The Herald Gyeongje (via the Chosun Ilbo) reports that a recent poll of 3,000 VIPs by the tour company Cosmojin revealed that about Korea, the VIPs most remembered Seoul’s 24-hour-a-day activity, hanjeonsik, bad traffic, buildings covered in signboards, the stiff look on everybody’s faces, lots of beautiful women and high coffee prices.
Many of the VIPs wondered why there were so many thin, beautiful women in Korea and said Korean women were pretty and thin like movie stars. There was some criticism, though, that while they were sophisticated and well-dressed like movie stars, there was too much uniformity in appearence. Industry officials explained that thanks to Korea’s good weather with four distict seasons, there were relatively many good-looking men and women.
Northern Europeans seemed to like Seoul’s vibrant atmosphere — many especially liked Seoul’s particular use of space, with schools, cultural facilities and housing concentrated on one block. In addition, many liked how the Dongdaemun clothing market and many other shops were open 24 hours a day, as opposed to Europe, where shops close at 6pm.
The foreign VIPs also liked the visual and taste appeal of hanjeongsik, although many were surprised at the amount of food placed on the table.
Not everything was so great, though. There’s the horn-heavy driving culture, the never-ending traffic congestion, there are the people rushing around with gruff, seemingly angry expressions on their face, and the buildings covered in signboards. They also found unusual the price of coffee, which hovers at around 10,000 won.
{ 157 comments… read them below or add one }
Where is coffee 10,000won, and are VIPs actually paying for their coffee?
8 bucks for a cup of coffee!?!?!?
Thank god I live in the states!
i’ve never bought coffee here for 10 bucks or 8 bucks. A venti latte at starbucks is like 6500 won tops
I had always thought having four distinct seasons was just something that made Korea different from every other country in the world. I did not realize that it makes you physically attractive as well.
Also, Kimchi prevents SARS.
And fans kill.
Man-won (10,000 won) coffees can typically be found in all major 5-star hotels in their lobbies and lounges, either including tax and service charge, or not. Also Samcheonggak, run by the Paradise Hotel, charges about that for a coffee, PLUS tax. That’s been the way for at least a decade.
What kills me is that some people (locals, mostly) actually go to a hotel when they are not staying there just for a coffee.
I mean think of where VIPs are staying and going. They are not popping into the local Starbucks for a venti latte. They are living it up at the Westin Chosun or Hyatt and drinking coffee there.
Last week I walked into a pretty little coffee shop in the back alley of Hakdong 4-거리 because the Sony Service Centre wasn’t open till 11am. I was given the menu saw americano was 8000 won, and most of the coffee did reach ~ 10,000won. It’s also the same in posh hotels where you’re paying for the space, not the coffee. This is true in other countries as well but doesn’t seem as extortionate as it is in Korea where you can get everything else relatively cheaper.
Is this supposed to be a parody, or what? This article reads like it could have been ripped right from the pages of the Yangpa.
Yuna makes an interesting point.
1) Cafe Lali/La Li (spelling?) has exorbitant prices for coffee and cakes served at tables by chic looking waiters in beautiful cafes, because you are paying for 자리값 as Koreans call it – the ambience and interior decorations, the view outside the window, etc.
2) I bet the VIPs visiting here failed to notice that Korea is not only the land where a coffee can cost as much as 10,000 won, but also the land where a good square meal can cost as little as 5,000won. Show me where you can get that kind of value in America (or Australia) – and McDonalds doesn’t count! The prices mentioned are only indicative of the places where these VIPs were sequestered from the average Joe Kims.
Zoanth, I suffer from the exact same disease. When you start to fail to distinguish the real world from the world portrayed by the Onion, it’s time that you take a step back from that brink of “Nirvana of sarcasm and dry humour”, otherwise you’ll end up like Eyore, all alone and friendless.
Eyore->Eeyore
Eyesore
I’ve heard similar comments about Korea and Korean women from people, but they weren’t Very Important.
I’m a MIP, Moderately Important Person, and I say the coffee ain’t so expensive and the women look kinda tiny and sickly generally. Its a strange life when you decide not to pursue a cutie because you’re afraid you’ll break her in half with the first hug.
Tell me you jest, Marmot. (I’ll be amused either way).
I don’t believe this either. Hot chicks are never friendless. I’ll need a source.
From article:
“‘한국은 4계절 변화가 뚜렷한 좋은 날씨 덕에 비교적 미남미녀가 많다’고 돌려 설명했다”고 이 매체는 전했다.
Read it and weep.
As far as coffee is concerned, I used to pay 200 won at the machine out the front of my building. I say ‘used to’ because yesterday the machine eructated what tasted like chilled sparrow shit in my cup. I was so intent on staring at a wall that I swallowed half of it without looking.
In terms of superficial first impressions – that wasn’t too bad. I’d have to agree about the stiff, gruff expressions in Seoul. In wonder how long that has been a national trait.
Crikey. btw, can someone please tell me what this word means: 미남미녀가?
Does this indicate that we’re talking about boys and girls?
As an aside, when I went to North Korea, the first thing our guide told us on the bus from the “airport” was that we had come to a country of four distinct seasons. I can only assume that this peculiar point has been a subject of pride since before the nasty Americans separated the peninsula.
Yet more evidence that Australia is a land that culture forgot (see also hoju_saram below, or above, once the nesting ends again.)
http://www.just-pooh.com/eeyore.html
Somebody’s playing tongue in cheek here. It could be the VIPs who got fed the 4 season shit until it came out of their ears, the company who surveyed the VIPs, or the newspaper (NOT!) .. I think it’s the first lot, but the joke was not lost completely by the second lot, much to their credit, because they used the phrase “돌려 설명했다 .” & yes, it’s referring to both good looking men and women.
