As anyone who has attended an alcoholic’s anonymous meeting can tell you, the first step towards recovery is admitting you have a problem. The same can be said for a country with race issues… you can’t begin to deal with it until you admit you have some.
And for the USA, South Korea, and China, all of whom experience race related problems, meeting this first crucial criteria is something only the US seems to be serious about.
Take a look at these articles, including this post at Xinjiang: Far West China, and this one from USA today, that highlight the approches taken by China and the US’ respective media towards race relations. China, on the one hand, tries tp preempt potential criticism of what others consider race problems by pointing out that other countries have/had problems too, while the US’ culture of political correctness results in one media outlet castigating another one for its failure to properly represent the diversity of America.
While I actually believe that the politically correct culture we’ve cultivated in the United States has already served its purpose and is now stifling progress on race relations, you can’t say the US isn’t trying. For the most part, we know we’ve got a problem.
On the other hand, as Far West China points out, the Xinhua news’ articles overlook the importance of time in comparing Uyghur/Tibetan, etc. struggles in China with the Native Americans’ plight in the US. Whereas most of the atrocities committed against the Native Americans were carried out a hundred years ago (loss of land, language loss, loss of traditional customs), similar things are happening to minorities within the PRC, but the process is very much a contemporary one. So when China isn’t denying racial harmony altogether, which is rare, it is excusing its own problems by pointing out that someone else is doing (has done) it too.
South Korea, on the other hand, seems to be in out and out denial about any possible harm it can do as far as race relations go. While some have speculated that South Korea may be heading towards a race war, and that the ROK’s involvement in Madagascar and the Philippines is tantamount to imperialism, you’ll see little better than nary a word regarding potential racial problems in the Korean media, nor an attempt to accurately depict a burgeoning multicultural population in magazines, tv shows, or movies.
Again, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem in the first place.
Woljeongsa (월정사), one of Korea's most famous temples, located in Odaesan National Park (오대산국립공원)
Capping off my tour of Gangwon province this past week was a temple stay at Woljeongsa, located in Odaesan, Korea’s least visited National Park.
The temple, which dates back to the 7th century Shilla Dynasty, is a part of the Jogye order of Korean Buddhism, the most popular sect in Korea. These days, for ₩50,000 a night, anyone can don temple robes and live life as the monks do. Or at least, that’s what the program would have you believe. The reality of my visis was actually quite different.
According to the program, the temple stay is divided into nine different blocks of activities, with three meals per day in between. The following is section by section review of each:
Day 1
3:00 Check-in
Upon arrival at the temple we were greeted by the head monk, and a woman who seemed to be some sort of temple administrator. Her English was almost perfect. Unfortunately, our time around this woman was limited to not much more than that.
4:00 Instruction in Buddhist Manner
This really only took about 15 minutes, and was the last real time we were able to converse with anyone whose English was up to the task of explaining theories behind the Buddha Vairocana, on which much of Woljeongsa’s layoutis designed to reflect. Basically, they teach you to err on the side of quiet when on temple grounds, the posture for walking with hands folded in front of you (차수), and to bow in the middle of the Dharma Hall whenever you walk past it (a gesture that shows you are always mindful of the Buddha mind).
4:30 Walking Meditation at Pinetree Road
Not so much walking meditation (which is an actual form of meditation used in some orders of Buddhism, requiring a particular technique), this time was more of a “why don’t you go take some pictures because we don’t have anything planned for you at the moment.” No guide. No explanations. No idea why I paid for this.
5:30 Dinner
Now this was actually one of the bright spots. Though the food is thoroughly vegan and actually quite gross, the experience of noble silence while eating (공양) with a hall full of Sunims and Bhikkunis (Monks and Nuns) is not one to be missed. As this part is supposed to be silent, the lack of any explanation from anyone is not as sorely missed as in other aspects of the temple stay.
