.
Well, I know that there was a killer on the loose in Namsan park around two winters ago. He had murdered and dumped two women there (with links to others). The police were on constant patrol day and night – I know this because I saw them while walking my dog there (I lived very close to the park). My Korean friend asked them why they were patrolling the area (thinking that maybe some VIP was staying at the Hyatt and they needed some protection) and was told just to be careful. Feeling unsatisfied with this my friend dug a little deeper and found out about the two bodies. For days I waited for some news article about this to serve as a warning to the foreigners who live in this neighbourhood, but alas none came via the English media. Never found out if the killer was caught but as patrolls suddenly stopped after a few weeks – I guess (hope) he/she was found.
Is it really acceptable to bitch about the English language press in Korea when you cannot read the Korean language press? Or any other language?
Like many expats here, I opine that that the daily English media I consume always has a nice puffy and glossy varnish. Sure it has some facts, but gone seems to be the grit and vitriol translated and cataloged here at the “Hole”.
Here’s a question — why read English media? Learn Korean and read in Korean! After all, if you wish to know something about a country, is it not natural to learn the country’s language first?
#8,
To the fellow hailing from the same flag: in the spirit of the Christmas that you mentioned, be gentle rather than harsh.
After all, if you wish to know something about a country, is it not natural to learn the country’s language first?
Natural? No. Some need to learn the language and some don’t. Depends on the individual.
#19… Bullshit. in case you didn’t notice, i took the “lord’s” name in vane. i couldn’t care less about xmas. (that’s putting it as gently as i can.)
THE APOLOGY: dram_man raised an interesting issue that was more than worthy of consideration. i should have applauded him at the same time that i was castigating him. apologies for being a complete ass when only being a partial asshole was what called for here.
but,
THE BOTTOM LINE: i’ve been hounding him with my simple advice to read and consider what he writes before hitting “send” for as long as he has been posting on this blog. And yet, he still can’t think it through. Hell, why not type first in an ms word file, go piss/smoke/whack-off (whatever!) and then come back and cut and paste after finding and correcting your mistakes. Is that so hard? We all make mistakes and we all need some editing. But some need it more than others. And anyways, no one is rushing to beat you on posting this kind of thing first.
#21,
On a bit of an editing rant, are we?
I understand your point, so why not offer to the Dram Man to be his proofer prior to his publication, if it’s acceptable to him?
Dram’s articles cover things that are of interest to a number of us here.
Be part of the solution, not just the whiny morass of being an culturally insensitive sod with edits he’s awanting.
BTW, it’s ‘….takes in vain..’. Vane is something you’ll find atop a wind turbine, vain is something Carly Simon sings about.
I do understand the calls of “Your in Korea, learn Korean and read Korean Newspapers”. I do so when I have the time to hack through them with my limited skill.
The observation “English newspapers in Korea only contain partial information” is not really my point exactly. Korean is constantly worried about its image to the world (perhaps one reason for the questionable reporting). The problem is the truth eventual comes out (in this case Korea has had at least 54 serial killers in the modren era).
Prolific nature of Items like this lead to a rather large confidence gap, not just in the particular Korean newspaper, but ANY Korean media outlet. Consider the efforts I derided by the Blue House to give foreign reporters the “right” message about the Korean economy. Such an effort would have been a lot more successful (and attracted a lot less derision) if the Korean media in general was more truthful and upfront about disclosing national problems in other areas.
Lets take a lighter place where creating such a credibility gap can have a effect. Korea makes constant advertisements and slogans promoting Korea as a tourism destination. While this is all fine and good, we would have to take such claims of tourism nirvana with a grain of salt because Korea has not been upfront with other issues in the past. Meanwhile as a tourist, I only have enough money and time for ONE vacation a year, and that vacation better be good. I may simply say “Korea? Why take the risk?”.
Or to move on to a more difficult issue, Dokdo/Takeshima. Dokdo supporters love to claim they have cataloged much “evidence” for their claim, sometimes for both sides, and triumphantly proclaim victory. The veracity of the “evidence” notwithstanding, as an jury member in the court of public opinion I must say that the inability of the Korean press to be frank in their own telling of events makes me doubt the work done by these proponents, and thus my apathy to the cause.
“You’re”.
Yes, it is natural to learn the language of a country one is interested in; however, it takes years to become fluent enough in Korean to understand newspapers or TV broadcasts. I enjoyed learning and communicating in Korean very much, but for the past three years I literally have not spoken one word of Korean. The lone Chinese family in our school moved last year, so I can throw those language skills down the toilet, too. De verdad el espanol is el segunda lengua de los estados unidos.