However, I must say I do notice the seasons in Korea a whole lot more than anywhere else I’ve lived in. The colours on the flowers and the trees and the mountains in the vicinity, as well as the very seasonal produce and habit/tradition of eating different stuff according to the seasons..
Since discovering the Marmots Hole, I have become like Jung Ryowon in Kimssi Pyoryugi. I think she’s hot enough.( Unless you were referring to Eeyore, who’s a toy donkey from Winnie the Pooh, and who’s not an eyesore either..)
Rest assured, have you not seen the Japanese sumo wrestlers? They usually end up with tiny & cute girls.
I can’t wait to see what happens should global warming switch all of Korea over to a semi-tropical climate similar to Fukuoka and 체주도.
joked was not lost completely by -> “on”
Two things:
1. Coffee shops in the 90s used to charge W8000 (actually USD 10 at the time) for a small cup of weak hazelnut filtered through a used gym sock. Fivebucks actually brought prices down.
2. You can freak out a Korean by telling him or her you have more than four seasons in your home country/state/province/oblast. More is obviously better.
and let’s be honest… perhaps in the neighborhoods and environments that these “VIPs” were in, they saw some hotties, but I have to disagree… Don’t get me wrong, I like me Korean girls, but the AVERAGE isn’t so strikingly beautiful. Often they are short, short-legged/long-trunked, no arse, small breasts, bad skin, the list goes on… Ride the subway around Seoul all day long and take notes and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Thank god my lovely girl is none of these, heh heh heh.
Hot Korean birds who love foreigner cock, and you guys find time to gripe about eight buck coffee?
“Many of the VIPs wondered why there were so many thin, beautiful women in Korea and said Korean women were pretty and thin like movie stars. There was some criticism, though, that while they were sophisticated and well-dressed like movie stars, there was too much uniformity in appearence. ”
That’s because they’re all wearing Starbucks uniforms.
‘long-trunked’? Sounds more like a description of an elephant
This study only tells me how little these VIPs know about Korea. Yikes, it’s like they read Lonely Planet Korea and then decided to let it fly.
Also, unless they hung out only in Apgu, I’m wondering where all these “beautiful” girls are at.
Hoju,
MiNamMiNyo – good-looking men and women
And your description of your vending machine coffee what a hoot – thanks.
MiNamMiNyo
Ok, now i get it Cactus.
Yuna,
Actually, I thought you were talking about Lee Hyori and decided to use some sort of weird romanization.
Eujin,
Reminds me of a joke someone told me once (probably a pom): what’s the difference between an Australian and a tub of yogurt? Put a tub of yogurt in the sun long enough and it will develop culture.
Yeah… I pretty much stopped going to ‘coffee shops’ of my own accord after about the third one I visited. I hate hazelnut. I could only barely contain my glee when espresso shops started popping up in my town after I had been in Korea for a year or so. Sadly enough, the beer never really got that much better in the six years in which I live in Korea, but at least it was cheap.
Do the non-chain tabangs still send cute girls out with coffee to businesses/homes/shops? I always thought that it was a great opportunity to cross the cultural divide, however briefly.
I should explain, perhaps..
Back in the day (early-to-mid 80s) there were (it seemed) no chain coffee shops, only individual tabangs. It seemed to me that all sorts of business, assignations, dates, etc. went on there. The coffee (I think was about 1000 W) was instant but the eye candy was tasty. I remember a friend of mine getting laid a lot out of several tabangs but I never got to taste that brew. I had made it a point of collecting a matchbox from each of the ones I visited and had over 300 of them at one time. Also, if it played music, you could send a request for particular tunes.
Back in the day, I remember a time when the notion of paying for water was a mild culture shock to many Americans. Bottled water was a newfangled concept that the yuppies copied from the godless Europeans.
Then during the 90′s, we had the great Coffee Inflation.
Today, we have a new breed of American Cultural Evolution and the Great Leap Backwards. Organic foods and “local-vores”. You pay more money for the privilege of eating like our predecessors did a 100 years ago. Ever try overpriced “grain coffee” in a “Microbiotic” restaurant where it smells like stale organic fart inside?
NK never fails to impress me with his writing.
I have gained mirth from ‘stale organic fart’ but I suggest to you that mine are quite macrobiotic.
long-trunked.. yeah, did sound like an elephant. I meant long-waisted, or with a long-torso, though I assume everyone knew what I meant, especially those who’ve dealt with Korean girls.
I get my coffee for free in the little machine next to the toothpicks.
I guess Korea must have invented the four seasons to be able to make claim to it’s affect on it’s gorgeous citizens. Wait, don’t they have four seasons in Buffalo NY?
As an alternative theory, I think the hotties flock to hotels where coffee is purchased on corporate cards… in hopes they can land a CEO.
Granfalloon,
So have I, but the guys saying those things kinda of remind me of these two…
(Probably NSFW)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4
It’s youtube. How NSFW can it be?
CMM thanks for the long-trunked comment. my K-Girl and I had a good laugh. I’ve often mentioned it about K-girls, and people say I’m just making stereo-types, but as a designer, u can’t help but notice the ill proportions!
(My girl says it’s because Koreans have longer intestines to help digest all the vegetables they eat)
Yellow Feva *boom* *chaka**boom*
Boom chaka laka some more…
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/tor/881177993.html
ㅋㅋㅋ…
Re #45 – LOL. If you gyopos are losing “your women” to the likes of that guy your problems go deeper that I thought.
Anyway, it’s probably pawi or other goose steppers posting goof personals to scare the Asian ladies.
@seouliva
How does one procure a K-girl that one can make “my” K-girl? **rolls eyes**
Well,
Michael Cerna can have Charlyne Yi…
http://www.whosdatedwho.com/celebrities/people/dating/michael-cera.htm
Just to clarify, I’m not hating about, as seouldout just wrote, losing our women, but I wonder why some guys refer to their Korean girlfriend or K girlfriend. Would you say my Black girlfriend (she’s my B girlfriend) or even my Irish girlfriend? Maybe you would and I’m sure you have good relations with your ‘mate.