6:10 Bell Striking Ceremony
Hearing Korea’s oldest Dharmabell struck repeatedly while you are standing next to it is one of the sounds that will stick with you for your whole life. The bell is said to save sentient beings in hell whenever struck, and hearing the bell really gives you a sense of why they might say that. The bell, struck once, continues to reverberate for what seems like forever after each strike, giving off low, wavering soundwaves, the buzz of which you can feel resounding in your bones. It feels like it would send sound waves off in every direction for an infinite amount of time. Hearing this sound totally made up for the fact that our guide, now a 22 year old volunteer who had arrived at the temple for the first time only 3 days earlier than us, was trying to give us instruction by trying and failing to read directly from an English language printout on the meaning of the four instruments at the Bell Pavilion.
6:30 Yebul Ceremony
Another life affirming experience. When I was a kid watching all those Orientalizing movies portraying Asians mindlessly bowing before golden idols and fierce looking deities, lit by candle light, and chanting harmoniously (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, for ex.), this is basically what I figured one would see all the time in Asia. And while the Yebul (예불) ritual is more than just mindless idolotry (the Sunim and Bhikkuni are in fact bowing before their golden Buddha in an effort to stay mindful of the Buddha mind that they are all capable of realizing as well as showing respect to a revered figure), this experience really does indulge a sort of fantasy of what “the Orient” is like in the Western imagination. Try it, it’s well worth the strain on your back, knees, neck, calves, and self confidence all that bowing and contorting will give you.
8:30 Sleep
Not quite. Apparently some of the other temple guests decided it was a good time to stay up late, probably drinking soju and yapping about God knows until midnight.
Day 2
4:00 Wake-up
Not quite. Apparently some of the other temple guests decided a 4:00 AM wake-up wasn’t early enough for them and they would need to have annoying, singing alarm clocks go off at 3:00, 3:20, and 3:40, respectively.
4:30 Yebul Ceremony
Same as previous Yebul. You won’t regret waking up to experience this.
5:00 Yoga and Meditation
Interesting mix of yoga and meditation and one taught by the English fluent temple administrator, who, it turns out, was a Bhikkuni herself for seven years, several of which she spent studying yoga and meditation in India and Myanmar, respectively. She was fluent in four languages, too. So yes, world class instruction. If only my joints had the slightest bit of flexibility…
6:30 Breakfast
Another memorable experience eating a disgustingly vegan meal in silence along side a hundred or so bald, chaste individuals.
7:30 Walking Meditation
More rediculous than the first. This time our guide, the 22 year old boy, peppered us with questions about American pop music, rather than letting us attempt the walking meditation we had, you know, paid for try. I have to give the guy credit though. He wasn’t paid, he had no qualifications, but he was worked like a dog by his superiors, and did the best he could. But it kind of pissed me off that it became a problem for me to not talk about the ins & outs of Buddhism with our ”guide” out of concern that I might cause him tremendous embarrassment by exposing his complete lack of knowledge on the subject for which he was supposed to have been the “expert.” Where did our world class yoga master run off to?
10:00 Tea Ceremony with Sunim
Perhaps the mostridiculous part of them all. Wow. Our 22 year old guide was charged with translating everything Sunim said. Everything. And he was talking about big, big concepts. And this guy would struggle to introduce himself. Geez. I wanted to tell him to shut up and let us try to figure out what Sunim was saying on our own, but didn’t out of fear I would cause him collosal embarassment infront of everyone else. The highlight of the experience for me, was asking the Sunim, in Korean, about how those of us who are not monks can ”polish the mirror” realize the Buddha mind inside of us, thus showing off that I could not only speak terrible Korean, but that I had also once read the Platform Sutra of the 6th Patriarch
11:30 Lunch
12:30 Check-out
So… Temple stays. Good idea? Bad idea?
Unless you are like Huineng, whose body has been mummified, preserved, and revered for 1300 years, you are unlikely to gain any special insights into reality during a temple stay program
Well, basically, you’re paying for a nights sleep in a room comperable to a clean, traditional minbak, three terrible meals, a yoga class, and a few unforgetable experiences alongside a community of Buddhist monks. Nobody is going to teach you the basics of Buddhism (they didn’t explain who Sakyamuni was, what Seon/Hwaduseon/Dharma and countless other terms and concepts are), so if you want to learn about Buddhism, it might be better the pick up a book on the subject or do what I did here.