I very much appreciate Dram man’s article; and I feel he does raise a very poignant issue: the problems caused by this concept of “face”/ “image.”
In cases such as these, one finds it to be an exercise in self-defeat.
We can not report the real story, lest people lose faith (from within or outside) in this country and its people. Contrary to the wonderful adage “esse quam videri” (“to be rather than to seem”), the motto in this neck of the woods is “Seeming is being.” One of the reasons for the existence of a government is to protect its citizens; Dram man’s article raises the question: “Exactly to what extent does the Korean government — and the media which one could argue is far more powerful — do this?”
In my hometown, we’ve had several serial killers in my lifetime. Everyone knew this, and, more importantly, everyone was able to take precautions so as not to become the next person found skinned and without a head.
The police were then forced/”encouraged” to get on the ball, 1. launching numerous investigations to catch theses psychos 2. increasing the the police numbers/presence on the streets, 3. working with the FBI to further ensure these psychos would be stopped, and 4. putting out information and warnings to the citizens on how to be safe (and how to feel safe). The system worked too. Shit gets done.
As most of you are thinking now though, this is far too reasonable, rational, and effective an approach for the Land of the Morning Calm. You are all correct too. Maybe the K. media/government knows its people all too well. Given that Koreans tend to be highly susceptible to majority-rule “thinking,” to mass public hysteria, to shotgun emotional reactions displayed en masse in public, and to “follow-any-leader” behaviors, maybe there are some very conscious reasons for the media blackout of serial killer issues. It is so much easier to blame it on the Japanese (or the Americans) anyway.
“Keep the people stupid”; hasn’t this been the ruling ideology in Korea for the past 600 years or so? Why should this policy abruptly change when Korea has obviously done so well by it?
In that case, I hope you’ll be able to weather His reaction, if any.
“Learn Korean and read in Korean!”
a) In my many years in Korea, I spent all day every day with Koreans. Speaking English. The last thing I wanted to do when I got home was see more Koreans.
b) Korea doesn’t give foreigners rights, so why would I learn the language of a country that permanently excludes me?
c) Foreigners in Korea who speak Korean do it to date Koreans. Always. Having Koreans in the apartment means you can’t smoke pot. I like smoking pot. I don’t like jail.
d) Dating Koreans means you can never leave Korea. Yikes.
By the way, although I wonder why he chose to do this on Christmas I thank Dram-man for this interesting post.
I am not, however, surprised that the English-language press presents a rose-coloured picture of Korea to the world. Foreigners in Korea, after all, live in mansions in Hannam-dong, all work in air-conditioned office towers with security guards and have limousines and drivers. At least, the kind of foreigners that Koreans want to admit exist. These kinds of people are unlikely to be victimized by crime on the street. They’d just better not have enough money to buy a bank or the Koreans will get them, too.
The other kind of foreigner, the kind that actually walk down the street and shop in stores, is just trying to gain the status of necessary evil in Korea today. Giving these people an accurate picture of Korea would be the responsibility of the media here, if they didn’t just see themselves as shills for the government and corporations. Their endless boosterism presents a shiny, happy picture of Korea to the world but if you really showed what life was like in Seoul who would ever go there?
Yes, Mr. Mao is dead on. The K. English-language newspapers are arguably the publications MOST concerned with Korea’s image in Korea.
Here are newspapers found in the major hotels in Seoul (and elsewhere),
in the hotel lobbies complimentary to all guests. From personal experience, they even place copies in hotel rooms sometimes (the bell boy brings them up
sometime before you arrive in your room).
Obviously, such newspapers aren’t going to give in-depth coverage to actual issues in Korea.
The Korean-language newspapers are better at covering important domestic issues; but, they don’t come close to Western counterparts in the area of critical (and rational)self-evaluation of one’s society/culture/government.
Maybe it is best that a majority of non-Koreans in Korea lack proficiency in the Korean language. Ignorance is bliss I reckon. Just think “kimchi, hanbok, 5000 years . . . kimchi, hanbok, 5000 years” and everything will be okay.
Mr Mao – you are loved.
vain
Writing in an MS Word file, then cutting-and-pasting into an HTML editor, is a disaster of epic proportions. Never write for the Web this way. The HTML thus produced is some of the worst garbage you’ll ever find. It’s a nightmare to clean up. Andy Jackson does this to us sometimes…
Use a text editor instead.
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