I wouldn’t ever want to be known as the “k-boyfriend.” But what do I know?
I second t_song. I would have punched the (emotional) living daylights out of someone who referred to me as a K-girl in my face. It’s good that you guys have the special “love goggles” on and you love your girlfriends, but if you ever want to know if she is really attractive, ask any ajossi, they’ll tell it to you straight, instead of the girlfriends themselves. For example, Koreans call Lee Hyori and Britney Spears *long trunked*, aye?
That’s classic, man. Eeyore = LeeHyori !!! And there I was, thinking you’d somehow figured out that I was a hot chick.
@Eujin
To borrow another famous quote from Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit to Owl:
“You and I have brains. The others have fluff.”
in my face -> to my face…
I don’t think you have a girlfriend seouliva, enjoy your hand.
No way. As has been demonstrated to me umpteen dozen times over the years, many Koreans (most? large majority?) have very different standards of what is beautiful than a “westerner” does. I’ve occasionally heard from Korean friends “Why is that ugly woman with that cute American guy?”, while I was thinking to myself “How’d a geek like that get a girlfriend who was so hot?”
If I want to know if she is really attractive, I’ll ask friends or co-workers; people who share my perspective on beauty, if not my exact tastes.
Yeah alright, Babaganoosh, Co-workers, fine. I don’t know about friends. A Girl would tell her girlfriend straight (maybe too straight) if the guy they were going out with was ruining her life etc. but don’t guys have a code about these things? But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I agree.
That’s classic, man. Eeyore = LeeHyori !!! And there I was, thinking you’d somehow figured out that I was a hot chick.
But I knew that already!
Incidentally, an ajossi called me long-trunked once, in a 찜질방.
“As an alternative theory, I think the hotties flock to hotels where coffee is purchased on corporate cards… in hopes they can land a CEO.”
I agree to this and offer a supporting anecdote.
The second hottest K-girl (just kidding friends, I mean “girl”) that I’ve dated in Korea… was like this. I heard that she recently went through about a 9 month marriage-divorce with a chaebol heir whom she met at a fancy hotel restaurant. She got a huge settlement out of the divorce which she is using to pay for her very frequent and expensive brunches at fancy hotel restaurants. Perhaps the VIPs surveyed saw her.
I’d miss her if she wasn’t the 2nd hottest…
so cmm–which chaebol are you an heir for?
What the fuck does Australia’s lack of culture have to do with a stuffed donkey?
And how the hell did you know what hoju saram was going to post later in time?
And where is the nesting? Are we back in internet retard land again?
T-Song (is that like T-Pain, the hiphop star with the electronic voice?), to answer your questions:
“so cmm–which chaebol are you an heir for?”
Haha. I’m not an heir for any chaebol… …yet.
“How does one procure a K-girl that one can make “my” K-girl?”
It’s a two step process. 1) Verify she’s Korean. 2) Date her.
and another question for you then:
My brother is dating a girl whom we refer to as the “Polish Girl.” She thinks it’s funny. What part of “K-girl” makes you roll your eyes?
To #56 cmm,
I may know that girl. Does her first name start with the letter “K”?
no, her first initials would be ㅎ, and by answering this question, we seem to be supporting vince’s theory.
@Darth Babaganoosh:
“I’ve occasionally heard from Korean friends “Why is that ugly woman with that cute American guy?”, while I was thinking to myself “How’d a geek like that get a girlfriend who was so hot?””
Senseless to complain. From this magic I have a wife and two daughters.
t_song:
K-girl is just a fun term; i guess it came up from back in my first year when my only friends in korea were foreigners. we also had a word for the korean teachers; Kreatures.
if i dated a korean girl back in canada, she would just be my gf, but here, there is often a time for clarification for whether you’re dating a korean girl or a “waygook” girl. as most know, there are extreme differences.
KrZ, you’re totally right, i don’t have a girlfriend. i have a wife. and she’s still my K-girl. and i do, as you suggested, on occasion, still enjoy my hand.
You calling me out, Pyotr?
@cmm
Well, you are the exception. I also don’t know the context of the Polish girl. So, as I said, you might be the exception. Why this is annoying, and when it’s annoying, is when the reference to K-girl or K-girlfriend isn’t some insider joke that the recipient is an active and aware part of–but instead the monniker is some type of distant categorization, implying that a K-girl isn’t an actual human being but rather some type of collectible item, like a baseball card, a Pog, or Dungeon & Dragon action figures. Like Pokemon: Gotta catch ‘em all!
Most foreign guys or girls don’t even consider things this deeply when they’re dating Koreans (and probably other Asian races apply, too, as I’ve heard variations of “my” Chinese, Thai, Japanese girlfriend). Maybe it’s an issue of race and difference in race or East versus West, but I work with a guy who is married to an Irish woman, and I have never heard him say, “My Irish wife” or “My I wife.” It’s degrading. At most, when it’s relevant, he’ll say, “Oh, that’s because my wife is from Ireland.”
Anyways…
About t_song, it’s not song as in 노래. It so happens to be my family name. Like Song Hye Gyo.
t_song:
how is K-Girl suddenly a collectible?
How is “My Irish Wife” degrading? I have an Irish friend. I often talk about him to other friends, cuz he’s a really good guy, with great stories. Do you think I should ask him if he’s being hurt being called “My Irish Friend”?
Cdn-Boy
correction. i can now see how “My Irish Wife” can sound degrading, because it infers that I have more than one wife.