And unless you are Huineng, who was Enlightened instantaneously upon hearing the Diamond Sutra, you are not about to gain any special insight into reality just by spending a night or two there. Basically, you’re paying for a nights sleep in a room comperable to a minbak, three terrible meals, a yoga class, and a few unforgetable experiences alongside a community of Buddhist monks.
Having said that, those few unforgetable experiences alone are worth the price of admission. And if you are lucky enough, like I was, you’ll go there during a record snowstorm and experience all the beauty of a mountain encapsulated temple multiplied exponentially by the snow.
The Beautiful Coastline of Jeongdongjin. Site of Several Known Incursions of North Korean Spies and a Romantic Destination for Couples
Maybe South Koreans like a little Cold War intrigue to go with their romantic beach side strolls.
Billed as a romantic weekend destination for couples, Gangwondo’s tiny vacation hamlet of Jeongdongjin (정동진) has become best known in foreigner circles for a few rather offbeat attractions, including a hotel built to look like a cruise ship, a train track that literally straddles the ocean, and a museum of old warships. And though these attractions are worth a peek in themselves, it is something else that makes this little village more than just a quirky sideshow.
For those with a sense of adventure, Jeongdongjin is just a short walk off the beaten track away from genuinely chilling, real modern-day Cold War intrigue, alongside a hauntingly beautiful foam churning coastline that feels as if it just fell off some artist’s brush.
The 1996 spy submarine, pictured above, is now on display in a museum just north of Jeongdongjin
Just 14 years ago North Korean spies stranded their submarine off Jeongdongjin’s coastline. The sub was manned by a crew of 26, 13 of whom were elite Red Guard soldiers. Knowing they had no hope of saving their ship, the spies took steps to ensure no secrets were compromised. The ship’s records and computers were set ablaze, and the 13 Red Guards killed their less highly trained, and less trustworthy crew members. The Red Guard made their way to land, and for 49 days wreaked havoc on the Gangwon countryside, taking both South Korean soldiers and civilians alike before being subdued.
This is not the only incident in which North Korean spies have been spotted off the coast of Jeongdongjin. Two years later another sub was found nearby, the crew suspected to have all died in a murder-suicide fashion. There have been other incidents in recent years in which North Korean submarines have been spotted off of Japan too. There’s not a whole lot of reason to believe there aren’t North Korean spy submarines operating off the coast of South Korea today.
One of the torched computer screens inside of the North Korean Spy Submarine
The real fear of another incident like this is palpable in Jeongdongjin. Just a short walk up the coast from the tourist hotels, minbaks, and restaurants, artificial light gives way to darkness, and strolling couples give was to barbed-wire fences and old, abandoned military lookout posts covered in white camouflage. The posts, though relics of the past, are a reminder of what could happen here, and also of the fact that this place is being watched, albeit in new, modern, motion-sensor kinds of ways.
Walking along the beach, there is no real anxiety at first. There are no signs strictly forbidding entry. And there are still a few footprints from other beach-side strollers.
But then the sun goes down, and the footprints dissipate. There is no more artificial light and the moon and the stars shine brightly, diminished only by their own reflection on the ocean. The beach begins to narrow as your head north from Jeongdongjin, and the ocean inches close to trapping you between its violent waves and a thicket of barbed wire on the other side.
That’s when all the weight of genuine Cold War paranoia swept over me.
Chilling guard posts like these appear regularly along the coastline heading north from Jeongdongjin
“What sensible person would walk up this far? Clearly tourists aren’t expected to be walking alongside the ocean this far out, past all the restaurants and among abandoned military observation posts. Is this place off-limits? Should I turn back? Nah, this is too exhilarating. Are there landmines this far down below the DMZ? I wonder how often North Korean spies run operations through here and don’t get caught.”
After about twenty minutes more of letting my imagination get the best of me and walking with a shred of trepidation in my step, I finally got an answer to some of my questions in the form of a military escort off the beach. The soldiers, with a bit of surprise to see a westerner meandering through the area, told me that the beach was in fact closed to the public. It was for military operations only. Hmmm… what a surprise.
They didn’t jam a gun in my face or anything. In fact, in true Korean fashion they even apologized for kicking me off their restricted military land.
Jeongdongjin. Home of a hotel designed to look like a life-size beached cruise boat, railroad tracks that skirt the ocean closer than any in the world, and a host of stories relating to North Korean spies.