It’s called hypersensitivity, a peculiar K-American trait. Ironically, the term K-girl appears to be a K-American coinage. I suppose they’re aping the African American stance on the N word, but the reason it rings hollow is that the N word did arise out of degrading historical circumstances, whereas K-Americans have no such analogous historical issues.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I also find it annoying when people say “Irish Friend” or even my “Black friend” or my “Gay friend” … when … WHEN the tone is such that there is some type of showing off or bragging of having such a kind of “friend.” That’s where the feeling of collectibles comes into play. You hear this all the time from mostly White females: “So my gay friend and I … ” pawning off that Token Gay Guy phenomena. That seems very “collectible”-ish to me and a tad belittling that you’re putting people into those specific categories, as if your friends — or your spouse — are somehow items to be placed in a tackle box or marked off on a checklist. Like, K-girl? I got one of those. Irish friend? Yep, I’ve got one of those, too. Oh, yes, and my Gay Friend.
I mean, that there is a “token” factor all the way up to your wife is, well, I find that strange. I’m sure you love her–and you seem like a guy with bald, honest, innocent intentions. But I think part of being a minority in the West is being willing to challenge these types of seemingly harmless viewpoints. I had so many friends growing up who would say racist or sexist things and hide them behind the guise of “well, I’m just joking…why take it so seriously?” There are many issues with this, and at the same time, I am not such an advocate of PC-ish vernacular that I believe we’re all just people and we should just ignore our differences and become one big block of mooshy tofu, but I always like to try and get people, seemingly good people, to stop and think: Huh, well I — I — think this is some type of cute nickname, but at deeper, unvocalized and perhaps even uncontemplated levels, there is something going on here that I should be aware of.
Thus the swirling complications around the “Token” friend. That your foreigner friends referred to the women as “K-girls” and the teachers as “Kreatures,” is certainly not in some type of anger or blatant racism, but I think it might fall under the category of thoughtless insensitivity.
@ Mizar
I wouldn’t call it hypersensitivity–and I’d actually say K-girl originates with groups of folks like seouliva. I’m K-A male, and I don’t think I would say, given the inverse situation, that I have a White girlfriend, or a W-girl. Even as a nickname. That said, among friends, where things tend to be looser, we have often associated country names with people with the same names; for example, American Alex versus German Alex. Also, I wouldn’t equate K-girl to the N word. That’s too strong. You’re right: if somehow the phrase K-girl or K-guy got equated to the N word, there would be many reasons to laugh that off as a farce.
It’s also not clear who the discriminated minority group is. At least not to me, anyway. There’s plenty of discrimination on both sides.
t_Song: How about all of the Koreans who say “my wekookin Chingoo”
Will you also educate them while your at it?
or 내 외국친구 rather
Perhaps you could help educate Koreans to stop referring to American citizens in America as foreigners. And request that they stop making statements like “because all foreigners (even when those foreigners are living in their home countries) do X, you must do X also – what’s that like?)
Haha. All great points dokdofever. I’m not admonishing Koreans from this mess either. I’ve been the recipient: How I can simultaneously be an American friend but not American has always confused me.
And dokdo, given your experience, do you still call your friends from Korea, Korean friends?
No, I refer to my real friends in Korea, the long term ones, as my friend so and so.
hum…I’ve not really noticed the whole short legs/long trunk thing, or any of those kind of drastic differences in any people actually. A curious subject, to me, it seemed that the taller you are, the longer your legs are in proportion to your body…it’s why in places where people are sitting such as in a theatre or subway, it’s hard to tell a persons height. Korean girls are generally shorter and don’t have as wide thighs/curves (which is what gives the impression of leg length cutoff), so they might look like they have longer trunks; taller girls (or those with similar height to American girls) seemed to have ‘normal’ proportioned legs (from the perspective of a Westerner). Most girls shorter than 5’5″ generally look like they have ‘short legs’ tbh, although I haven’t totally thrown out the notion that Korean girls have shorter legs or longer trunks
# 69
Mizar the Mystery Meat:
It’s called hypersensitivity, a peculiar K-American trait. Ironically, the term K-girl appears to be a K-American coinage.
Do you have any supporting evidence of this or is this conjecture?
I will submit that Korean-Americans likely coined terms such as “K-drama” or “J-drama” to refer to soap operas or TV dramas from Korea or Japan. But to refer to Korean girls as “K-girl” has a very white-boyish tone to it. I have a keen sense for stuff like this. I have never, ever witnessed US gyopo’s calling Korean girls as “K-girls”. You have no evidence to support this, Mizar, and if you make a conjecture, you should indicate it as such instead of trying to pass it off as established fact, Mr Intellectual-Rigor.
But yeah, I don’t see what is so terrible about “k-girl” either. I suppose it’s a step up from “hot kimchi sluts” or something like that.
#28 Seoulout:
Hot Korean birds who love foreigner cock, and you guys find time to gripe about eight buck coffee?
I’m having trouble figuring out how the leap was made from “Korea Full of Hot Chicks: Foreign VIPs” to “Hot Korean birds who love foreigner cock”.
Wonders never cease.
NK,
When you say Mizar’s “mystery meat,” do you consciously or unconsciously indicate your belief that he may ultimately be half Korean? I do remember him saying that he spend a good chunk of his childhood in Korea somewhere in the bowels of this blog.
NetizenKim at #79 says:
“I’m having trouble figuring out how the leap was made from ‘Korea Full of Hot Chicks: Foreign VIPs’ to ‘Hot Korean birds who love foreigner cock’.”
Maybe these “VIPs” were really foreign VIPs at room salons?
Here’s another funny Craig’s List ad:
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/w4m/1152729638.html
White girl looking for either a young Asian guy… or a sugardaddy!
#80
WK:
When you say Mizar’s “mystery meat,” do you consciously or unconsciously indicate your belief that he may ultimately be half Korean? I do remember him saying that he spend a good chunk of his childhood in Korea somewhere in the bowels of this blog.
Mizar is a mystery meat because he could be fully Korean, or a partial Korean, or an adoptee, or fully White, or for all we know, some unknown quality Z.
His indeterminate state reminds me of Schrödinger’s cat. The only way to collapse the Mizar probability wave function is by actually opening the box and looking inside.
The only way to collapse the Mizar probability wave function is by actually opening the box and looking inside.
Which he won’t do, which raises the probability that he’s not Korean.
I’m guessing Mizar is a half-Korean, half-White adoptee, thus hitting all of your suggested “slices” of life.
NK: “I will submit that Korean-Americans likely coined terms such as “K-drama” or “J-drama” to refer to soap operas or TV dramas from Korea or Japan. But to refer to Korean girls as “K-girl” has a very white-boyish tone to it. I have a keen sense for stuff like this. I have never, ever witnessed US gyopo’s calling Korean girls as “K-girls”. You have no evidence to support this, Mizar, and if you make a conjecture, you should indicate it as such instead of trying to pass it off as established fact, Mr Intellectual-Rigor.”
Ouch, NK,
Well, I stated upfront that this was conjecture and that it *appears to be* a K-American coinage. The reason is that the only place I ever saw the term used before was on the gyopo site igoo.com a few years back.
By the way, the Schrödinger’s cat reference, which is frankly over my head, was apparently brilliant.
Won Joon Choe:
NetizenKim at #79 says:
“I’m having trouble figuring out how the leap was made from ‘Korea Full of Hot Chicks: Foreign VIPs’ to ‘Hot Korean birds who love foreigner cock’.”
Maybe these “VIPs” were really foreign VIPs at room salons?
You know, I am not a feminist by any stretch of the imagination, but these room salons really have to abolished. Yellow Fever is distasteful enough but it is even more egregious when Koreans themselves exploit Yellow Fever for business or financial gain. This is the foolish behavior of a people devoid of any honor or self-dignity.
Expats, stop masturbating on my culture.
Expats, stop masturbating on my culture.
But what if a white chick was masturbating on our culture? It’s like gay porn. Two guys porking each other is not okay, but…
That is generally true. Many but not all short people have average torsos but short legs. I am short (5’2″) but with relatively long legs (30 inch inseam), so my legs make up about half my height. I have seen other short white and black women with long legs, but I have not seen any Korean women with similar proportions. On my many, many, many shopping excursions, the only pants I ever bought were from the export shops outside Gate 19 in Yongsan. I NEVER found a pair of pants made for Korean women that would fit me. Rise too long, inseam too short. Waist too big, hips too small. Pants bought from major US retailers usually fit.
I’ve also noticed that tall Koreans are not leggy like some tall white or black people. Independent of height, the average proportions do vary among people of different ethnicities.
#88
WK:
But what if a white chick was masturbating on our culture?
I generally do not subscribe to the Western fallacy of gender equivalency, that men and women are interchangeable parts in society’s machinery. Your statement is based upon that premise.
White women may appropriate elements of Asian culture for self-exotification. This is why a lot of white-bread teenage girls, for example, like to get a Chinese character tattooed on their person. It is a form of vain narcissism. Completely different.
Hummm… short with thin legs.
Is this you Sonagi?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MSADMQIgLD8/SZj8mNt5cOI/AAAAAAAAAvc/J5AY1W22gys/s400/DSC06675.JPG
Yeah NK, but what about my linked Craig’s List ad?
@Wangkon:
Not even close. My legs aren’t thin, but they aren’t fat either. They’re slightly muscular because I walk a lot. I have proportions like Jennifer Love Hewitt in her present slimmed down but not skinny build.
Industry officials explained that thanks to Korea’s good weather with four distinct seasons.
Amongst ourselves, Koreans never make a point of talking about the seasons as if this was something unique to Korea. The expat likes to pick on this because, just like Fan Death or Mad Cow, he has a constant need to see Koreans in the most ridiculous light. But I believe that the admittedly strange emphasis on Korea having four distinct seasons by Koreans in dealing with the World of Waeguk arises from the fact that many non-Koreans are ignorant of even the most basic facts about Korea. I have been asked before by many different individuals whether Korea has winter or tropical weather, which part of Korea I was from, North or South, or which was the Communist one.
#92
Yeah NK, but what about my linked Craig’s List ad?
I dunno. What do you want me to say? Go for it. Let me know how it goes. Good Luck and Godspeed.
Uh, no. That’s not what I meant.
#89
I am short (5′2″) but with relatively long legs (30 inch inseam), so my legs make up about half my height.
Wow, that is short. I noticed both guys and girls alike fret about their heights: I’m too short…I’m too tall…wah! I always tell such people that absolute height does not matter. What’s more important is that the relative proportionality of one partner’s bodily dimensions to the other is such that it is conducive to the natural ergonomics of the 69 maneuver.
I’m 6’1″, and I’m just right. My girlfriend is 5’9″, and I wish she wore heels a little more often.
too many fucking mosquitoes!
I knew John Stamos’ sister. John’s parents live in Cypress, which is close to Cerritos. Anyways, John was once married to Rebecca Romijn (SI Swimsuit model, actress, etc.) and his sister told me that Rebecca would never wear heels either because John was barely 6-1 and Rebecca was about 5-10, 5-11.
Nicole Kidman, answering a question about what changed after she divorced Tom Cruise: “Well, I can wear heels again.”
Great. I can never marry a long 다리 then.
You can. Just find a short woman with long 다리, in other words, a younger me.
I’m only like 5’8″, but my g/f is about 4 inches shorter than me, which allows me to remain taller than her even when she busts out her “I ain’t taking no for an answer beyotch” heels. Also, I’ve got the Korean fro going on, so I can just let my poof of hair take over should I get osteoporosis or something.
Sonagi,
I have a feeling that Won Joon Choe is older than me…
Yeah, but I’m sure he’s still younger than me. All the Korean men are my dongsaeng except Baduk, who oozes Park Chung-hee era ajosshiness in every line of his comments.