So yes. If you do get a chance to go up to Jeongdongjin, I highly recommend walking north along the beach until soldiers come out and won’t let you walk anymore. It’ll give you a real Cold War chill to see real counter espionage operations in action, a chill far more unnerving than any you might feel on tours to places such as Panmunjeom. Add to it a remarkable coastline and you’ve got yourself a memorable experience.
This past week I made the trip up to Gangwon province and stopped in at Seoraksan National Park (설악국립공원) for a few days.
Of all the National Parks in Korea that I’ve visited, this one is undoubtedly my favorite. Each hike yields remarkable mountain vistas, waterfalls, and more.
In particular, the views on a clear day from a high altitude cave called Geumganggul (금강굴) are beyond breathtaking. The cave is intended to serve as a place of quiet meditation, and is carved into one of the jagged slabs of rock jutting toward the sky from the mountain’s base. Equally impressive is that the cave is staffed by a lone Buddhist nun who makes the four hour round trip journey by foot to the cave each day, sitting at her desk sans-heat/four-walls.
Anyway, here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip… Enjoy.
So I might as well come out and say it… I’m leaving Korea on February 28th.
I’m heading to law school in the fall and want to spend some time settling back into American life before I throw myself into that gauntlet.
What this means for NotDeadYetBlog.com is that the blog’s focus will begin to shift to topics beyond Korea. I’m currently planning trips across China (from Manchuria to the Tibetan plateau) and to the Yucatan peninsula. These places, as well as other places will be fodder for posts from here on out. I’ll also do a restrospective on the human and drug smuggling along the US-Mexico border, and an analysis of the abundance of trash said activities leave behind. The blog has always been a personal blog about my own travel experiences and I never intended it to be focused exclusively on Korea… It just so happens that for the last 14 monthes I have lived here.
That being said, I will remain deeply interested in the country, it’s people, and the language (shooting for TOPIK level 4 in April). There is not a doubt in my mind that I will find many opportunities to continue commentary on matters related to Korea, and I have all intentions of delving into coverage of topics related to America’s Gyopo community as well.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, part of the growth of Anti-Americanism in South Korea is a byproduct of an increasingly cosmopolitan civil society. Yet I am often amazed at how certain nuggets of knowledge manage to escape the knowledge base of huge swaths of people.
One such nugget of knowledge concerns the series of events that followed in the wake of the Gwangju uprising.
Certain groups of Koreans blame the US for what happened in Gwangju, believing that the US had the power to stop Chun Doo-hwan’s government forces, but didn’t. They see the failure of the US to speak out against the government’s actions in Gwangju as a sign that the US supported it. As Brian mentioned in a comment here a while back, there’s some people who see the incident as if it was Americans doing the killing themselves. And Koreans don’t really seem to buy the excuse that the special forces units that did the killing were outside the legal responsbility of the US-ROK Combined Forces Command (see here for an explanation of tension arising from differences in legal culture).
Regardless of what actually happened (I, for one, believe the US was right to not get entangled in this incident, lest they be accused of violating Korea’s soveignty), events that took place after the incident reveal a lot about how the US went about guiding Korea towards the democratic government they now enjoy.
Kim Dae Jung had been senteced to death by Chun Doo-hwan. President elect Ronald Reagan, incoming National Security Advisor Richard Allen, and Carter administration officials worked together to buy time before Kim’s execution, which was scheduled to take place before Reagan’s inauguration. The plan worked, but Kim was still scheduled for execution.
To guarantee Kim’s survival, the Reagan administration decided to make Chun Doo-hwan an offer he couldn’t refuse. In exchange for sparing Kim’s life, Chun Doo-hwan, whose claim to the Presidency was anything buy solid, would be honored as the first head of state to visit the Reagan White House. Chun accepted and Kim was spared.
But there is more… Just before Chun was to enter the Oval Office and meet President Reagan for the first time, a Reagan aid approached Chun with a piece of paper… and on this paper it said in Korean something along these lines. “This meeting will take place only on the condition that you step down after your seven-year term expires, as the ROK constitution requires.” Chun is said to have nodded his head in acceptance, and walked in to meet Reagan.