WangKon936,
I think I sound older than my age
Baduk, who oozes Park Chung-hee era ajosshiness in every line of his comments.
That’s pretty freak’in old.
I don’t mean that he’s as old as Park Chung-hee; rather, it’s that he thinks like a Korean man who came of age in the late 60s to mid-70s.
as old as Park = of the same generation as Park
hilarious comments and article!
I don’t know about Korea is full of beauties or not, but traditionally Korea was known for beauties, all these empires wanted Korean women as one of their tribute gift. Manchus were largest Korean women snatcher, this could be why Manchu decedents looking more like Korean today.
Anyway, I know one thing; Korean women have nice healthy skins; mainly because of Korean diets.
When in
Romedumdumland do as theRomansdumdums.Anyway, my friend’s Eskimo wife (or is it E-wife?) isn’t too pleased by Nubian princess girlfriend (can she be an N-girl, or is that racially offensive?).
Including her breasteses, or do you just bear the resemblance in the hippal regions?
That’s one helluva rack you’ve got there.
I wish you were my teacher.
I hear K-girl along the same line as “Me own Suzy Wong” or “My little China doll”.. I could just about tolerate it coming from David Bowie, but if a guy who is not a cross-generation icon spanning decades and showering me with diamonds or songs called me that, I would be seriously pissed off with him.
What is your generation Sonagi?
@dogbert:
Both. I don’t have her saddlebags, thankfully.
@dokdoforever:
Between the baby boomers and Generation X.
Not sure what that phrase means. But nothing seems to be making much sense.
Hey, do u think KoreanCupid.com’s model is chic? She looks plain in my eyes. Why does the site choose her? Does she help the site’s income? Am I wrong unlike you, foreignenrs maybe mainly westerners?
KoreaCupid’s model is plain indeed. But better looking than the avatar in comment 119.
But, #119 is not a model for any.
Hahaha–ouch seouldout! Dare you post your own photo so you also can be judged? I’m sticking with the anonymous white figure, as it’s way better looking than me.
I think the girl in the Korean Cupid ad is annoying, but I would say she’s a pretty representative Korean girl. If any loser thinks he’s going to join Korean Cupid and do much better than her, they’re sadly, sadly mistaken.
And, well, as you see,most westerners marry Korean women whom Korean men never choose to marry. I’ve wondered western males’ eyes are so differnet form Koreans’. Ok, not so differnet.
@123
Huh?
#123
✿⊹⊱⋛☃⋚⊰⊹✿:
And, well, as you see,most westerners marry Korean women whom Korean men never choose to marry. I’ve wondered western males’ eyes are so differnet form Koreans’. Ok, not so differnet.
#124
t_song: Huh?
What’s the matter t-song? You don’t know how to translate Konglishy womanese? It’s even more confusing when “Korean men” and “Korean women” are treated like they’re all just one big undifferentiated mass.
Allow me to translate.:
Westerners marry Korean women who weren’t able to land a successful and good-looking doctor or lawyer who graduated from one of the SKY universities…or at least a well-paid professional employed by Samsung. These Korean women are mid ~ lower tier in terms of looks and charm by impossibly high Korean standards anyway and they grow desperate with advancing age. It certainly doesn’t help that even a fat, balding fucker past middle age still living with his parents thinks he’s somehow entitled to an absolute hottie, not that I’d ever give such a loser a chance anyway. These Westerners are losers also but they seem to be better mannered and besides they are from the West so given a chance I’d pick a Western loser over a Korean loser. It also helps that the Westerner has these so-called “asian googles” and thinks I’m the best thing since kimchi-chigae….great for my self-esteem. I also know that a lot of Korean guys secretly hate the fact that I’m with a Westerner so it’s like a big fuck you to all the Korean guys who’ve treated me like an outcast, which is an added benefit.
Net Kim hits the bullseye again.
Netizenkim,
There’s some truth in what you say…not to say that it always is.
I’m neither fat nor a poor loser and my wife is well educated (8 years of university) and quite attractive. She’s from a very wealthy family. We were both in our early 20s when we met.
To Netizen Kim, every WM/AF pairing will be of an ugly man and an ugly woman. I’m reminded of the old Korean proverb along the lines of “To Buddha, everyone looks like Buddha, but to a hateful man, everyone is ugly”.
MK, you are the ultimate AFC.
Netizen Kim,
While I agree completely on the loser white guy, loser korean perfect mix comment, the ‘stop masturbating on my culture’ comment is kind of ridiculous. Saying Korean girls are hot is not derogatory or ‘masturbating on your culture’. In fact, Koreans themselves do it all the time. “Daegu girls are hot” or even like on the G.I Korea blog how the taxi driver bragged that a big tourist draw to the small island he visited was the hot girls there. In fact, some foreign VIP making note that he saw a lot of pretty girls while he was in Korea is more of a compliment that whatever you are seeing as some kind of yellow fever (which I didn’t know was a crime) infringement on your culture. In fact, I don’t see what it has to do with your culture, at all.
Not like this is unique to expats, by the way, even though you addressed it to expects uniquely. Look at any Korean porn site and you will see the “western” section or the “world women” section…it’s a bunch of white girls. So chill out and stop trying to make it out to be some kind of evil foreigner sex fiend crime.
That being said, yeah room salons gotta stop. I was just watching SBS news last night and they were reporting busting some japanese sex tourism rings, and my korean friend said “they are working hard to bust the sex tourism oversees, but they are ignoring the glass house districts in their backyard.” They could do with cleaning house, first.
*expats, not expects
Dogbertt, I’m reminded of a line from “A Few Good Men” where someone screams out “You can’t handle the truth!”
Reality is often not a fairy tale and runs counter to our wishful thinking. If you don’t believe me then I refer you to one Fred Reed, a fellow expat and a keen, insightful observer of human nature, to whom I owe a much intellectual debt.
http://fredoneverything.net/Dating.shtml
I’m just trying to tell it like it is. Don’t shoot the messenger.
Netty Kim,
Yesterday, I paid visit to a black man, an acquaintance, who suffered a Kim Jongil pattern stroke.
It was difficult to see him that way.
There was also something surprising.
He said things like,
“I like white girls with big titties.”
“I’m a straight playa, man. Sometimes I fool around with white girls, saying, Hey, you wanna see King Kong?”
He said this after looking at the white nurse’s tits. Very, very lustfully.
He also said something like,
“I was in the hospital for 10 days. My dick is thirsty for some pussy.”
Dude, granted he wasn’t saying that to me, but to my friend, who went with me to see him, I realized partially why King Kong equates to the lowest social status in American society. Learn some manners.
this guy is 58, with 2 different children from 2 different mothers, one current wife, and a side girl friend.
funny thing is, I don’t know if this is a ghetto church, thing, but he prays and believes in God. Not too much unlike some of you boys.
Red light district ‘Christians’.
Don’t fool yourself. You are liable.
The essay was perfectly fine until this part. It’s like, Fred wanted to get down and dirty with the real stuff of how things work, and then at the last moment, couldn’t fathom going all the way and so pulled out with pitiful whimper. Don’t think that you can squirt this watered down nonsense all over my face, Mr. Limp Dick.
before u accuse me of anything,
i heard this with my ears last night.
i wonder why it’s always fair game to shit on Koreans, or gyopos outside of Korea, but get slammed for talking about other people.
you say many horrible things about gyopo churches, etc.
#132
WJK,
Yeah, OK, I’m a “red light district” Christian. Whatever the hell that means anyway. I refer you to the movie 2004 “Kinsey” which is based upon the work of Alfred Kinsey. At least look at it from a medical or a research point of view then because you are training to be a doctor, no?
#129
mutjengee shinsa,
I don’t know why my earlier comment didn’t go through but here’s the upshot of what I wrote:
Why should I be bothered by all this? I’m a male myself and I understand that finding Korean or Asian women to be hot is a natural thing. But its not just that. A corollary to the Yellow Fever phenomenon, which seeks to maximize the feminine appeal of Asian women colored by Orientalist exoticism, is also to downgrade Asian male masculinity in whatever ways possible, to reduce the threat of Asian male sexual competition. You cannot deny this. I have borne witness to this countless time on expat forums and is a large reason why Korean male bashing in all its myriad forms tends to be a popular sport on expat blogs. This makes it my business also. This isn’t just all just some good, clean, honest, ordinary “fun”.
@ # 126,
Yeah, I agree. It was good.
Netizen Kim,
I don’t think so… I know plenty of ‘yellow fever’ patients (me one of them? depends on your definition) that could care less about asian males… I don’t think there is a direct correlation, and to just assume that because someone that says ‘Korea has a lot of hot girls’ secretly means that ‘I have a deep disrespect for Korean males and want to degrade them at every opportunity’ is unfair and paranoid. I love Korean girls, and I have a ton of Korean male friends who I respect to the upmost. I don’t think of myself in some sort of ‘competition’ with Korean men. I really don’t see anything wrong with saying ‘Korea has a lot of hot girls.’ It’s a compliment, man. Learn how to take one.
Interesting how this turned into yet another thread hijacked and reframed into another rant about the insidious white man supposedly emasculating the Asian male and raping his woman. Over yet another phrase apparently coined by K-American males – who, by the way, neither suffer from an inferiority complex nor have some racial agenda.
To digress, let me address the article itself…sorry to be “on topic.”
Am I the only one who finds “polls” like these to be unscientific and arbitrary? Aren’t they basically a means for Koreans to use loaded questions to put the words they want to hear into the mouths of babes – um, I mean foreign subhumans?
One of the 3 most common questions that foreign visitors face in Korea is “What do you think of Korean women?” Alas, the hosts either do not understand the embarrassing nature of the question, or have some agenda in asking it. The disconcerted foreigner simply stammers something complimentary which gets reported as “Westerners think Korean women are beautiful, well-dressed and look like movie stars.” Yeah, right.
Sorry to be Mr. Obvious.
“the Yellow Fever phenomenon, which seeks to maximize the feminine appeal of Asian women colored by Orientalist exoticism, is also to downgrade Asian male masculinity in whatever ways possible, to reduce the threat of Asian male sexual competition.”
Thanks for clarifying that.
In other words, “yellow fever” really means that at some subliminal level, white males feel threatened by Asian males and, too intimidated to confront them directly, are making conquests of their women in an effort to emasculate them.
Which no doubt derives from the time that Gengis Khan’s yellow hoards plundered the white man and raped his woman. The trauma of this somehow got embedded in the genes. Chrystal clear.
That people would have a relationship regardless of racial and cultural differences is simply too far-fetched to believe. Occam’s razor has been torn to shreads.
Hi MK,
Actually, I can handle the truth. It’s your raging hypocrisy I can’t handle … it drives me nuts.
But seriously, regardless of what you think, there is no absolute truth. What we have on the one hand is the “whinging minority/ungrateful immigrant” truth, which you espouse, and on the other, we have the “upstanding WASP” truth, which I hold dear to my heart.
Netizen Kim wrote:
I appreciate that, but I began reading Fred Reed nigh ten years ago … perhaps you have read him longer, but I have been acquainted with his writings a good while and did not need your initially plagiarized introduction to him. I stopped reading him, however, once he gave up the fight here and decamped to Mexico.
BTW, I don’t know why you keep calling me an expat. I live in New York City, probably not too far from whatever suburban Korean enclave you have chosen to live in. In fact, give me a call next time you come up to W. 32nd … lunch is on me.