Reagan and Chun had their meeting. Pictures were taken. Liberals scoffed. Hippies moaned. Koreans saw it as a sign that indeed the Americans were behind the Gwangju massacre. Seven years later, Roh Tae Woo was elected in South Korea’s first democratic elections.
Last week I attended a “revival” at a Korean Presbyterian church in Goseong, Gyeongnam province. And even though this church was technically in the same town as the migrant church I visited earlier, the setting could not have been much more different.
*First off, the church was a fairly big church in Goseong’s downtown.
*Second, it was full of Koreans
The Revival’s informational brochure was entirely in Korean, so I wasn’t able to make out some of it. The gist I got from it, however, was that this was a special event. A group of Korean preachers who had received some sort of training in America would be stopping in Goseong for a three day event.
The preachers themselves were an odd assortment. The ringleader was a middle aged man whose voice wavering kind of reminded me of the stereotypical black American preacher. And of his two sidekicks, one was a meek looking boyish man with an acoustic guitar, and the other was a woman who evidently had some sort of developmental disability.
The service was sort of a rollercoaster of frenzy and quiet prayer. The preacher would whip everyone up with a storm of firey preaching and song, only to see the crowd descend from it’s clapping, reveling, and damn near hypnotic trance into a quiet reading from the Bible. And each time the Preacher stirred up the crowd again he brought them seemingly closer and closer to some chaotic climax. It was two hours long so I left early… My guess is that it ended with a bang.
By far the strangest thing about this Revival was the 30 minute section led by the developmentally disabled woman. It was strange enough to see this woman in public… she has to be one of the first truly disabled people I have seen in Korea not on the subway or crawling his/her way through a busy market on one of those carts. The really strange thing was hearing this woman lead the Revival. Even I could tell that her Korean was unintelligible. I looked around and it seemed like a lot of people were having a hard time understanding her. And when she led a song… Wow. I mean, I can’t give the woman enough credit for standing up there and doing what she did, but she sounded kind of like a drunk Fran Drescher singing Korean hymns. I have to wonder… is a developmentally disabled preacher a typical fixture in Korean revivals?
So yeah… Koreans being lulled into a trance-like state by a charismatic Preacher and an usual pairing of assistants. Stark contrast with the migrant church I visited last month.
This past Sunday I visited a foreigner church that South African friends of mine attends in rural Gyeongsangnam-do. It was a small church and there really wasn’t much more to it than about 5 rows of benches, a pulpit, a tv, piano, a bathroom, and an incredibly small dining room.
As it was a foreigner church, the congregation, based on attendance at the service I was present for, was made up of Sri Lankans, Nepalese, Chinese, two South Africans, and one American. The pastor, deacon, and one other lady were Korean. I didn’t get a chance to find out where everybody worked, but my sense was that a lot worked in the shipyards and in small construction firms.
The service was a fascinating experience indeed, and my first real encounter with non-Western foreign populations here in Korea, save my TOPIK test a few months ago. Here are some tidbits from my observations…
*The service was split between Korean and English. The Pastor would say something in Korean, then follow it up with a shaky English translation.
*The Pastor was Korean. And the very first thing he said to the Congregation the entire night went something like this… “You are in Korea now. You need to learn Korean. This is not America.” I wonder if he realized I was sitting in the front row?
*Evidently the church makes an effort to make the native languages of its various migrant attendees part of the service. This service included songs in both Sinhala and Afrikaan. Next week they plan to have a Chinese language song.
*Speaking of songs… Each Korean song was sung with the accompanying Korean text on the tv screen. The problem is, it seemed, that only a few of the attendees could read it. I got the sense that I was one of the most capable readers of the non-Koreans in attendance…
*And, like my TOPIK test, my Korean spoken/listening language skills were put to shame by the same migrants who had trouble reading.
*Among the attendees were four Nepalese. I believe three of them were brothers. They all could speak some English, with one being an English teacher in Korea. What really surprised me, however, was that two of them had arrived in Korea just four days prior, but had already learned more Korean than me. Evidently he had been practicing before hand.
*Speaking of which… These two Nepalese guys had been in Korea for four days and no-sooner did they decide to undertake a major religious conversion and join the Korean Presbyterian Church? Well… evidently, yes. It was a bit telling about the nature of the situation that halfway through the service the Pastor had to stop and explain the appropriate times to say “Hallelujah” and “Amen” to the congregation.
*After the service there was an hour long fellowship dinner, during which the pastor made it a point to tell the new migrants that if they had any problem, they need just come to him and he would help them. Well, considering that some people have described the nature of migrant labor in Korea as a form of modern day slavery, a promise of protection from a Korean pastor sure would be a good reason to join the church now, wouldn’t it?
South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and George W. Bush smiling for the cameras
What’s really behind Anti-Americanism in South Korea?
Is it really just a totally unappreciative country biting the hand that has fed them all the way up to their status as a big, fat, economic powerhouse?
Not exactly.
To leave it at that ignores a whole host of cultural tensions and power struggles happening within South Korea, a bunch of which have nothing to do with US policy.
It’s the coalescence of various social forces that have as their common ground unfavorable associations with the United States. Many of these social forces have hitherto been kept quiet because of the political situation, so the increasing democratization that has taken place in recent years results in these groups’ voices being louder than ever.
You might even say anti-Americanism is a sign that American efforts to build a strong democracy in Korea have been successful.
The Rise of Korean Civil Society
To understand why “anti-Americanism” seems to be rising, you need to understand some pretty fundamental ways in which Korean society is changing.
Here’s the basics…
The Traditional Power Brokers
The traditional power brokers in Korean society come from wealthy families, attended elite ”SKY” Universities, and earned a Ph.D. in the United States. The President of Seoul National University is a good example of someone who fits this mold.
A greeting between General Douglas MacArthur South Korea's first President, Syngman Rhee in the midst of the Korean War. Rhee, like many South Korean leaders, was American educated, having received a Ph.D. from Yale.
For the past half century or so, getting to the top in Korean society necessitated the backing of these wealthy famlies and satisfying the elite Korean undergraduate/US Ph.D. educational requirement. Positions of power were largely closed off to the masses, since only the wealthy could afford the cost of a U.S. graduate degree. Professors at the top Korean Universities, for instance, were and are to this day overwhelmingly ones that completed US Ph.D. programs and attended SKY universities (see graph on p 270 here).
And despite major democratic reforms to political institutions in the late 1980’s, Korean political culture remained very much the same. Closed-door comittees of well-connected political insiders were the method of choosing candidates for political office until it changed fairly recently, thereby preventing outsiders from breaking into the ranks of the political elite.
These power-brokers are also noted for typically maintaining a very favorable view of the United States. Actually, even to this day the majority of South Koreans view these people pretty much as puppets of the American government who keep ROK policy in line with Washington at all costs.
Young, Better Educated Anti-Americans
The best word to describe the typical “anti-American” Korean, as Korea scholar Katherine Moon says, is cosmopolitan. These Koreans are more aware of their place in the world and of their own history than previous generations have been.
And, if you ask me, there are two big reasons why this is the case…
The Internet- The growth of the internet and other mass communications allows more people more access to information than at any other time in history.
The Growth of the Education System- More Koreans are educated today and at higher levels than at any other time in history. Not only are there more college graduates, but there are several times more people earning Ph.D.’s from South Korean Universities than there were twenty years ago. Obviously this stands in stark contrast to the traditional American educated power brokers. Today there are roughly six times as many Korean Ph.D’s in the ROK as there are American Ph.D’s.
So what this results in is an increasingly higher educated and quite young block of Koreans who don’t fit the mold of the traditional SKY/American Ph.D. elite. These people are asking questions about their own society and their own history. They think that unification through reconciliation with North Korea is possible and that the US military presence is an obstacle to peace. They represent a sizeable block of very qualified people who don’t like being excluded from the top-tiers of society, therefore rejecting the traditional power structure in the ROK. And because they view the traditional power brokers as lackeys of the US, they have very skeptical attitudes towards the United States.
A ”Revolution” in 2002
In mid 2002 anti-American sentiments were already simmering on higher than normal levels. Just five years earlier the South Korea’s financial system collapsed, forcing them to take an IMF bailout on the condition of their acceptance of an economic austerity package. The package, which is typical of IMF bailouts, caused short term economic problems with the intention of building a more stable economy. Nonetheless, the IMF bailout was extremely unpopular, and the United States, which exerted a great deal of control over the IMF, was blamed.