But back to Fred. I mean, when you quote and praise the man, you do realize that you stand for much that he hates and blames for the downslide of the U.S., don’t you? Face it, to Fred Reed, YOU are “the Diversity”.
And that’s not a compliment.
Netizen Kim wrote:
Interesting choice of words. I’ve long felt that the only difference between you and Cho Seung Hui is that you haven’t picked up a gun … yet.
Gengis Khan’s yellow hoards plundered the white man and raped his woman
That’s a good point… the Mongol hoards probably did have a lot of fun with the females of Eastern Europe and Russia.
Dogbertt:
I’ve long felt that the only difference between you and Cho Seung Hui is that you haven’t picked up a gun … yet.
I have a much better weapon than a gun…it is the written word.
Mizar:
Which no doubt derives from the time that Gengis Khan’s yellow hoards plundered the white man and raped his woman. The trauma of this somehow got embedded in the genes. Chrystal clear.
Ghengis Khan has nothing to do with this.
The earliest historical roots of Yellow Fever began with Marco Polo.
http://www.tk421.net/essays/polo.html
There were often parties and celebrations upon a nearby lake. Marco tells of the existence of pleasure boats, whose sole purpose was to send people around on the lake while they relaxed from the day’s events. As with most Asian women, the man Marco adored the prostitutes of the city: “Strangers who have once tasted of their charms, remain in a state of fascination, and become so enchanted by their wanton arts, that they can never forget the impression.”
Marco Polo emphasizes the grace and virtue of Chinese women. He tells how well behaved they are, and characterizes them as timid, reserved, and modest: “They have much beauty, as has been remarked, and are brought up with delicate and languid habits.”
Pictures speak a thousand words:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5a7kzDUIpWY/Rxmdxt1oa9I/AAAAAAAAAB8/76ALS4CfMb4/s320/tiger.jpg
http://www.blogspan.org/images/blogs/7-2007/tiger-beer-discover-the-tiger.jpg
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1500009,00.jpg
These are ads targeted at the European market for a Singaporean brand beer. This is most certainly not just “plain vanilla” sex appeal used to sell a product. These are examples of exotic Orientalist erotic fantasies, from which the modern variant of Yellow Fever has evolved.
In the 20th century, Yellow Fever was given momentum by three major events:
1. the rise of Western feminism.
2. American military involvement in Asia (WW2, Korea, Vietnam).
3. the Japanese invasion of US markets.
It is a very fascinating subject matter in its own right. Anyone can rightly appreciate why I’m so drawn to it; it is to me what Dokto Islets is to Gerry Bevers.
Ultimately, it is not a matter of right or wrong, good or bad. It is about power dynamics in the cross-section between race and gender.
…I’m so drawn to it; it is to me what Dokto Islets is to Gerry Bevers.
You may want to rethink that analogy.
NK, it’s good to see that you’ve thoroughly indoctrinated yourself in your delusions, something known in Buddhism as “proliferation.” Those self-important sounding phrases you posit, like “power dynamics in the cross-section between race and gender” can certainly have the effect or reinforcing the imputations that ground you in a hellish frame of mind, or state of samsara, if you prefer.
Substitute a sexy blonde Swedish woman into those pictures, a hot Latina honey, or a catwomanish black babe, and viola! no more “power dynamics in the cross-section between race and gender!”
Amazing what clear logic can do, which explains why it is such an intregal and potent tool in Buddhist practice!
I won’t say you “think too much,” but I will say you proliferate too much.
At least the Chinese message is authentic and not just gibberish.
“And, well, as you see,most westerners marry Korean women whom Korean men never choose to marry.”
Troll or not, someone needs to interview this character.
dogbertt, I hope you and your dwaenjang bitch will give birth to another
Korean psychopath.
your friend, wjk.
wjk, I’m just too tired today from battling one too many kyopo racist. Go do crazy on someone else.
Come on! When you address dogbert you should leave off the extra “t”. Show some fucking class.
kyopo racist? hahaha.
i’d actually be interested to hear what Mrs. dobert has to say on all of these topics. See, we never get the perspective of the foreign dude’s wife. I’ve gotten the chance to meet a few ajumma who were married to White guys and they had always “interesting” things to say.
haha, sorry, Mrs. Dogbert. No disrespect to a fellow gyopo.
i accidentally found Dresnok’s BBC documentary on youtube. Christian Slater narrarates.
Dresnok’s son, the youngest, looked neither half Korean nor half white. Dresnok’s wife looked neither full Korean nor half white.
Turns out Dresnok’s current wife has parents who are the following.
A Tongan diplomat as a father. Name unknown. Ran away to Tongo after she was born.(sounds very very familiar. Careful, Korean girls in Korea)
Mother is Korean.
North Korean.
She was this half Tongan in North Korea.
Dresknok married her in his own age.
The reason is, the North Koreans are even more racist and exclusive to the protection of ‘Korean purity’. Any foreigner in North Korea must marry whatever non-Korean woman is available in North Korea.
this is fascinating to a person like me.
why? Why ask why? The reality is Chinese sperm is ravaging North Korean pussy. Hail King Kim, scion of King Moonmoo.
Moo~.
Or is it, O-i-n-K?
Hey, I can do this WITHOUT soju.
김씨왕조…에라이, 퇫!
i think the kicker to the documentary is that all of the defectors were highschool dropouts, but good enough to be
english teachers on the North Korean government’s payroll.
good to know.
someguyinkorea is another English teacher in Korea, who has a very, very high IQ, who tests his IQ more often than normal people, and um, who’s that dude, Linkd? is wasting his Canadian MBA in glorified English translating. Both are Canadian and sworn enemies to wjk.
“I’d actually be interested to hear what Mrs. dobert has to say on all of these topics.”
You are not in on the joke.
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