Augmenting the situation was the fact that labor unions, a powerful voice in Korea and already quite anti-American, were stoking the fire. South Korean authorities brutally cracked down on labor movements throughout the 70’s and 80’s, and much of the blame for the government’s anti-labor stance was pointed at the US, whose companies benefited from low cost labor and whose relationship with the Korean government, again, was viewed as one of “puppeteer.” These labor unions were stirred up in 1997, and were still buzzing when things got hot again in 2002.
The World Cup
For those of you who found this post while trolling for porn... Here's Mina (미나), the 2002 "World Cup Girl." Once again... Korea put its best foot forward for the 2002 World Cup.
2002 was already supposed to be a banner year for South Korea. The World Cup was to be co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, and the world’s eyes would be focused on the oh-so-resplendent Korean peninsula. But the year turned out even better than hoped for. South Korea enjoyed a remarkable ride to the semi-finals of the World Cup, knocking off powerhouses Italy and Spain along the way. President Kim Dae Jung went so far as to say that Korea’s quarterfinal victory of Spain was the happiest moment for the Korean peninsula since the day Dangun created the nation 5000 years ago. And it seemed like he really meant it. The Olympics in ‘88, the record-breaking economic growth, and now the World Cup run on its own turf. The pride and confidence of the Korean people were at all time highs.
So when the World Cup fervor died down, and an old grievance manifested itself again, the Korean people felt the moxie to do something about it.
The grievance I’m referring to is the presence of the US military and the Status of Forces Agreement. The manifestation I am talking about is the Yangju Highway Incident.
The Flare Up
Most Koreans feel the status of forces agreement between the US military and the Korean government is an unequal treaty. Despite the fact that it has been revised twice since its inception to give Koreans more authority to prosecute US military personnel, Koreans view the treaty as a relic of an era when Korea was nothing more than a poverty stricken third world nation and as such must be one that is slanted in favor of the mighty Americans.
But as Korea’s economic power grew, and especially after confidence bolstering the World Cup run, things seemed increasingly different. It was time for a bilateral treaty with the US military.
So when two US soldiers ran over two Korean school girls on a highway in the summer of 2002, Koreans wanted the chance to punish these “murderers.” (The incident itself actually took place weeks before the end of the World Cup,and the fact that the uproar over the incident really didn’t take off until after the World Cup’s conclusion is telling about the role confidence played in the uproar). Naturally, it didn’t sit well with the newly confident Koreans when the US invoked the Status of Forces Agreement, tried the soldiers in US military courts, and exonerated them of charges of criminal negligence.
Koreans were enraged. Anti-American sentiment shot through the roof. But what was lost in all the anti-US vitriol spewed from all corners was that most of these protesters were equally upset, if not more upset, about the political culture that they believed had embedded itself with the US government and had allowed this tragedy and others like it to unfold in such a manner. Young, educated Koreans took to the streets yelling “down with America,” but very much intertwined with this rhetoric was an anger at the existing political system, which they saw as accommodating America at all costs.
The Rise of Roh Moo Hyun
The late former president Roh Moo Hyun. A man who made his name as a human rights attorney, and anything but a product of the typical SKY university/American Ph.D. educational pattern.
The election of Roh Moo Hyun in 2002 was in a sense quite revolutionary. Roh did not fit the traditional power broker mold. He was largely self educated with no schooling at a “SKY” University or in America. His joined the political party historically associated with his home’s rival province. He made his name in the same labor movement that had been so brutally beaten back and had become so anti-American. And Roh took the unusual political posture of anti-American rhetoric. In other words, he was just the candidate the “anti-American” crowd was looking for in the wake of the latest act of cowering in the face of American might. He was one of them.
Roh came back from behind and won the election, riding a wave of support that arose after the Yangju Highway Incident. The election was especially “revolutionary” because it was the first in Korea to move away from a dependency on political nominations from well-connected political insiders and instead embrace a primary system based on the American model. No political insider backed Roh and his lack of familial pedigree was clear. His rise was one that was democratic to the core and a democratic rejection of the establishment at that.
So What is Anti-Americanism?
Anti-Americanism is a rejection of Korea’s own past.
It’s a rejection of a past inundated by domination at the hands of foreign powers. Its a past of which the rejection of is a natural result from a surge in national confidence.
It’s a rejection of the authoritarianism of the previous half-century in the form of a demand for transparency at all levels, including the US military forces in Korea.
It’s a rejection of the traditional power structure. The new class of educated, cosmopolitan youths want access to power and view America as inseparable from the hereditary power brokers in their way. It’s a call for, as Thomas Kern says, a devaluation of the “cultural capital” held by those who can afford to buy themselves the best education around.
It’s also an emotional lashing out about the fact that as strong as their country has become, and as much confidence as they have, they still depend on the United States for so much and that so much of what they have accomplished they owe to the US.
Anti-Americanism is not a rejection of US policy, and there’s really little we as Americans can do about it. Anti-Americanism is the coalescence of various social forces that are coming to the forefront of Korean social discourse as it democratizes. It just so happens that so many of these social forces associate America with the very kind of things they oppose.
So when the beef protests happened almost two years ago the protests were every bit as much about a fear that President Lee Myung Bak would be a step back to the perceived US “lackeyism” of previous regimes as they were about the US sending over tainted beef. People were protesting a mindset of falling in line with the economic interests of Washington regardless of the will of the people.
Lee Ha-Nui (이하늬), aka Honey Lee, is rumored to have undergone a breast augmentation.
The following is inspired by my recent trip to Seoul’s Apgujeong district, Korea’s Beverly Hills and plastic surgery Mecca…
And yes, this is meant to be completely serious and in no way is it an attempt to lure more 20-29 year-old male readers to this blog…
Can Breasts Ever Be Too Big?
This is the question the Choson Ilbo asks in this article from October 2006, in which the author tries to frame his preferences for Korean women with fake b-cupish breasts in terms of hard news. And while the article claims large sized breast augmentations are “on the upward curve” in the West, for Korean women the answer is “yes,” some boobs are too big…
According to the article, Korean woman prefer smaller implant sizes than their ”big-boned” Western counterparts. The article also claims that most Korean women studying in the US inevitably return to Korea for their boob jobs, since American doctors simply won’t perform breast augmentations of the smaller size that the article’s author would like to see more of Korean women prefer.
So how true can this be? Are all Western women opting for large sizes, and are all Korean women opting for smaller sizes?
The answer is, of course, no. The Orange County Register (ORC) offers two opposing viewpoints on this issue.
British Women Like Small Breasts
One article states that while breast augmentations are becoming more common in both the US and the UK, Britains like smaller sizes.
“British women have a different attitude to breast size than American women do,” the article points out. “In Great Britain, breast reductions are among the Top 5 most popular procedures by plastic surgeons – quite unlike their American counterparts.”
And So Do American Women
But, on the other hand, The ORC offers US plastic surgeon Dr. Nicholas R. Nikolov’s opposite perspective on American boobs, which I discovered in this Kushibo post.
“Over the last few years the trend has been towards more modest-size implants for breast augmentations,” he said. “Larger breasts are no longer perceived as attractive.”
The change is connected in part to the economic downturn, Nikolov said.
“During challenging economic times people are less likely to turn to flashy cars, wear expensive jewelry, or fly private. Just the same, augmentations resulting in conspicuous large breasts are less popular,” he said.
So in an effort purely ::ahem:: to debunk stereotypes of small fake boobed Korean women, small fake boobed British women, and large fake boobed American women/big boned western women, please check out these mold-breaking women.
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Actress Han Chae Yeong (한채영), who’s Americanesque chest became the subject of debate on this Marmot’s Hole post.
British celebrities Jordan and Chantelle Houghton also sport the American style. C’mon Brits… you know you’re every bit as trashy as Americans…
Megan Fox… destroying stereotypes about Americans left and right with her less than gargantuan implants…
and then there’s Gwen Stefani, whose boob job is conclusive proof that small-framed Korean women too could take advantage of the services of Western plastic surgeons… unless she has them done in Korea.
